Vinyl Clinic Flyer
Gerald started us out with a brief History of how vinyl records came about, starting with Thomas Edison and his phonograph in 1877 which used a telegraph needle to transduce sound waves onto a wax cylinder. In the 1920's with the introduction of electrical recording, the various formats of records became more standardized. The term "album" actually came into play because each side of a record held about 5 min of music, so if you had a body of work longer than that you would actually get a few records packaged together in an album. The term stuck to define any modern record release. Gerald then went on to explain how the master lacquer record was actually cut on a lathe, then coated in silver and nickel. This is the stamp that's actually used to press the vinyl records that are then mass produced.
He went on to talk about the various parts of a modern record player (ranging from $15-$15000)! He played us records from his collection, showed us the different color options, talked about where you can still get records produced, how to clean and care for your records, and then gave us some perspective about the experience and ritual that are involved in listening to a record versus a cd or mp3. Not only are you getting a warmer sound from the record player, you're more engaged in the listening experience as a whole because you have a physical objects and graphics, and you have to turn it over half-way through. We finished out the clinic with some Q and A and students were invited to stay after and listen to more records.
P.S. Don't try and mail or order records during the summer in PHX!
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