How Record Players Really Work - A Step by Step Guide
2014.07.19
If you've ever experienced the magic of being transported to a different place and time by a song, you already know how music works. But the actual record player that you're listening to your favorite songs and albums on isn't magic—it's actually an intricate process that involves many parts working together in unison and harmony to create a song.
In this manner, it's kind of like a composer that has to interpret the little grooves on your record, bringing forth from them a symphony of sound that is pleasing to the ear.
1. Let's say that you get home and put your favorite record down onto your record player. You place the record on the platter. The platter is the part of your device that physically
2. The platter is spun by a motor that is activated when you flip the switch. Depending on what type of record player you have, the motor will be in one of two places. If it's a belt driven record player, the motor will be to the side of the platter. This reduces shock thanks to the rubber belt, thus eliminating the vibrations coming from the motor interfering with the electronic signal. This preserves the quality of the sound. If the motor is directly underneath the platter, it is called a direct drive turntable. This makes it safe for manipulating the platter, moving it back and forth as a DJ would. If you tried this with a belt turntable, you would likely damage the record player.
3. After your platter starts rotating your record, you will either manually lower the tonearm or press the button to lower it if you have an automatic turntable. The tonearm is attached to the actual turntable itself, providing a steady base and moveable fixture point for the stylus to interpret the grooves on your record without skipping. When you place the tonearm down, the sound will begin as soon as the needle hits the grooves. When you remove the tonearm from the record, the sound will stop.
4. The needle is actually called a stylus and it rests on the end of the tonearm. This is the point of actual contact with the record. Older models of stylus were made from crystal tips that generated electrical charges when they hit the grooves, thus translating the groove into an electric impulse that can be amplified to create the sounds we hear. Ceramic stylus apparatuses came next to help prevent skipping but now, we use a diamond tip stylus connected to an electromagnetic coil. This operates in the same manner as an electric guitar pickup.
5. When the stylus moves along the grooves in the record, a fluctuation in the electromagnetic field is produced. This induces a charge in the coil that when amplified, produces a replication of the original recording, hence the name: record.
6. Depending on your sound system, this amplification can come in any number of ways, but the point is that the record player really doesn't reproduce the sound, it creates an electrical charge that can be amplified. When this charge is amplified to a high enough level, it becomes audible to the human ear.
Of course, eventually this would hit the music world even harder since electrical impulses were soon replaced by digital files and online music piracy took recorded music to a whole other level. Still, it's nice to sit back and enjoy your favorite vinyl classics the way they were meant to be heard, if not live.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Just2shutter
Author Bio – This guest post is a work of James Andrews from Phone Phun Novelty Telephones Plus dealing in a wide variety of products like French phones, Coleman products, Crosleyturntables etc.
In this manner, it's kind of like a composer that has to interpret the little grooves on your record, bringing forth from them a symphony of sound that is pleasing to the ear.
How do record players work?
But how exactly is this accomplished? What makes sound come out of a record player? We'll answer these questions and more in this step by step guide to how record players really work.1. Let's say that you get home and put your favorite record down onto your record player. You place the record on the platter. The platter is the part of your device that physically
2. The platter is spun by a motor that is activated when you flip the switch. Depending on what type of record player you have, the motor will be in one of two places. If it's a belt driven record player, the motor will be to the side of the platter. This reduces shock thanks to the rubber belt, thus eliminating the vibrations coming from the motor interfering with the electronic signal. This preserves the quality of the sound. If the motor is directly underneath the platter, it is called a direct drive turntable. This makes it safe for manipulating the platter, moving it back and forth as a DJ would. If you tried this with a belt turntable, you would likely damage the record player.
3. After your platter starts rotating your record, you will either manually lower the tonearm or press the button to lower it if you have an automatic turntable. The tonearm is attached to the actual turntable itself, providing a steady base and moveable fixture point for the stylus to interpret the grooves on your record without skipping. When you place the tonearm down, the sound will begin as soon as the needle hits the grooves. When you remove the tonearm from the record, the sound will stop.
4. The needle is actually called a stylus and it rests on the end of the tonearm. This is the point of actual contact with the record. Older models of stylus were made from crystal tips that generated electrical charges when they hit the grooves, thus translating the groove into an electric impulse that can be amplified to create the sounds we hear. Ceramic stylus apparatuses came next to help prevent skipping but now, we use a diamond tip stylus connected to an electromagnetic coil. This operates in the same manner as an electric guitar pickup.
5. When the stylus moves along the grooves in the record, a fluctuation in the electromagnetic field is produced. This induces a charge in the coil that when amplified, produces a replication of the original recording, hence the name: record.
6. Depending on your sound system, this amplification can come in any number of ways, but the point is that the record player really doesn't reproduce the sound, it creates an electrical charge that can be amplified. When this charge is amplified to a high enough level, it becomes audible to the human ear.
Electricity Revolutionized Music
Now that you know a little bit more about how a record player works and that it is an electrical process rather than “magic,” it's easy to see why the father of the lightbulb, Thomas J. Edison, also invented the phonograph. Edison was an electric genius and also a music lover. His phonograph invention revolutionized the way we listen to music, but it also put millions of musicians out of work. Thanks to records, live music was much less in demand since it was far cheaper to play a recording of an orchestra at a play or the circus than to pay out full price.Of course, eventually this would hit the music world even harder since electrical impulses were soon replaced by digital files and online music piracy took recorded music to a whole other level. Still, it's nice to sit back and enjoy your favorite vinyl classics the way they were meant to be heard, if not live.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Just2shutter
Author Bio – This guest post is a work of James Andrews from Phone Phun Novelty Telephones Plus dealing in a wide variety of products like French phones, Coleman products, Crosleyturntables etc.
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