Prolight + Sound Middle East takes a look at the history of turntables and vinyl records – technology that changed the world of music forever.
It is believed that in 1857 French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville invented the world’s earliest known sound recording device. Twenty years later Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a device that could both record and playback sound, changing the world of music forever. Pretty soon, Alexander Graham Bell got in on the act, further improving Edison’s invention and by the late 1800s the turntable had become a well-known and popular device.
It was in 1895 that American Emile Berliner was credited with the invention of the gramophone, patenting the first disc records – 7-inch discs – creating the world’s first turntable and records. The discs were first made from hard rubber, then shellac and finally by 1897 vinyls, or long playing records, came into play.
Interestingly, the name for the annual Grammy Music Awards, “the premier recognition of recorded music accomplishment”, was inspired by Berliner’s invention of the gramophone. The first Grammy Awards was held in 1959 to acknowledge astounding achievements in the music industry, a nod to the exceptional achievements that Martinville, Edison, Bell and Berliner had accomplished a century previously.
In the early days of the 7-inch vinyl record, they could initially play for just two minutes, but as the technology progressed and 10-inch and 125-inch records were introduced this increased to three and four minutes respectively. It was these time limitations that lead first to the double-sided record and eventually, in the mid-1940s to the invention of the LP – long playing vinyl – usually on 12 inch discs and double-sided.
During World War II, the likes of Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday were featured on these rare vinyl discs. Today, such discs, particularly out-of-print recordings, have become precious memorabilia in collectors’ libraries. Although, cassettes, followed by compact discs (CDs), cornered the market in the 1980s, in recent years we are seeing a resurgence in the popularity of the phonograph record. So many DJs and music artists are utterly convinced of the superior quality of vinyl and that distinctive sound that only a needle to vinyl can produce.
DJ Technology
The invention of the turntable, and in particular, long playing vinyl records, which at the time were analogue sound storing mediums, was what laid the foundations to the concept of DJing – the act of playing multiple records in succession. Originally, the word ‘disc’ in disc jockey referred to mixing with gramophone records, but today a disc jockey is someone who can mix music from a range of different sources.
Today, the more common turntables available and preferred by DJs and music artists are digital, offering more audio manipulation features as well as capabilities for additional easy-to-use plug-ins and other software.
Both DJ hardware and software has evolved considerably in recent years. Names such as Pioneer, Technics, Vestax, Stanton, Reloop and Audio Technica all create rather decent professional DJ turntables from entry-level equipment right through to the most advanced in DJing technology. The marketplace is broad and there are different levels of machinery available at a range of different price points.
This more advanced technology can provide assisted or automatic completion of some of the more traditional techniques and skills that were originally associated with DJing on a turntable.
At Prolight & Sound Middle East the latest innovations in DJing technology will be showcased. Learn about the latest art and technology of the recording process and see the latest in ground-breaking professional equipment.
There is no doubt that the invention of the turntable has had an enduring legacy on the world of music, with some of the later technology changing not only what we hear, but also how and where we hear it.