Retro Technologies: Gramophone Records and Gramophones

Records are defined by their fans as the purest form of music or sound. Record players and records continue to be found in the homes of millions of people around the world and serve music to these homes. Is there a reason for the passion for records beyond just being fashionable? To understand this, we need to take a closer look at these interesting devices.

The first known music recording system was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. Edison, who recorded the sound vibrations by penetrating a thin tin plate wrapped around the cylinder, turned the cylinder in the opposite direction to listen to the sounds. Pretty ingenious idea, isn't it? The name Edison gave himself was "Talking machine", but later the name phonograph was preferred. It is called phono (sound), graph (written sound). Stone records emerged with the deformation of the cylinder used in this recorder. The name of the stone plaque was given because it immediately broke when it fell to the ground.

Stone records played with the gramophone also have the distinction of being the first musical document. The famous 45-inch records are smaller than the stone records and do not break when they fall to the ground. Songs can be recorded on both sides of these records, which can be played on electric record players, provided that they do not exceed five minutes.

Until the cassette player era, music was widely listened to on records and record players. Although the developing technology has changed our music habits, records have never disappeared. Record lovers have always existed and continued to keep this love alive. The popularity of the records, which have become famous again and started to enter the houses today, is closely related to the quality of the sound they offer.

Today, manufacturers compress audio files to reduce the size of music files. Since the CD production, the sounds recorded in the album are mostly compressed and delivered to the consumer. Internet technologies, on the other hand, have to keep the file size in manageable sizes due to the nature of the transfer. During this compression process, external sounds are deleted, so the sounds that are considered as noise in the recording are removed. In the record era, the sound of instruments can be heard much more clearly, as analogue recordings are used, not electronic ones, and the files are not compressed. This allows the record players to deliver a much more natural, deep and spatial sound. Let's not go without adding that this is a trick point. Most of the recent albums released as LPs are printed in CD versions. In other words, the compressed recording for CD is printed on the plate. As such, it is of course not possible to obtain record-quality sound. It's best if you, like most record lovers, turn to old records. Everything is in the old records. So, if you want to access these old records, where will you find them? In order to find the answer to this question, we have listed the best record stores in Istanbul for you.

Analog Culture

In 2014, while looking for a place to move the producer Kaan Düzarat studio, he found himself opening this record store. He tells the story of opening this place as follows: “In late 2013, the number of record stores was quite low. There was no record store to find quality electronic music, old or new. I wanted to have a space where I could share not only electronic music, but also the music I filtered myself.” Analog Kültür, which was opened with this idea, continues to serve as both a record player and a studio today. If you are one of the record lovers, you will love this place.

Groove

This place has been in service for about 15 years. Even the world-famous music group Depeche Mode and musician Martin Gore have come to Groove, which has been one of the first stores that come to mind when it comes to vinyl since the early 2000s, to shop. In this place where you can find especially jazz and rock records, second-hand record prices are also very affordable.

Vintage Records

Do you remember there was a legendary radio program in the 90s; Losers club. Anyone who knows the Mete Avunduk and Nursel Kaymaz duo there knows. These two names are the founders of Vintage Records. Taking advantage of their radio broadcasting experience, they made the shop magnificent. Here you can find records in music genres such as indie, rock, metal, jazz, soul.

You may also be interested in our article The Journey of Music from Tape Players to Spotify , where we explain how the consumption technologies of music have changed over the years.