Music Feeds The Soul

In the coronavirus era, where we are alone with ourselves, question life, return to our essence, enjoy and live life, music undoubdetly has a great role in protecting our mental health and finding the serenity of our soul. Thanks to the delicious concertos presented from the balconies, symphony orchestras created from building to building, dj performances that mobilize the street, and unique live concerts on digital platforms, music mediated us to be together by following the social distance.

Recording live performances, making albums and works immortal is a great treasure and responsibility to carry a valuable heritage to future generations. The industrialization of music and becoming a commercial commodity across the world coincides with the reign of Abdulhamid. On December 6, 1877, Edison rotates the roller with a thin tin plate and records a children's song with a steel needle. The name of the instrument is the Phonograph. Since then, this device is developed and is called the gramophone. The patent holder of the tool is a USA named Emile Berliner. The patent date is 1887. The first production is made in the same year in Hanover, Germany. Gramophone and record were commercially released in 1887 and 1889. During these periods, a very fragile and difficult to compress material called ebonite was used. Until the late 1890s plates made of this material were used, but their fragility was prevented by using a new plastic material developed by Berliener. Also in these years, it was accepted in the first standards instead of the plates produced in different diameters by different manufacturers. Thus, the so-called 78 in general, actually 78.26 revolutions per minute became standard. Turkey at that time is given for this new production technology stone plaque with the name of the produced plaques. Also during these years, a 16-speed record appeared, but it has not been retained.

Although there have been many innovations in record recording technology over the years, the main changes in the structure of the records occurred in the 20th century. Being able to record only about 4 minutes and being fragile, especially on 78-speed records, speeded up various searches and researches. At this point, as a result of the work done by the American Columbia company, the 33-year-old records appeared. The actual cycles of these plates are 33 1/3 cycles. They are called LPs (long plays) in Turkey. A special plastic resin was used in the production of these plates. In this way, it was prevented to break easily, and with the help of the developing recording technology, the noise rates were reduced and the music quality was greatly improved. The development of the format in general was completed with the emergence of 45-speed (45) plates by the Victor company in 1949, immediately after the 33-speed plates.

Plaque is a circular sound storage unit made of PVC that can be recorded on both sides. The audio tracks recorded on it can be listened to by reading on the devices called turntables or gramophones. The technology used in plate production is a special press method. The original plaque is prepared by scraping with special crystal needles. The traces of this plate are produced by special printing in the opposite form, and after the production of the mold to be used in production, the raw material is poured into the molds and cooled quickly in special printing machines. Polyvinylchloride (plaque raw material) sent to molds at about 170 degrees is cooled and plaque is obtained. Today, although there are plates produced in different weights, 33 1/3 and 45 revolutions plates are still being produced most commonly.

Today, although the tapes have delivered the place of CD and DVD to the storage devices, the records are still the preference of all ages who want to listen to quality music. The history and nostalgia felt from plaques are priceless. Who wouldn't want to be in the collectors' place?