What you don't know is that Fran is one hundred and seventeen years old! She talks about all this stuff (music history, electronics, rockets, and more) like she experienced it all first hand. She is clearly brilliant! She talks about minute details from 50 years ago like she just experienced it yesterday. Amazing.
I love Fran, she is so smart and natural on camera. Funny and charming. I was a professional recording engineer in a past life and Fran you took me down memory lane. You enrich our lives by keeping the amazing accomplishments of the past alive. You are my hero like Mr. Wizard was.
Ive just been watching LIFE AFTER FRAN LAB. When you said you are not young or pretty, well i think you are a very nice lady and i love watching Fran lab. Keep smiling and keep safe.
Fran actually does a good presentation and lecture. It's a friendly and informative little documentary. Better than some professionals. Nothing stuffy in her presentation -- she is prepared and she segues between subjects keeping the conversation interesting. You can tell she has a passion for her subject. If I met her in high school or college this young lady would have been one of my favorite "girlfriends." She knows her stuff. She actually looks too young to really have lived when these records were popular. Nevertheless, she is sharp on the subject of 45 nostalgia. Next time she should mention or included that some 45-sized records were EPs (RCA I believe) -- 4 songs at 33 rpm with a small hole but the size of a 45 record. Several Elvis Presley EP's were released this way. I have some with country singer Jim Reeves and some European records. Great cardboard color sleeves. There must be a reason for this marketing move. Maybe they were trying to introduce a possible stereo 45 eventually. I like that when she talks she can actually show a good example of the machines and how they operated. This video was produced well enough to show students in a school if a music teacher wanted to include the history of records. Her explanation of how the records are cut and why is very good. There isn't anything she said that is inaccurate. High fidelity! Wow...nice explanation. RCA also introduced Dyna-vinyl which was flimsy and I think it was manufactured at their Camden, NJ pressing plant. It was supposed to prevent warpage when in the sleeve. Later, LP's were put into plastic sleeves instead of paper. I enjoyed Fran for the whole 21 minutes. I'd listen to any explanation she tapes -- she has a good clear speaking voice.
I think her "era" could well have been the mid 70s, when there was the first major rock'n'roll revival, (particularly of Buddy Holly and others killed in the 1959 plane crash), to the mid 80s. My era was the mid-90s, when in the UK, the basic choice was Oasis (usually thought of as Beatles revivalists), Blur (Kinks revivalists) and the Prodigy (dance music for metalheads). Or rap, of course, but that wasn't for me. Which is why I have written so much below UA-cam music videos from 1965-1984...
@@ronfowlermusic I’m in Australia and have a few hundred 45s in my collection, none have the funny big hole though some have been made to have center pressed out for the big hole. Our record players come with a attachment in case of big holes records.
I was born in 1951 and by the time I was in grade school, I was listening to my older sister playing 45’s on her little record player - very similar to the one you have here. I also remember feeding quarters into juke boxes that played 45’s. Half the fun was watching that machine select the record and move it to the turntable. I’m so glad that because of recording technology, music has been a huge part of my life, from a very early age right up through the present. Thanks for posting this and bringing back some wonderful memories.
Thank you for this most interesting video. I started my technical career in the Radio Bantu Studio in 1969. ( Then apartheid South Africa) We had two disc cutting lathes in "Main Control" which were used for cutting the adverts played on air. The 33RPM discs we used were laquer coated aluminium. (We used to peel off the coating of old discs and used the aluminium for project chassies. (I recently used the last disc from my junk pile to make cylinder head gasket for my 1955 Ariel motorcycle!) (I am 72 years old now) I love your videos - thanks so much!
Who remembers the 45 inserts that would let you play a 45 RPM record on a regular record player? Better still who remembers the "spindle" adapter that would slip over the 33 1/3 spindle and allow you to stack up 45's?
David Tyndall. I haven't used a insert since the 60s. I can drop a 45 on a spinning turntable and center it perfectly in 3, 4 seconds. Practice makes perfect!
Yes, but I'm pretty sure David Tyndall was discussing the plastic adapters that you snapped into the records themselves, effectively giving your 45 record the small 'LP' style hole. They were mostly for use with record changers, which are effectively extinct now, but they work also with regular single-play turntables. I remember buying a pack of like 15 of them at Kmart for like a dollar. Of course, that WAS like 30 years ago.
Fran, my friends and I have noticed that you are very natural in your delivery, never rushed, and even with some fairly technical things you never get above our comprehension, which really makes science enjoyable. Keep doing what you do, you are a positive force here!
Fun fact: The first 33⅓ RPM 12-inch records on the consumer market were actually introduced by RCA Victor in 1931. They were called "Program Transcription" records and could hold up to 15 minutes of music per side. But these records sounded bad, wore out quickly, and required expensive new machines to play them, which people couldn't afford during the Great Depression, so the format was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1936.
RCA head David Sarnoff was furious when Columbia Records demonstrated their 33⅓ LP's to him. His big ego wanted a competing format fast. So much of RCA's development for 12 inch microgroove records from the 1930's was re-used to create the 45. By the late 40's vinyl quality was much better and the smaller size made them affordable.
Had the great depression and WW II never happened, the 78 might have been replaced earlier. Then again I think what made the 45 a success was it was the right format at the right time when Modern R&B and Rock & Roll exploded.
Yay I have another favorite vintage music channel to enjoy! Fran seems very warm and friendly and, most importantly, informative. Keep up the great work!
I remember these 45 RPM records when I was a kid. To play them on a conventional phonograph (equipped with a 45 RPM speed setting), you could get an adaptor which clipped into the big hole to allow them to be played on the thinner spindle. Later phonographs came with their own adaptor which could be used as needed.
Fantastic. My First 45 was Blondie's "Heart of Glass," and my Second was Santa Esmeralda's "Don't let me be Misunderstood." Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" was the third. Good memories you have brought me. I played those alot!
At a garage sale I held I had a portable phonograph out on a table playing a stack of 45's. A kid stood watching it in wonderment. After a few minutes he asked what it was. I said it's a device and that's my playlist. Oh...........wow. Priceless moment.
Wow ..... did that bring back memories ...!!! I still have my old 45's ... and some 78's ... 1 or 2 16's from the radio studios ... they were huge ! But I'd like you to continue with the master stylus cutting width development... In the 80's a company called Telarc made digital non compressed wide dynamic range records....!? I'm sure you remember these. I have 2. One which has the 1812 Overture on it. The digital dynamic range was so wide that they used auto groove width calibration assisted by a manual adjustment. The grooves become so wide when the Canon shots go off that they are easily visible with the naked eye .... looking like a big sideways Z ... ! The tonearm would pop up into the air if you tracked at anything under 2 grams ...Lol...!! They were VERY expensive and never went anywhere because the CD was only 2 or 3 years away ... I think folks would enjoy your discussion from mono to stereo . How the grooves evolved to reproduce the new formats.... The studio "cheat" stereo like Capital Records Duophonic sound that tried to turn originally recorded mono Hi Fi recordings into stereo without re-recording the record.... It's a unique and interesting topic and part of a long history of innovation in home entertainment and the quest for the BEST Sound ! And at the end you can let everyone know that we've moved totally away from that with the dominating .mp3 format ..... And Why ...!?!?? Great videos Fran, you are Sooooo Smart ...!!! 👍👍👍
you all prolly dont care but does anyone know a way to get back into an instagram account..? I was stupid lost the account password. I would love any tricks you can give me
@Jaziel Tripp I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and im in the hacking process now. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Thank you, Fran. You're always so knowledgeable, and I enjoyed learning about this. Another beneficial factor of 45s and teenagers is economics. When I began buying records, it was 1968, I was twelve, and a 45s cost less than a dollar. I remember .78 cents being common. And some 45s would be marked down based on their salability. Your video here came up as a suggestion because earlier I'd watched a film made by RCA in late 1948, early 1949, introducing the new 45 RPM record format, as well as the player that you have on the desk. The film included two other 45 RPM players available to accommodate different uses. One of these was a non-amplified version that plugged into a home system that was common at the time, consisting of an AM-FM Radio and a non-45 RPM record player, installed into various styles of cabinets. Per your mention of the new 45 RPM format being released on March 31, 1949. Perhaps RCA felt that the 31st was much better than April 1st, since that's April Fool's Day.
Fran, thank for taking the time to do this video! Having been born in 1955, 78's 45's & 33's are a major part of my life! .This video is right up my alley! Thanks again! I also purchased that same RCA 45 RPM player at a Los Angeles flea market for $5.00 some 38 years ago.I still have it.
~ Love history! Love music history and records even more! Very interesting, 45s ARE STILL BEING MADE and they remain fascinating, and thank you, you rock! Cheers, DAVEDJ ~
Love it. I've been collecting vinyl since '75 and knew a little bit on how it was/is made, but I learned SO much more from this video. Please keep it up!
I like how the tech that I grew up with is now antique and in need of detailed explanation. I asked a young man on craigslist if the turntable he was selling had a needle on it. He said he didn't know and he asked me where to look for it.
Great mention of compression and the RIAA curve, which was explained to me by my dad when he built a home HeathKit amp for our Garrard turntable, It had no radio tuner, but we used it for all the new “Microgroove” recordings, staying away from stereo, keeping to mono. Love your discussion. You are so well informed.
Awesome! I was a DJ for American Forces Radio when vinyl was still king and thought I knew everything about vinyl records and pressings. Great coverage Fran! Makes me want to go don to the basement and dig out my old 45s (most are the promotional cuts from Billboard and Radio and Record Mag) and play them for old time sake. I also have an untrimmed gold master record used to press one side of a 33 RPM disk.
Hi Fran, I worked in the Audio and Hi Fi trade for most of my life. I didn't know a lot of what you told us about in this video. I did know about the Fletcher Munson curve and we were told this was what the loudness control on a lot of amplifiers was for to basically compensate for how our ears responded to sound and volume. Yamaha came out with a novel approach to this problem by having a variable loudness control. Thanks again for a very informative video. I didn't know that the RIAA system only came into use latter on as records and recordings became better. Thank again and keep these video coming.
Yep thats what I was saying. It's because of the Fletcher Munson curve in our hearing at know volumes. Some manufactures simply supplied an on off switch for the loudness control. Yamaha had a variable control. You can achieve the same affect with the tone controls.
As a budding sound engineer and lifelong musician… I learned more in this video about frequency perception and sound engineering basics than in all the “engineering” videos I’ve watched. So very interesting! Thanks Fran!
On the subject of equalization, StuderSSL had the story right. Instead of active compansion, it was a simple boost/cut method to ensure that the bass would fit into the groove, and the high frequency noise would be made less objectionable. The trouble was in the early days, the record labels couldn't come to a consensus as to how much boost and cut they would use, and where they would place the corners of the curves. Thus early Hi-Fi preamps like the Marantz Model 1 and Heathkit WA-P2 sported labels such as, Columbia, London FFRR, AES, NARTB, Old 78, RIAA, (RCA New) Ortho(phonic), and others. In 1954 the Record Industry Association of America decided that they would adopt the RCA New Orthophonic (literally "straight sound") curve as the standard. Despite the selection of a standard, many preamps and amps still carried the selection switches for a few years longer. One example of this was the McIntosh C-20 "Record Compensator" which was released in the early days of the stereo era. In the consumer world, actual companders didn't really exist on a wide scale until the seventies, with noise reduction systems like Burwen. In the dawn of the Hi-Fi era, noise reduction as such usually amounted to a simple high cut "scratch" filter. The notable exception was Hermon Scott's Dynaural noise reduction system. This split the audio into two bands, each of these would be treated by a variable filter, depending upon the program material. The consumer version of this system had only the HF filter, LF would be passed through untouched. HHScott made several pieces with Dynaural, the last was a stereo preamp with the filter gate action visible on EM84 magic eye tubes. Unfortunately Scott didn't license Dynaural to any other manufacturers.
In addition to EQ not being standardized in the early days of 78RPM, the speed varied from 65 to 90RPM depending on the manufacturer. I have a Grommes PG61 who's manual has 2 pages of turnover and rolloff frequencies for various manufacturers
Yes, It's important to point out that the RIAA pre-emphasis/de-emphasis system is a simple cut/boost equalization technique and is not a dynamic process. The use of the term "compress" implies that the equalization varied relative to program content when it did not. RCA got into that in 1963 with their Dynagroove process much to the chagrin of audio purists at the time.
That was pretty good. I remember being able to hear adjoining grooves sometimes i.e. the grooves were so close together you'd actually be able to hear bleed through from the next groove. I hope I described that all right.
That's also true of television programs that were stored on magnetic tape. Because of the volatility of a show like All in the Family frequently going from quiet to loud, if you listen closely, you can often hear Archie shout 2 times ahead of the actual shout. They called that "Print through" I believe. What you're talking about I believe would be classified as "Crosstalk".
Every single thing that I ever wanted to know that I actually wanted to know about the 45rpm record. Thank you Fran! Can't wait for the 33 and a third rpm record history lesson. Now I know why my Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats lp that I was given in 1976 sounded so terrible due to the poor dynamic range. Excellent stuff!!!
You are a treasure here on UA-cam...the way you explain and share your knowledge is just amazing. First... Bravo for collecting these priceless moments in time. I'm 64 and I remember playing my 45 copy of Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" on my parents Magnavox Combo TV/ Hi Fi Mono Record Player Console when I was 8 years old. I then had so many other 45's before I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan . 1964 ...from Roy to The British Invasion !!! Juke Boxes where everywhere and my parents loose change was all I needed !!!
A big factor in the decline of dedicated 45 RPM players in the late '50s was the advent of transistor radios and Top 40 radio stations. Now kids could hear their kind of music anywhere, anytime, from a small battery-powered radio. It was as revolutionary as the Walkman was in the '80s.
When I was a teenager, I had an old console TV/record player (TV missing) that would play 78, 45, 33⅓, & 16 rpm. Them old Mel Blanc Bugs Bunny 78s sure sounded funny on 16rpm.
The volume control design specs were ingenious for the time. Great video and topic. There was a lot presented here that I really didn't know. Thank you Fran,
Outstanding presentation - so thorough! In that era, my older sister had the 45s and phonograph for them. I had a mechanical player for 78s which I bought at church rummage sales. Today I have exactly one 45 of The Ronettes (and no 78s).
You are absolutely fantastic. Your knowledge and description is spot on. Carry on the good work. This is what you tube is about. Good, honest individuals taking time out, to give you information.
Thanks, Fran, very cool info. I was especially interested to learn about RCA's color coding system, which explains why those little box sets of classical 45s (the equivalent of the original book-style 78 rpm "albums") were pressed in red. I have just one in my collection: Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" on five red vinyl 45s on RCA Red Seal.
Great video. I like your channel. I stumbled across your channel by total accident by looking for something, and you had a video on the subject. You have knowledge in a lot of areas dealing with recording equipment, computers, I enjoyed the Jacob's ladder, and this. It's people like you that make the world go around. Thank you for sharing.
+Jan Christian Frodahl and psychology is more than neurology and chemistry. a lot of normal people get fucked in the head due to bad upbringings, PTSD etc etc
You couldn't be more wrong, guessing you've got a freshman's view of Freud from an intro class. Just google the word "projection" today along and count how often the term is used. And that's just ONE Freudian concept.
Just stumbled across this video. I was in grade school through the 50's. Only my girl cousins had the portable 45 record players. Got into electronics while still in grade school. When you looked at electronics catalogues there were two type of potentiometers - those with a 'linear taper' and those with an 'audio taper'. The audio taper pots were meant to be used as loudness controls in audio circuits. I'll have to watch more of your stuff.
I have a box of Chopin shorts (short pieces) on red transparent, 45 rpms… Also a 33 1/3 rpm (black vinyl), 45 rpm format, proably from West Germany… :)
How I progressed through this video. OK, this is kind of interesting Now it is really interesting *looks at sidebar* Wait, she also does fountain pens? And old computers? And space? *clicks subscribe button*
I learned something new today about records, which I've been collecting for around 50 years...Knew about variable pitch lathes but was never aware of the 1-rotation delay, which of course makes sense but I had never heard about before. Wunnerful, thanks!
Great presentation! I grew up with music from my Dad and Mom.They had stuff from when ever going intro the thirties, forties and fifties.Wow,78's 10" and 12" singles, 10" and 12" lps. You are so good.
I restored my Seeburg Model 100B jukebox and used it in our Wholly Cow frozen custard store in Lawrenceville, GA. We closed our business in 2002 but that jukebox was the favorite of every kid that came in. "Splish Splash by Bobby Darin was the most played song. The juke was filled with mostly 60's 45's and all the coins deposited were pure profit as well as delighting our customers. I love your videos. - John
"someone left the cake out in the rain. i dont think that i can take it, cause it took so long to bake it, and ill never have that recipe again" MacArthur Park
James Web wrote "MacArthur Park" for classic actor Richard Harris' debut album, "A Tramp Shining". It was also covered by Donna Summer on her album "On the Radio".
@@dougbrowning82 I recall reading somewhere that Webb was able to extend the song a few more seconds than The Beatles' "Hey Jude" so he and Harris could have the record with the longest playing time become a big hit!!!
That was the same 45 rpm player my Mom bought for college (back in 1949)...and then, in the 60's, my brother and I enjoyed it. The Beatles 45's sure sounded magical on that little machine. Thanks for sharing.
When I was child in the late sixties, I got my first record player--a white plastic GE model meant for kids. I didn't have any 45s but I mailed in some Kellogg's cereal box tops and got 2 Banana Splits 45s! This started my love affair with 45s. Anytime I had any money, I would ask my mom to take me to the store to buy some records. By around 1980, I had over 400. I then inherited my parent's, sister's and uncle's old 45s. By the end of the 80's, I had over 700. My very last 45 I bought was in 1989--Milli Vanilli's "Baby Don't Forget My Number." LOL! I still have all my 45s and have, of course, transferred them to MP3 but I miss buying new ones. I never understood why the concept of the single kind of died with the 45. I never liked "cassingles" or mini CDs. Oh well.
@DaveST I think I had the same GE record player as my first one, only in beige. A stereo with 2 tiny speakers, that folded up like a suitcase. I remember the white models were around, and maybe black ones too. Thanks for the memories!
My Mom grew up living next door to a jukebox record dealer that would sell all the used records to neighborhood kids for a $0.25 each. I spent many nights in the 80's listening to her collection. Sadly, I sold my little General Electric portable player when we moved to a new city and my parent's sold off most of their collection to a local music store. When they went through their records, they found many of the 78's had fractured. She kept her 45's in an "AMfile Platter Pack". Wonderful memories.
Awesome video!... As the saying goes: "...video it and they shall watch!" :P well, maybe that's not how the saying goes, but you have my vote on more videos like this type of content. Again, it was awesome, thank you!
...'Washing Machine'....I worked in a 'computer lab' in 1978-80...they operated a home brew publishing company, used 4-5 of those old hard-drives with the 12" (?) and had 5-6 disc's stacked up...you actually had to change them, like records....back then, I always thought they were about the size of a washing machine, and the whole disc drive was protected by just a clear plastic dust cover........ Apple had just released their first 'Personal Computer'.....we had a couple....tiny 7-8" yellow text monitor... a Few Kbyte's of...RAM, and programs were stored on Cassette players...at 1200 Baud rate....
Another excellent video, Fran. Thanks! A couple of notes. First, the RIAA curve didn't technically compress low frequencies, but instead attenuated them. Compression (and it's playback complement, expansion) is a lot more electronically complicated and was only used on dbx-encoded discs a couple of decades later as a method of noise reduction. The RIAA curve also boosted high frequencies and rolled them off during playback to reduce surface noise. The varying high frequency filtering on your record player is a simplified loudness control (which you probably already know). A good place for anyone curious about equal loudness contours to learn a bit more is this Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour Finally, I have heard once or twice that RCA put a big center hole in their 45s so that you had to buy one of their players to listen to them. I have no idea if that is really true. :)
There were other curves besides the RIAA, which eventually won out over the others. There was FFRR used by London Records, EIA, and others I can't recall now.
The UK 45's had a knockout in the center. By the way StuderSSL, I long for a Studer A10. I don't have the room for nor can I afford an A820, but would love to have one.
Hi Fran, LOVED your piece on 45 records! I am now 75, but when I was a teenager, I had a stack of 45's AS TALL AS ME! Then when I left home, my younger brother (and his friends) invented the Frisbee...WITH MY RECORDS! Keep up the good work, and best regards, Peter Simmons Hendersonville, TN
Do you have any 16 RPM records? I've never actually seen one, but I used to see the 16 speed on the floor model stereos and the component sets that had 8-track players.
Musicvegan01 I have a number of them. It was really a specialized, extra-long-play format and never really achieved a mainstream status for a number of reasons. They were made from the early 1950s through about 1973 or so, and were primarily intended for 'talking book' records and educational use.
You showed the green 45 of Eddie Arnold, I have a RCA w a song called jaw jaw yap yap yap..if you don't have hunt it down .real cool tune..nowadays soft skin people wouldn't get the dry humour of it....love to pull your pigtails towards my 3000+ lps and gosh knows how many 45,s and 7" as known as the rock n punk genres. Good knowledge w your vids...wish I could meet a women friend who digs music n wax like u...
Great video Fran. I so wanted the 45-EY-2 when I was a kid. My parents got me a brief case type model with a white tone arm and spindle top which I used until the electronics died at which point I built a base for the record changer and used it with a 10 watt Grommes LJ6 and a 12" Utah speaker in an old TV cabinet. I rocked the house!
Apparently George Martin initially disliked the sound of tape and felt that cutting recordings in the studio straight to shellac was superior soundwise. One track, no mistakes.
However Steve Albini, the music producer still uses tape for its consistency/dependability in his lifetime. He believes, with good reason that digital formats are forever changing and becoming obsolete: Sony PCM, Digital reel to reel, DAT, Adat..dare I say CD not to mention the software and hardware they were created on Atari/Amiga/Apple Nubus card macs etc etc...
If you look through Wikipedia and the history of records in the 1920s 30s and 40s there were quite a lot of labels that were dedicated to releasing "Negro" music (and some labels actually used that word to describe the sort of tunes you'd find on orange 45s) or they'd have a different coloured label or they'd have an entirely separate catalogue number system. It was all labels of colour for music of colour, so to speak. In the UK, we didn't care or didn't notice, though we did create our own scene for "music of colour" ...we called it Northern Soul, and just as black people were disadvantaged in America, so disadvantaged working class people took to Northern Soul. Just like disadvantaged working class took to reggae, ska and 2Tone.
GeoNeilUK Somehow just saying negro music seems so odd and out of place in my life today. Yet this sort of terminology was very common within my earlier youth. In my mind black people are so intrenched in my personal culture that negro music is my music. Of course that goes for classical music or anything else within the music world. But yes negro music was first owned by a small segment of black people brought here by force who made the most of a bad situation. I would like to think of it as a gift of pain and survival or better yet rhythm and blues.
If one watches a rock n roll documentary, one will see those who blazed the trail like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. The Beatles spoke of their heroes as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis.
It was easy to spot a polystyrene version by the edge which was shiny and it came to a tapered point in the middle. If one got 2 plays before the grooves deteriorated, they were doing good
....11:35....Jukebox, interesting that the 'tone-arm is opposite the usual position. Are the needle/cartridges different? I seem to remember the standard type cartridges had the needle slanted slightly so the needle would drag, rather than cut into the grooves?
Doug Ankrum i think some of those had dual tone arms to play A or B side, the other arm is going the right way. other mechs could flip the record to A or B
WOW…this takes me back…Switching on the old Fischer receiver as the tubes helped to heat our living room in the winter. The lovely sound as one of the stationary 45’s drop onto the record beneath it spinning at 45 RPM ! You can almost see the vinyl bits flying off. The best was when 5 or more 45’s were stacked on the turntable and slippage caused the playing record to be around 40 RPM. You forgot to mention the sprocket you needed to insert into the hold of the 45 so you can play them on a 33/45 combo Garrard turntable. Love your UA-cam videos Fran…..thank you for all the work you put into them.
On a subject I didn't know I had any interest in, your presentation Fran quite caught my attention. A nice presentation of an interesting bit of history. Thank you for taking the time to create and post this video.
What you don't know is that Fran is one hundred and seventeen years old! She talks about all this stuff (music history, electronics, rockets, and more) like she experienced it all first hand. She is clearly brilliant! She talks about minute details from 50 years ago like she just experienced it yesterday. Amazing.
old souls never die they just jump to a new host.
Fran. I could listen to you talk for days. The amount of knowledge jammed into that head of yours is exquisite.
I love Fran, she is so smart and natural on camera. Funny and charming. I was a professional recording engineer in a past life and Fran you took me down memory lane. You enrich our lives by keeping the amazing accomplishments of the past alive. You are my hero like Mr. Wizard was.
Oh Wow Mr. Wizard! Great reference, wasn't that a Great show?
It sure was. I never missed an episode
Watched it every day I could
Yes I wish Captain Kangeroo still came on... -{Chris
Ive just been watching LIFE AFTER FRAN LAB. When you said you are not young or pretty, well i think you are a very nice lady and i love watching Fran lab. Keep smiling and keep safe.
Fran actually does a good presentation and lecture. It's a friendly and informative little documentary. Better than some professionals. Nothing stuffy in her presentation -- she is prepared and she segues between subjects keeping the conversation interesting. You can tell she has a passion for her subject. If I met her in high school or college this young lady would have been one of my favorite "girlfriends." She knows her stuff. She actually looks too young to really have lived when these records were popular. Nevertheless, she is sharp on the subject of 45 nostalgia.
Next time she should mention or included that some 45-sized records were EPs (RCA I believe) -- 4 songs at 33 rpm with a small hole but the size of a 45 record. Several Elvis Presley EP's were released this way. I have some with country singer Jim Reeves and some European records. Great cardboard color sleeves. There must be a reason for this marketing move. Maybe they were trying to introduce a possible stereo 45 eventually.
I like that when she talks she can actually show a good example of the machines and how they operated.
This video was produced well enough to show students in a school if a music teacher wanted to include the history of records. Her explanation of how the records are cut and why is very good. There isn't anything she said that is inaccurate. High fidelity! Wow...nice explanation. RCA also introduced Dyna-vinyl which was flimsy and I think it was manufactured at their Camden, NJ pressing plant. It was supposed to prevent warpage when in the sleeve. Later, LP's were put into plastic sleeves instead of paper.
I enjoyed Fran for the whole 21 minutes. I'd listen to any explanation she tapes -- she has a good clear speaking voice.
most of the 45 EP's i have seen have the standard large hole in the center. The only ones that didn't were called jukebox ep's, and played at 33.
@@ronfowlermusic - You're right.
I think her "era" could well have been the mid 70s, when there was the first major rock'n'roll revival, (particularly of Buddy Holly and others killed in the 1959 plane crash), to the mid 80s. My era was the mid-90s, when in the UK, the basic choice was Oasis (usually thought of as Beatles revivalists), Blur (Kinks revivalists) and the Prodigy (dance music for metalheads). Or rap, of course, but that wasn't for me. Which is why I have written so much below UA-cam music videos from 1965-1984...
@@ronfowlermusic I’m in Australia and have a few hundred 45s in my collection, none have the funny big hole though some have been made to have center pressed out for the big hole. Our record players come with a attachment in case of big holes records.
@@WLHS ours do too, a 45 adaptor.
I was born in 1951 and by the time I was in grade school, I was listening to my older sister playing 45’s on her little record player - very similar to the one you have here. I also remember feeding quarters into juke boxes that played 45’s. Half the fun was watching that machine select the record and move it to the turntable. I’m so glad that because of recording technology, music has been a huge part of my life, from a very early age right up through the present. Thanks for posting this and bringing back some wonderful memories.
Thank you Fran that was riveting , I learned such a lot , you are a great teacher,yes please , more on the other formats of record💐
Thank you for this most interesting video. I started my technical career in the Radio Bantu Studio in 1969. ( Then apartheid South Africa) We had two disc cutting lathes in "Main Control" which were used for cutting the adverts played on air. The 33RPM discs we used were laquer coated aluminium. (We used to peel off the coating of old discs and used the aluminium for project chassies. (I recently used the last disc from my junk pile to make cylinder head gasket for my 1955 Ariel motorcycle!) (I am 72 years old now)
I love your videos - thanks so much!
Who remembers the 45 inserts that would let you play a 45 RPM record on a regular record player? Better still who remembers the "spindle" adapter that would slip over the 33 1/3 spindle and allow you to stack up 45's?
Ya, I had a record player back in the mid 70's that used all those inserts and adapter for 45 's. I can't seem to remember who made it.
Most record changers from the 50's, 60's, and 70's came with 45 spindle adapters.
David Tyndall. I haven't used a insert since the 60s. I can drop a 45 on a spinning turntable and center it perfectly in 3, 4 seconds. Practice makes perfect!
Yes, but I'm pretty sure David Tyndall was discussing the plastic adapters that you snapped into the records themselves, effectively giving your 45 record the small 'LP' style hole. They were mostly for use with record changers, which are effectively extinct now, but they work also with regular single-play turntables. I remember buying a pack of like 15 of them at Kmart for like a dollar. Of course, that WAS like 30 years ago.
The pucks came with most record players Europe.
Not that you'd need one, any kid could drop a 45 on the rubber mat, dead centered, no puck !
Fran, my friends and I have noticed that you are very natural in your delivery, never rushed, and even with some fairly technical things you never get above our comprehension, which really makes science enjoyable. Keep doing what you do, you are a positive force here!
Fun fact: The first 33⅓ RPM 12-inch records on the consumer market were actually introduced by RCA Victor in 1931. They were called "Program Transcription" records and could hold up to 15 minutes of music per side. But these records sounded bad, wore out quickly, and required expensive new machines to play them, which people couldn't afford during the Great Depression, so the format was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1936.
RCA head David Sarnoff was furious when Columbia Records demonstrated their 33⅓ LP's to him. His big ego wanted a competing format fast. So much of RCA's development for 12 inch microgroove records from the 1930's was re-used to create the 45. By the late 40's vinyl quality was much better and the smaller size made them affordable.
I've got about a dozen of them.They were pressed in a type of plastic called "Vitrolac".
Had the great depression and WW II never happened, the 78 might have been replaced earlier. Then again I think what made the 45 a success was it was the right format at the right time when Modern R&B and Rock & Roll exploded.
+Dan VanLandingham - That explains why the word in Portuguese for a big wooden counter with an integrated record player used to be "Vitrola".
Hey VWestlife!
An *OUTSTANDING* presentation.
Thank you!
I guess.... orange was the new black...
I'll take it!
+1
@ SilentS: Like it!
baDumm tsss
good one.
Yay I have another favorite vintage music channel to enjoy! Fran seems very warm and friendly and, most importantly, informative. Keep up the great work!
We love you, Fran
Yeah,she's great.Really knows her stuff!
she?
edgy, guys
I remember these 45 RPM records when I was a kid. To play them on a conventional phonograph (equipped with a 45 RPM speed setting), you could get an adaptor which clipped into the big hole to allow them to be played on the thinner spindle. Later phonographs came with their own adaptor which could be used as needed.
Fantastic. My First 45 was Blondie's "Heart of Glass," and my Second was Santa Esmeralda's "Don't let me be Misunderstood." Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" was the third. Good memories you have brought me. I played those alot!
At a garage sale I held I had a portable phonograph out on a table playing a stack of 45's. A kid stood watching it in wonderment. After a few minutes he asked what it was. I said it's a device and that's my playlist. Oh...........wow.
Priceless moment.
Great video! Thanks so much for all the info.
Wow ..... did that bring back memories ...!!! I still have my old 45's ... and some 78's ...
1 or 2 16's from the radio studios ... they were huge !
But I'd like you to continue with the master stylus cutting width development...
In the 80's a company called Telarc made digital non compressed wide dynamic range records....!? I'm sure you remember these. I have 2. One which has the 1812 Overture on it.
The digital dynamic range was so wide that they used auto groove width calibration assisted by a manual adjustment.
The grooves become so wide when the Canon shots go off that they are easily visible with the naked eye .... looking like a big sideways Z ... !
The tonearm would pop up into the air if you tracked at anything under 2 grams ...Lol...!!
They were VERY expensive and never went anywhere because the CD was only 2 or 3 years away ...
I think folks would enjoy your discussion from mono to stereo . How the grooves evolved to reproduce the new formats.... The studio "cheat" stereo like Capital Records Duophonic sound that tried to turn originally recorded mono Hi Fi recordings into stereo without re-recording the record....
It's a unique and interesting topic and part of a long history of innovation in home entertainment and the quest for the BEST Sound !
And at the end you can let everyone know that we've moved totally away from that with the dominating .mp3 format ..... And Why ...!?!??
Great videos Fran, you are Sooooo Smart ...!!! 👍👍👍
you all prolly dont care but does anyone know a way to get back into an instagram account..?
I was stupid lost the account password. I would love any tricks you can give me
@Gustavo Santana instablaster ;)
@Jaziel Tripp I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and im in the hacking process now.
Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Jaziel Tripp It worked and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thank you so much, you saved my account !
Hi Fran, I am very pleased to have bumped into you.
"Oh we got both kinds, we got country AND western!"
Thank you, Fran. You're always so knowledgeable, and I enjoyed learning about this. Another beneficial factor of 45s and teenagers is economics. When I began buying records, it was 1968, I was twelve, and a 45s cost less than a dollar. I remember .78 cents being common. And some 45s would be marked down based on their salability.
Your video here came up as a suggestion because earlier I'd watched a film made by RCA in late 1948, early 1949, introducing the new 45 RPM record format, as well as the player that you have on the desk. The film included two other 45 RPM players available to accommodate different uses. One of these was a non-amplified version that plugged into a home system that was common at the time, consisting of an AM-FM Radio and a non-45 RPM record player, installed into various styles of cabinets.
Per your mention of the new 45 RPM format being released on March 31, 1949. Perhaps RCA felt that the 31st was much better than April 1st, since that's April Fool's Day.
Even though I know most of this, I must say its superbly presented in a non patronising way, I bought many records in the late 50s and early 60s
Fran, thank for taking the time to do this video! Having been born in 1955, 78's 45's & 33's are a major part of my life! .This video is right up my alley! Thanks again!
I also purchased that same RCA 45 RPM player at a Los Angeles flea market for $5.00 some 38 years ago.I still have it.
That was definitely the most interesting 20 minutes I have spent on UA-cam this year! Thanks Fran!
~ Love history! Love music history and records even more! Very interesting, 45s ARE STILL BEING MADE and they remain fascinating, and thank you, you rock! Cheers, DAVEDJ ~
Love it. I've been collecting vinyl since '75 and knew a little bit on how it was/is made, but I learned SO much more from this video. Please keep it up!
I think you will all agree - We love Fran!
Really enjoyable Fran. the in depth stuff on the cutting engineer was excellent & unknown to me before..
keep em coming.
This is extremely interesting!!!! Thank you very much, Fran!!!!
I like how the tech that I grew up with is now antique and in need of detailed explanation. I asked a young man on craigslist if the turntable he was selling had a needle on it. He said he didn't know and he asked me where to look for it.
I love anything analog and have 6000+ lps and 1200+ 45's, so naturally I love Fran's presentation. Thank you Fran
Fran-tastic video! I learned a lot I never knew about vinyl records.
Great mention of compression and the RIAA curve, which was explained to me by my dad when he built a home HeathKit amp for our Garrard turntable, It had no radio tuner, but we used it for all the new “Microgroove” recordings, staying away from stereo, keeping to mono. Love your discussion. You are so well informed.
Just randomly stumbled upon this, very informative! Thank you, Great Video!
This was how I made a playlist back when I was a kid. Stack 'em up!
Awesome! I was a DJ for American Forces Radio when vinyl was still king and thought I knew everything about vinyl records and pressings. Great coverage Fran! Makes me want to go don to the basement and dig out my old 45s (most are the promotional cuts from Billboard and Radio and Record Mag) and play them for old time sake. I also have an untrimmed gold master record used to press one side of a 33 RPM disk.
You are a delightful person Fran and I love watching and listening to your videos.
Nice job. Might as well discuss the LP 's and 78s now. 😉
This woman grows on you quickly. What a sweetheart and a wealth of knowledge!
Hi Fran, I worked in the Audio and Hi Fi trade for most of my life. I didn't know a lot of what you told us about in this video. I did know about the Fletcher Munson curve and we were told this was what the loudness control on a lot of amplifiers was for to basically compensate for how our ears responded to sound and volume. Yamaha came out with a novel approach to this problem by having a variable loudness control. Thanks again for a very informative video. I didn't know that the RIAA system only came into use latter on as records and recordings became better.
Thank again and keep these video coming.
"Loudness" basically turns up the bass for you as you turn down the volume control.
Yep thats what I was saying. It's because of the Fletcher Munson curve in our hearing at know volumes.
Some manufactures simply supplied an on off switch for the loudness control. Yamaha had a variable control. You can achieve the same affect with the tone controls.
As a budding sound engineer and lifelong musician… I learned more in this video about frequency perception and sound engineering basics than in all the “engineering” videos I’ve watched. So very interesting! Thanks Fran!
On the subject of equalization, StuderSSL had the story right. Instead of active compansion, it was a simple boost/cut method to ensure that the bass would fit into the groove, and the high frequency noise would be made less objectionable. The trouble was in the early days, the record labels couldn't come to a consensus as to how much boost and cut they would use, and where they would place the corners of the curves. Thus early Hi-Fi preamps like the Marantz Model 1 and Heathkit WA-P2 sported labels such as, Columbia, London FFRR, AES, NARTB, Old 78, RIAA, (RCA New) Ortho(phonic), and others. In 1954 the Record Industry Association of America decided that they would adopt the RCA New Orthophonic (literally "straight sound") curve as the standard. Despite the selection of a standard, many preamps and amps still carried the selection switches for a few years longer. One example of this was the McIntosh C-20 "Record Compensator" which was released in the early days of the stereo era. In the consumer world, actual companders didn't really exist on a wide scale until the seventies, with noise reduction systems like Burwen. In the dawn of the Hi-Fi era, noise reduction as such usually amounted to a simple high cut "scratch" filter. The notable exception was Hermon Scott's Dynaural noise reduction system. This split the audio into two bands, each of these would be treated by a variable filter, depending upon the program material. The consumer version of this system had only the HF filter, LF would be passed through untouched. HHScott made several pieces with Dynaural, the last was a stereo preamp with the filter gate action visible on EM84 magic eye tubes. Unfortunately Scott didn't license Dynaural to any other manufacturers.
In addition to EQ not being standardized in the early days of 78RPM, the speed varied from 65 to 90RPM depending on the manufacturer. I have a Grommes PG61 who's manual has 2 pages of turnover and rolloff frequencies for various manufacturers
Yes, It's important to point out that the RIAA pre-emphasis/de-emphasis system is a simple cut/boost equalization technique and is not a dynamic process. The use of the term "compress" implies that the equalization varied relative to program content when it did not. RCA got into that in 1963 with their Dynagroove process much to the chagrin of audio purists at the time.
That was pretty good. I remember being able to hear adjoining grooves sometimes i.e. the grooves were so close together you'd actually be able to hear bleed through from the next groove. I hope I described that all right.
That's also true of television programs that were stored on magnetic tape. Because of the volatility of a show like All in the Family frequently going from quiet to loud, if you listen closely, you can often hear Archie shout 2 times ahead of the actual shout. They called that "Print through" I believe. What you're talking about I believe would be classified as "Crosstalk".
Really enjoyed your presentation - I'm 77 & an old vinyl guy - thank you :)
Every single thing that I ever wanted to know that I actually wanted to know about the 45rpm record. Thank you Fran! Can't wait for the 33 and a third rpm record history lesson. Now I know why my Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats lp that I was given in 1976 sounded so terrible due to the poor dynamic range. Excellent stuff!!!
Thank you very much for these historical explanations and technical ones you explained so nicely in your video. It was nice to watch and hear you.
You're one of the most interesting people I've found in quite a while. I love your content!
You are a treasure here on UA-cam...the way you explain and share your knowledge is just amazing. First... Bravo for collecting these priceless moments in time. I'm 64 and I remember playing my 45 copy of Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" on my parents Magnavox Combo TV/ Hi Fi Mono Record Player Console when I was 8 years old. I then had so many other 45's before I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan . 1964 ...from Roy to The British Invasion !!! Juke Boxes where everywhere and my parents loose change was all I needed !!!
A big factor in the decline of dedicated 45 RPM players in the late '50s was the advent of transistor radios and Top 40 radio stations. Now kids could hear their kind of music anywhere, anytime, from a small battery-powered radio. It was as revolutionary as the Walkman was in the '80s.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane and the info that went along with it. You're the best.
When I was a teenager, I had an old console TV/record player (TV missing) that would play 78, 45, 33⅓, & 16 rpm. Them old Mel Blanc Bugs Bunny 78s sure sounded funny on 16rpm.
really..
Thankyou for caring about LP s and what they are all about your precious also .
Thank you, Fran. Very interesting.
The volume control design specs were ingenious for the time. Great video and topic. There was a lot presented here that I really didn't know. Thank you Fran,
Love the Scott Walker album in the background.
One of my all-time favorites.
I am a sucker for Jackie from Scott 2
Well now I'll have to go and look that one up. Thanks.
And here it is:
ua-cam.com/video/nqYxce1QLIs/v-deo.html
And it sounds fantastic.
Hear, hear! I love that 1-4 series.
Outstanding presentation - so thorough! In that era, my older sister had the 45s and phonograph for them. I had a mechanical player for 78s which I bought at church rummage sales. Today I have exactly one 45 of The Ronettes (and no 78s).
Thanks Fran. Very interesting.
You are absolutely fantastic. Your knowledge and description is spot on. Carry on the good work. This is what you tube is about. Good, honest individuals taking time out, to give you information.
Thanks, Fran, very cool info. I was especially interested to learn about RCA's color coding system, which explains why those little box sets of classical 45s (the equivalent of the original book-style 78 rpm "albums") were pressed in red. I have just one in my collection: Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" on five red vinyl 45s on RCA Red Seal.
Great video. I like your channel. I stumbled across your channel by total accident by looking for something, and you had a video on the subject. You have knowledge in a lot of areas dealing with recording equipment, computers, I enjoyed the Jacob's ladder, and this. It's people like you that make the world go around. Thank you for sharing.
Sigmund freud action figure 😂😂😩
Saw that. And I noticed the civil defense (yellow) radiation survey meter there too.
Ha! Good catch. I had not noticed that until you mentioned it. I am now scanning the rest of her shelves.
+Evi1M4chine everything is about the mother, lol. and he gave Coke to friends and patients xD "take ziz undt call me in ze morning, jaa?"
+Jan Christian Frodahl and psychology is more than neurology and chemistry. a lot of normal people get fucked in the head due to bad upbringings, PTSD etc etc
You couldn't be more wrong, guessing you've got a freshman's view of Freud from an intro class. Just google the word "projection" today along and count how often the term is used. And that's just ONE Freudian concept.
Really! You have no idea how much i love your spindle adapter
This is fascinating! I don't know anything about anything on this topic but I find it super interesting. Great video :-)
Just stumbled across this video. I was in grade school through the 50's. Only my girl cousins had the portable 45 record players. Got into electronics while still in grade school. When you looked at electronics catalogues there were two type of potentiometers - those with a 'linear taper' and those with an 'audio taper'. The audio taper pots were meant to be used as loudness controls in audio circuits. I'll have to watch more of your stuff.
I have a box of Chopin shorts (short pieces) on red transparent, 45 rpms… Also a 33 1/3 rpm (black vinyl), 45 rpm format, proably from West Germany… :)
I’m a retired electronics tech and I loved your video, Fran. Well done !!
How I progressed through this video.
OK, this is kind of interesting
Now it is really interesting
*looks at sidebar* Wait, she also does fountain pens?
And old computers?
And space?
*clicks subscribe button*
Likewise!
Same.
Indeed - Fran seems to be a remarkable person.
I learned something new today about records, which I've been collecting for around 50 years...Knew about variable pitch lathes but was never aware of the 1-rotation delay, which of course makes sense but I had never heard about before. Wunnerful, thanks!
This was super interesting!
Great presentation! I
grew up with music from my Dad and Mom.They had stuff from when ever going intro the thirties, forties and fifties.Wow,78's 10" and 12" singles, 10" and 12" lps. You are so good.
Whenever I see translucent red vinyl, I think of the red Nazz album.
I restored my Seeburg Model 100B jukebox and used it in our Wholly Cow frozen custard store in Lawrenceville, GA. We closed our business in 2002 but that jukebox was the favorite of every kid that came in. "Splish Splash by Bobby Darin was the most played song. The juke was filled with mostly 60's 45's and all the coins deposited were pure profit as well as delighting our customers. I love your videos. - John
Good video - very interesting.I wonder who decided that what the world really needed was an accordion version of "She loves you".
Don Estler, that's who! :)
Simpler times. I own many different formats of vinyl, cassettes and cds. I enjoy them all. Thank you for being so informative.
"someone left the cake out in the rain. i dont think that i can take it, cause it took so long to bake it, and ill never have that recipe again" MacArthur Park
James Web wrote "MacArthur Park" for classic actor Richard Harris' debut album, "A Tramp Shining". It was also covered by Donna Summer on her album "On the Radio".
ua-cam.com/video/I8JlQNIvIfI/v-deo.html
Giorgio Moroder produced most of her records. He's a musical genius.
Qh ...Nooooo Oh Noooo
@@dougbrowning82 I recall reading somewhere that Webb was able to extend the song a few more seconds than The Beatles' "Hey Jude" so he and Harris could have the record with the longest playing time become a big hit!!!
That was the same 45 rpm player my Mom bought for college (back in 1949)...and then, in the 60's, my brother and I enjoyed it.
The Beatles 45's sure sounded magical on that little machine. Thanks for sharing.
When I was child in the late sixties, I got my first record player--a white plastic GE model meant for kids. I didn't have any 45s but I mailed in some Kellogg's cereal box tops and got 2 Banana Splits 45s! This started my love affair with 45s. Anytime I had any money, I would ask my mom to take me to the store to buy some records. By around 1980, I had over 400. I then inherited my parent's, sister's and uncle's old 45s. By the end of the 80's, I had over 700. My very last 45 I bought was in 1989--Milli Vanilli's "Baby Don't Forget My Number." LOL! I still have all my 45s and have, of course, transferred them to MP3 but I miss buying new ones. I never understood why the concept of the single kind of died with the 45. I never liked "cassingles" or mini CDs. Oh well.
DaveST my 1st record player was a tube zenith cobra
I still have most of my 45RPM collection and play them occasionally on my VM1200 which can play 16
DaveST never knew they had a single cassette
Yes. I have a few of them. They usually had from two to four songs on them. Cassettes started taking over the 45 market in the 1908s.
@DaveST I think I had the same GE record player as my first one, only in beige. A stereo with 2 tiny speakers, that folded up like a suitcase. I remember the white models were around, and maybe black ones too. Thanks for the memories!
My Mom grew up living next door to a jukebox record dealer that would sell all the used records to neighborhood kids for a $0.25 each. I spent many nights in the 80's listening to her collection. Sadly, I sold my little General Electric portable player when we moved to a new city and my parent's sold off most of their collection to a local music store. When they went through their records, they found many of the 78's had fractured. She kept her 45's in an "AMfile Platter Pack". Wonderful memories.
Awesome video!... As the saying goes: "...video it and they shall watch!" :P well, maybe that's not how the saying goes, but you have my vote on more videos like this type of content. Again, it was awesome, thank you!
I grew up with 45s, so this video brought back a lot of memories. Thanks Fran.
Totally different machine; but that carrier kinda reminds me of the "washing machine" hard drives with their removable platter packs... 🤔
...'Washing Machine'....I worked in a 'computer lab' in 1978-80...they operated a home brew publishing company, used 4-5 of those old hard-drives with the 12" (?) and had 5-6 disc's stacked up...you actually had to change them, like records....back then, I always thought they were about the size of a washing machine, and the whole disc drive was protected by just a clear plastic dust cover........ Apple had just released their first 'Personal Computer'.....we had a couple....tiny 7-8" yellow text monitor... a Few Kbyte's of...RAM, and programs were stored on Cassette players...at 1200 Baud rate....
Thank you, Fran, for teaching us about records. You would make a very good school teacher.
Another excellent video, Fran. Thanks!
A couple of notes. First, the RIAA curve didn't technically compress low frequencies, but instead attenuated them. Compression (and it's playback complement, expansion) is a lot more electronically complicated and was only used on dbx-encoded discs a couple of decades later as a method of noise reduction. The RIAA curve also boosted high frequencies and rolled them off during playback to reduce surface noise.
The varying high frequency filtering on your record player is a simplified loudness control (which you probably already know). A good place for anyone curious about equal loudness contours to learn a bit more is this Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour
Finally, I have heard once or twice that RCA put a big center hole in their 45s so that you had to buy one of their players to listen to them. I have no idea if that is really true. :)
StuderSSL The big centre hole was a North American thing; in Europe it was more common to have a small one like LPs.
New Zealand as well (small center hole).
And Australia
There were other curves besides the RIAA, which eventually won out over the others. There was FFRR used by London Records, EIA, and others I can't recall now.
The UK 45's had a knockout in the center. By the way StuderSSL, I long for a Studer A10. I don't have the room for nor can I afford an A820, but would love to have one.
Hi Fran,
LOVED your piece on 45 records! I am now 75, but when I was a teenager, I had a stack of 45's AS TALL AS ME! Then when I left home, my younger brother (and his friends) invented the Frisbee...WITH MY RECORDS! Keep up the good work, and best regards,
Peter Simmons
Hendersonville, TN
Do you have any 16 RPM records? I've never actually seen one, but I used to see the 16 speed on the floor model stereos and the component sets that had 8-track players.
Musicvegan01 I have a number of them. It was really a specialized, extra-long-play format and never really achieved a mainstream status for a number of reasons. They were made from the early 1950s through about 1973 or so, and were primarily intended for 'talking book' records and educational use.
When I was a kid, the library in our town had the Bible as a 16 RPM album (box set, I guess you'd say).
I’ve been record hunting for a good ten years and I’ve never seen any.
You showed the green 45 of Eddie Arnold, I have a RCA w a song called jaw jaw yap yap yap..if you don't have hunt it down .real cool tune..nowadays soft skin people wouldn't get the dry humour of it....love to pull your pigtails towards my 3000+ lps and gosh knows how many 45,s and 7" as known as the rock n punk genres. Good knowledge w your vids...wish I could meet a women friend who digs music n wax like u...
the widest use was early audiobooks for the blind, and that market disappeared as soon as compact cassettes got better than dictation-quality.
Great video Fran. I so wanted the 45-EY-2 when I was a kid. My parents got me a brief case type model with a white tone arm and spindle top which I used until the electronics died at which point I built a base for the record changer and used it with a 10 watt Grommes LJ6 and a 12" Utah speaker in an old TV cabinet. I rocked the house!
Apparently George Martin initially disliked the sound of tape and felt that cutting recordings in the studio straight to shellac was superior soundwise. One track, no mistakes.
However Steve Albini, the music producer still uses tape for its consistency/dependability in his lifetime. He believes, with good reason that digital formats are forever changing and becoming obsolete: Sony PCM, Digital reel to reel, DAT, Adat..dare I say CD not to mention the software and hardware they were created on Atari/Amiga/Apple Nubus card macs etc etc...
A good case for this is the direct to disc Sheffield Labs projects
Amazing knowledge and such a relaxed, easy to understand presentation Fran. Thank you for all your hard work and fine detail 😊
I didn't know there was a color code system in place?
If you look through Wikipedia and the history of records in the 1920s 30s and 40s there were quite a lot of labels that were dedicated to releasing "Negro" music (and some labels actually used that word to describe the sort of tunes you'd find on orange 45s) or they'd have a different coloured label or they'd have an entirely separate catalogue number system.
It was all labels of colour for music of colour, so to speak.
In the UK, we didn't care or didn't notice, though we did create our own scene for "music of colour"
...we called it Northern Soul, and just as black people were disadvantaged in America, so disadvantaged working class people took to Northern Soul. Just like disadvantaged working class took to reggae, ska and 2Tone.
Evi1M4chine Ok I did or didn't know but I do regret asking about what I should have known. I think?
GeoNeilUK Somehow just saying negro music seems so odd and out of place in my life today. Yet this sort of terminology was very common within my earlier youth. In my mind black people are so intrenched in my personal culture that negro music is my music. Of course that goes for classical music or anything else within the music world. But yes negro music was first owned by a small segment of black people brought here by force who made the most of a bad situation.
I would like to think of it as a gift of pain and survival or better yet rhythm and blues.
If one watches a rock n roll documentary, one will see those who blazed the trail like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. The Beatles spoke of their heroes as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis.
"You must be in public school to be so politically brainwashed and misinformed."
Why did you say that?
I enjoy learning about vintage electronics and especially audio. Thanks
Adorable AND smart!
Holy Cow! What A Music Collection! A Collection of classic 45 RPM Records!
Some record companies chose to press 45s using polystyrene instead of vinyl. I don't know the reason. Perhaps it cost less.
polystyrene is what is used to make disposable cups and packing foam, so yeah, it is cheap.
Definitely not as durable though.
Richard Smith It was also the material used for the clear parts of CD cases, which would explain why they were so fragile.
it wore out very quickly, the groves turning white after a few plays.
It was easy to spot a polystyrene version by the edge which was shiny and it came to a tapered point in the middle. If one got 2 plays before the grooves deteriorated, they were doing good
Discovered lots from watching this excellent video... 45rpm, probably the best audio format ever sound wise.......
....11:35....Jukebox, interesting that the 'tone-arm is opposite the usual position. Are the needle/cartridges different? I seem to remember the standard type cartridges had the needle slanted slightly so the needle would drag, rather than cut into the grooves?
Doug Ankrum i think some of those had dual tone arms to play A or B side, the other arm is going the right way. other mechs could flip the record to A or B
WOW…this takes me back…Switching on the old Fischer receiver as the tubes helped to heat our living room in the winter. The lovely sound as one of the stationary 45’s drop onto the record beneath it spinning at 45 RPM ! You can almost see the vinyl bits flying off. The best was when 5 or more 45’s were stacked on the turntable and slippage caused the playing record to be around 40 RPM. You forgot to mention the sprocket you needed to insert into the hold of the 45 so you can play them on a 33/45 combo Garrard turntable. Love your UA-cam videos Fran…..thank you for all the work you put into them.
Fran, is that an EEVBlog Brymen meter you have there? :)
Looks like it. Ive got a brand new fluke, but i think i want one too. just to support
On a subject I didn't know I had any interest in, your presentation Fran quite caught my attention. A nice presentation of an interesting bit of history. Thank you for taking the time to create and post this video.
You Probably blew a lot of millennial minds with all this talk about a unknown format they have probably never heard of... lol