Vinyl record size chart

Records, vinyl, LPs. These are all words that describe the same thing.

The vinyl record has made a huge comeback. From its warm sound to the thrill of digging in record stores for rare LPs, folks are still finding value in this once-fading format. The most common vinyl record sizes are 7, 10, and 12 inches. Both sides of these records can store 45 minutes of music in total. A better way to group these discs and tell them apart is the speed in revolutions per minute, or RPM at which they spin while playing on a turntable. There were lots of speeds on the market from the late 19th century until the s, when the recording industry agreed on the 78 RPM standard. Most 78s were actually made out minerals and cotton fibers held together with a resin called shellac.

Vinyl record size chart

While this format experienced a decline as new music technology took the forefront, the old ways are coming back. To understand record speeds, we must first learn how vinyl records work. Manufacturers will carve vinyl records with the literal representation of the sound waves the band captures during a recording session. As the album spins on your record player, the needle fits into those grooves and reproduces the sound. Record players feature mechanisms that detect and send that sound through your speakers. So where does record speed factor in? To accurately reproduce the sounds carved into the vinyl disc, the record player needs to spin the album at the appropriate speed. Otherwise, the playback will sound out of pitch. Spin a record too fast, and it will sound high-pitched and squeaky. Too slow, the playback will be muffled and sound lower-pitched than the original recording. Most record players spin at three speeds measured in rounds per minute RPM :. Now that you understand record player speeds, you need to learn to tell if a record is 33 or 45 RPM, as these are the two most common speeds. Records come in different sizes that hold different quantities of music. There are three standard record sizes to correspond with the three speeds:.

If you want to get rid of some smaller scratches, check out this tutorial for a step-by-step guide. In this way, a 12 inch record can hold between 15 to 22 minutes of music per side.

Introduced by Columbia Records in , it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire US record industry. Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound in , [2] it remained the standard format for record albums, during a period in popular music known as the album era. By , the latter format began to outsell LPs. Beginning in the late s, the LP has experienced a resurgence in popularity. At the time the LP was introduced, nearly all phonograph records for home use were made of an abrasive and therefore noisy shellac compound, employed a much larger groove, and played at approximately 78 revolutions per minute rpm , limiting the playing time of a inch diameter record to less than five minutes per side. Each side of a inch LP could play for about 22 minutes.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes. As easy as it is to listen to music via digital streaming platforms, nothing can quite mimic the tangible, immersive experience you get listening to a vinyl record on a record player. Vinyl records were born from an invention in the late 19th century by Emile Berliner, a German-born American inventor. In the mids, vinyl records became the format of choice, gained popularity, and became the dominant medium for music playback. With the rise of digital formats and compact discs in the late 20th century, vinyl records experienced a decline in popularity — though they never truly disappeared from the marketplace. Vinyl records come in various sizes, each serving a specific purpose and offering different playback characteristics. The three most common sizes are 7-inch, inch, and inch vinyl records.

Vinyl record size chart

However, with the handy help of a vinyl record size chart we ought to be more than adequately equipped to take on the task. This is what we intend to take aim at today, as well as what we intend to take at it with! So, follow us as we explore these sizes and speeds in detail…. Before we go on to discuss the three main sizes that might appear on a vinyl record size chart, we must first wrap our heads around the three central speeds at which these kinds of record sizes will typically be played at to ensure that they are played back as close as possible to the source audio as dictated by the artist and the producer. The holistic aim was most likely to provide music consumers with a more transportable medium upon which to press higher quality versions of single songs in small bunches. Records have better sound quality the faster they are played, though in turn a faster rpm will mean inherently less space on the disc with which to hold the music. Whether or not this is a worthy sacrifice is constantly up for debate between those more contentious vinyl enthusiasts, though the times have made their bed and now lie in it, with this speed being rare if not completely unheard of in the more modern era of vinyl production and consumption. Though there are theoretically an infinite amount of sizes and styles of record, there are but three main sizes that you are likely to find when out and about scouring your local record store.

Body paint nude

Login Register Email. And in , the last US-made 78 record was produced. A rpm motor running with a standard tooth gear, do the math and you get roughly 78 revolutions per minute. It was discernible by some listeners throughout certain recordings, and a quiet passage followed by a loud sound would allow anyone to hear a faint pre-echo of the loud sound 1. Vinyl record spines are often much wider on modern gatefold releases, particularly as an overwhelming number of new vinyl releases are pressed on heavy-weight g vinyl, whereas vintage records typically were much lighter and thinner. It was not until "microgroove" was developed by Columbia Records in that Long Players LPs reached their maximum playtime, which has continued to modern times. Those that were there already are exacerbated and those that were too negligible to see before are brought to the fore. When initially introduced, inch LPs played for a maximum of about 23 minutes per side, inch records for around Next article Awesome Gifts for Vinyl Lovers. The UK album chart reaches its 1,th No This size of record was gradually phased out, and not just for the less than adequate playback time offered, and so 10 inch records and 78 rpm playback speeds are rarely produced anymore. While a professional can sometimes get a warped or scratched record to sound good again, some records are simply broken beyond repair. This high speed gives them the potential for unparalleled sound quality — the faster a record spins, the more accurately it can recreate a recording. In , vinyl record sales started to increase for the first time in over 20 years.

Vinyl Records come in a few sizes, this can affect how much the record can store, how fast it plays on the record player, and how it can be used.

I agree, Mike at VSS has a great range. These new records could hold a mind-boggling twenty minutes per side. There are the 7-inch, the inch, and the inch. Some notable progressions were: Electric Recording in — Acoustic recording was a slow process where singers or musicians would play into a large horn. Next post. Retrieved February 7, Standard Vinyl. Vinyl records can be produced in three different sizes. Can My Turntable Play It? This article needs additional citations for verification.