All things vinyl
The Science of Sound
To better understand the relationship between the humble record groove and the stylus, it’s useful to go back to the basics of how sound works.
How the human ear perceives sound
Sound is a form of energy that travels through the air in the form of waves. When sound waves reach the human ear, they cause the eardrum to vibrate, which in turn sets off a chain of events that allows us to perceive sound.
The human ear is made up of three main parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The outer ear is the...
A brief history of vinyl records
Vinyl records have a rich and interesting history dating back over 100 years. Here is a timeline of some of the key moments in their development:
Late 19th century:
The first commercial sound recordings are made on cylinders and disks made of materials like wax, tin, and celluloid. Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor, is credited with creating the first commercially successful sound recording device, the phonograph, in 1877. The phonograph used a cylindrical wax cylinder wrapped in tin foil to record and play back sound. Edison's phonograph was primarily used for recording and playing back spoken messages, such as...