Hello everybody, The picture to the right is of Kenneth Everett Babcock, Founder of Surf Records at age 47. He is my Dad. Thank you for reading this Wordcast.

We are going to talk about how 7" vinyl phonograph records are made from the start to finish.

Hear Kenny Speak First: "Kenny Babcock - Sam Kay"

The first thing that happens is. A songwriter has to write a song and a singer or artist then collaborates with the song writer and musicians to make up the style and composition of the song. This is also known as "Arranging" or the "Arrangement."

In the arrangement is decided what genera the music will be, (i.e. Rock n Roll, R&B, Pop, Jazz) etc.

In the 1950s and early 1960s Digital equipment did not exist yet. All amplifiers, pre-amps, broadcast equipment, television camera’s were all vacuum tube devices. Actually true autophytes still prefer vacuum tubes to digital because vacuum tubes, in physics, are actual using wave forms of energy instead of digital bits.

The microphone in that era were of four basic designs with two options. The two options are High-impedance and Low impedance. Low impedance is the preferred choice.

1. Called a "Ribbon" microphone. This main microphone was used in radio and television in the 1950s era. It was manufactured by RCA Victor Company. This microphone was of a ribbon design. It is the microphone that you see in old motion pictures. It is rectangular and the top half has a housing with little round holes in the metal covering. This type of microphone had a internal structure with magnetic qualities that looked like a tuning fork with a top on it. In the open space there was a thin corrugated piece of metal ribbon about a quarter of an inch wide and three and a half inches long. Also there is a coil of wire that acts as a signal pickup structure. This type of microphone is also of the low impedance type. It puts out a signal ratio of 0 to 1 volt in a wave representing the sound that is picked up. It give a professional full sound quality and was the microphone of choice.

2. Called a "Dynamic" microphone. This type of microphone is like a speaker in reverse. It has a diaphragm connected to a magnet, that vibrates with in a coil of wire. As the magnet is moved by the diaphragm within the coil it produces a voltage potential in the wires of the microphone. This style of microphone is not as sensitive nor does it reproduce the full spectrum of sound as well.

3. Called a "Crystal" microphone. This type of microphone takes advantage of the pizzo-electric effect of the crystal. That effect is, every time the crystal is struck or bend it produces an electric charge that can be captured and then amplified. This same type of microphone was also used in early phonograph players. The needle instead of a diaphragm was connected to the crystal to make the crystal generate an electric charge when the needle vibrated as it flow through the groove of the record.

This type of microphone was the least effective for quality. Often this type of microphone was made into a contact microphone, where the whole assembly was attached to the vibrating surface. Because of the minute amount of current produced by the crystal, it is a high impedance device, which means that the signal had to be amplified at lot to get the result wanted. Because of high impedance it is subject to introducing a lot of extra noise because of the high amplification.

4. The "Condenser" microphone is the most common one today. It amplifies the sound produced by amplifying the potential change made between to round disks in the microphone. These are very sensitive to vibrational changes. Leo Laporte, who is a podcaster, uses this kind of microphone. It give a very full and professional sound to the voice.

The song or songs need to be recorded on to Magnetic tape or the more modern elements are recording directly to Hard Disk or Solid State Hard Disks with multi-tracts. Once this is done. The music needs to be mixed with what ever elements are desired to be forefront. In the 1950s because of union rules the singer had to be recorded at the same time as the music on the Magnetic tape. The Ampex mono 1/4" tape recorder was the defacto standard. Then came the stereo tape recorder (i.e. a two track machine.) Union rules relaxed over time, and Ampex and other tape machine manufacturers started producing multi-track machines. These multi-track machines got to the point where there were 24 tracks on tape that was between 1 inch and 2 inches wide.

The music producers then started to separating each instruments from each other so that each one would be recorded on it’s own separate sound track. In order for each musician to be in sync with each other, they all wore headsets so that all could hear each other.

In the very beginning when Rock n Roll was recorded and put on vinyl, it became immediately apparent that the way the music was recorded, even though is sound good on playback, once it was put on vinyl is did not sound the same. It sounded pretty lame. So a new recording industry procedure was developed out of necessity. The procedure was called "Mastering."

Mastering was the process of taking the master original tape and recording a second one from it and setting the equalization in different parts of the spectrum. Bring up the weak or low level parts of the music spectrum was the process needed to have the music in such a form that when it was put on vinyl, it then sounded great on the playback. This could only be done on one generation of re-recording. This is because all music or sound recording done in the analog world, degraded in quality every time is was re-recorded to a new tape. Please note: that this is not true when recording in the digital modes of recording in later years. Back in the 1950s and 1960s they did not have digital recording method then.

Now that the record company has a Master of the songs. Two are needed for a 45 rpm 7" record. They are ready to be cut onto an acetate. An acetate is a media that is like a form of plastic but it is not plastic. It is made out of acetate material coated on an aluminum disk. thus the name Acetate. The acetate is usually cut on a Sculley Lathe. This is a special lathe specifically built for cutting the Acetate. As the acetate is cut by the Sapphire, Diamond, or Ruby cutting needle there is a steady stream of cut acetate that is coming away from the cutting needle. It goes directly into a small vacuum pipe that delivers it to a glass collection jar. While the acetate is being cut the Sculley lathe is moving the cutting needle closer and closer to the middle of the record. The result is a spiral of a continuous track of recorded music. Once the song has reached the end of the music, a lever is moved on the Sculley lathe by the operator and the cutting needle without any signal being applied, so that it is quite, moves in a predetermine non-concentric circle and then cuts back into itself to finish the cut on the record and the needle removed from the acetate surface . You can observe this on any 33 or 45 rpm record. The reason for the new loop of grove being out of a perfect circle and instead going back and forth on the record was to actuate the record playing machines auto changer to pickup the playback needle and drop the next record for playing.

This was super for the mono recorded records. With the introduction of stereo two channel music in a single cut groove, a method had to be developed to record the stereo signal onto the acetate master. The solution was a two fold signal being generated and cut at the same time in the same grove. Well, you say how do you do that. The answer is: We need to record a left channel signal and a right channel signal and still be able to tell them apart and individually at the time of playback. First of all the construction of the recording head that holds the cutting needle is made up of two coils of wire that act like a speaker, ut instead of moving a diaphram, it move a needle. When a current of electricity is modulated, the music signal makes the coil vibrate in sync with the music. Just like a speaker makes the cone vibrate as the music component changes you then hear the music because the cone which is attached to the coil vibrate the air, so you hear it. As the coil vibrates, it is moving the cutting needle thus making a changing grove in the acetate which reflects all the tone and volume of the mastered music. This left channel is moving the needle back and forth from side to side. If we played back this channel only we would only get one channel or monotone music.

Because we have to coils in the cutting needle head, the second coil records the right channel of music. The difference between the two channels must be recorded in such a way that the playback machine can tell which channel is left and which is right. In order to do this the second coil must be 90 degree out of phase with the first one. What does this mean? Remember the Left channel was moving the needle left and right in sync with the music being cut into the acetate. At the same time the coil for the right channel is being moved ahead and back on the same grove being cut. This way the cut is being modulated in line with the grove being cut.

The stereo playback needle and head also have either two coils or two crystals, depending on type and design, that convert vibrations into electrical signals. These two coils or crystal are also 90 degrees out of phase with each other and so the move of the playback needle matches the vibrations exactly for the left and right channels individually for reproducing the distinct music on each tract mutually exclusively. Only left channel music come out of the left speaker and only the right channel music comes out of the right speaker. A combination of the two channels gives the full left, center, and right components of the reproduced sound.

Now that a Master acetate has been cut on the Sculley lathe, the process take a different direction. The acetate is now taken to a process where it is mounted on a special plate. The acetate is spun on a lathe where the acetate is sprayed it a conducting chemical that allows electricity to flow over the surface of the acetate.

In the next process, the acetate with the conducting chemical on it is lowered into a plating tank where a positive electrical charge is applied to the acetate frame and a negative charge applied to the plating tank which is made of metal. This polarization is needed because in direct current electricity the electrons flow from negative (Cathode) to the positive (Anode). It usually takes about 12 volts DC electric current at about 50 amperes to plate a layer of nickel on the surface of the acetate. It is plated thick enough to totally cover the surface of the acetate and fill in the recorded grooves. It usually take from five to ten minutes to do this. After this is done. The acetate with the nickel on it is now placed in another plating tank where a very thick layer of copper is plated on top of the nickel in the same type of plating process. The thickness is approximately .0625 thousands of an inch. Also know as 1/16th of an inch. This surface is not very smooth. The special mounting plate is now place in a special lathe and the copper surface is turned and the back is cut smooth and flat.

Now when the acetate and the metal plate is removed from the lathe. The nickel is separated from the acetate. Leaving the nickel side of the plate with a mirror image of the acetate record. The only difference is that all the recorded grove are sticking out from the surface instead of being groves. This is now called the Metal Master.

The next step is where this new metal master is again mounted on a special from in a lathe where the metal master is now lined up with a centering pin and the metal master this time is held onto the lathe from by vacuum filled groves that are concentric with the master. The vacuum holds the metal master to the plate very tightly. Again the surface is coated with a parting agent that conducts electricity.

Once this is done the metal master is again plated with another metal material that once the process is completed and the two surfaces are separated, we now have a metal record that resembles the Acetate completely. If we put that final metal master on a record player if would play the music, because it has grooves in it. This is necessary because on the final plating process we are going to end up with another metal record with the groves sticking out again. This metal records is called the "Stamper" It is the record that will actually press the vinyl and make the grove in it. These stampers have a pressing life of about 2,000 record pressings before they need to be replaced.

As you can see, we have still got the Metal Master. We can make numerous pressing Stampers from this metal master. So on a run of 100,000 records pressed. It would take about 50 metal Stampers to accomplish that.

Now that we have the Stampers, one for each side of the record. In the case of 45 rpm records that would usually be a song on each side. Although two or three songs have been pressed on each side of a 45 record. I have some 45's with just that layout on them.

The next thing is that we now have to print record label in a printing press. Back in the 1950s & 1960s that was usually done on a letter press. They did not have litho presses in those days.

So a lead cut of the label had to be made and then you would need three cuts for label A and three cuts for label B that would yield three labels per printed sheet. After the printing the next process performed on each stack of about 200 sheets would be to precision drill with a hollow drill the center hole for each label of six, it was held in a drilling plate for accuracy of the hole location. When this was done. There was a stack of 200 sheets with six hole 1/4 inch in diameter in it.

The next step was to now punch with a paper punch the outside diameter of the label with the center hole as a guide the whole stack of 200 at one time. The paper punch was like a three inch cylinder with a sharp edge on the cutting side. When finished you would have a stack of 200 labels ready for the manufacturing of the record.

I will describe the record pressing of one press to get volume there would be many record presses in a factory all pressing the same record or different ones.

There were two type of record presses. The first type was typical in the 1950s. It was a mechanical press. With a 3 horsepower electric motor powering it. The press consisted of an upper stamper mounted in s pressing housing, and a lower stamper in the lower housing which as a 2.5 inch slightly tapered center pin sticking vertical in the center of the stamper center mount.

To the left of the press was a record trimming machine either a punch press or a vinyl trimmer. To the right was what is called a steam table. The table was heated by steam and the vinyl material was placed on the steam table in order to make it soft and pliable. There was a high volume steam boiler near by that supplied an unlimited volume of steam for the production of the records.

The operator would throw a lever that would direct the steam through the stamper holding housings both top and bottom. The operator would then place the correct printed label face down on the pin. He would then fold the vinyl material over one time then one time in the other direction. Ending up with the vinyl material looking like four layers high. He would then place this hot vinyl material on the pin and push it down the pin. Then he would place the other label face up on the pin. Now he would put both hands on a separate lever and then pulling the levers and keeping his hands on those lever while the record press closed, pressing close to the thickness of a 45 rpm record. The label section being thick than the playing surfaces so that when they are stacked the labels touch but the playing surfaces do not touch each other.

Once the press is closed the operator then throws the steam lever in the opposite direction which now routes cold water through the stamper housings to cool the records down to room temperature. There is a water/steam temperature gauge above the control lever to indicate the temperature through the process.

Once the press is closed and the lever thrown to cool the press, as soon as the temperature reaches 68 degrees. The press is opened and the new record is removed. With the small hole in the center and with excess vinyl on the edges. The record now is place in a punch press, then a lever is pressed and the center hole is punched to size as well as the outside edge trimmed to size at the same time. Then the finish record is removed and stacked on a pole the size of the center hole.

Now the control lever is thrown in the other direction again heating the stamper up to 270 degrees, and the process start all over again. Now the records are place in sleeves and pack in boxes of 25 each.

The other process of trimming the records is: The record after being removed from the press is still a little pliable. It is placed on a trimming machine turn table and the table moves into a set of round cutting tools that are rotating. As the rotating cutters turn the record table also turns so the edge is cut like a can opener opens a can almost. The record is removed and stacked. Then the stack is taken to another area where the center hole is punched into the record using the 1/4" hole as the center guide.

Well there you have it the manufacturing of the vinyl record.

It might interest you to know that CD and DVD are almost made the same way. They are pressed into a chrome like very thin piece of plastic while being added to a .050 of an inch plastic round plate. Also the masters are made with a laser lathe instead of a acetate Sculley lathe with a coated aluminum platter. The laser lathe is very fast. It makes a master in one or two seconds instead of the two or three minutes it takes to cut an acetate master in the past. Then the process continues.

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