{"id":20597,"date":"2025-08-31T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/?p=20597"},"modified":"2025-08-31T09:38:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:38:02","slug":"van-fonograaf-tot-78-toerenplaat-de-geboorte-van-de-geluidsdrager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/achter-de-groef\/van-fonograaf-tot-78-toerenplaat-de-geboorte-van-de-geluidsdrager\/","title":{"rendered":"From phonograph to 78 rpm record: the birth of the sound carrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the first dreams to Edison's phonograph<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who puts a record on their turntable today rarely realizes that it took a long and winding road before music was ever recorded in grooves. The idea that sounds could be preserved arose in the nineteenth century, a time when sound was still considered ephemeral. Yet there were visionaries who dared to believe that a voice, a melody, or a single word didn't have to disappear as soon as it was uttered. One of them was the French printer and inventor \u00c9douard-L\u00e9on Scott de Martinville. In 1857, he developed the phonautograph, a device that made sound waves visible, not audible. A horn captured the vibrations, a diaphragm converted them into motion, and a needle scratched them into soot on paper. No one could listen back to these traces, but for the first time, sound became tangible, like a kind of airborne signature. The idea that sounds were more than intangible waves was born.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It would take another twenty years before anyone took the next step. In 1877, Thomas Edison presented his phonograph, a wondrous machine that echoed voices from a cylindrical roll covered with tin foil and later wax. While Scott left only visual traces, Edison's device could both capture and play back sound. The first time people heard their own voice was a disconcerting experience for many. Newspapers described how listeners sometimes laughed in amazement, sometimes shuddered because it sounded like a ghost speaking. Edison saw the phonograph primarily as a business tool: a precursor to the dictaphone. But it soon became clear that the phonograph could do more. The idea that a musical performance didn't have to be a one-time occurrence, but could recur again and again, changed the culture of listening forever. Music could enter the living room, independent of time and place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the cylinder system had limitations. They were fragile, difficult to copy, and therefore unsuitable for mass production. While Edison clung to his invention, the German \u00e9migr\u00e9 Emile Berliner worked in the United States on an alternative that would change history. In the 1880s, he developed the gramophone record: a flat disc with a spiral groove. The material Berliner experimented with varied, but he soon found the right base in shellac, a mixture of resin and fillers. The result was durable enough for everyday use and suitable for pressing in large numbers. While cylinders were unique pieces, records could be copied thousands of times. This made music an industrial product for the first time, available to a wide audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 78 rpm record and the birth of a new listening culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the gramophone record quickly became the dominant medium. Initially, various speeds were in use, but around 1925, one standard became definitively established: 78 rpm. This speed provided a playing time of three to five minutes per side. It was sufficient for a song or a dance number, but too short for larger works. Therefore, record companies bundled multiple discs in book-like sleeves: the album<\/em> As we know it today, it literally originated as a collection of records in a folder. The physical limitation of three minutes per side also left its mark on the music itself. The three-minute pop song format, which would remain the standard well into the twentieth century, originated with the shellac record. Technology shaped the art form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The listening experience changed radically. Where music had once been confined to the concert stage, people could now listen to a singer or orchestra at home. The gramophone became a permanent fixture in the living room, often as a centerpiece. Families gathered around the device to listen to music together. It was more intimate and personal than ever. Yet, there were limitations. Shellac was heavy and fragile: one accidental fall and the record would shatter. The sound was accompanied by ticking and hissing, which we find charming today but were simply part of the technology back then. The needles wore out quickly and had to be replaced frequently. But the magic outweighed the inconveniences. For the first time, music was always available<\/strong>, not only during a live performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1920s through the 1940s were the golden age of the 78 rpm record. Major labels like Victor, Columbia, Decca, and HMV released millions of records. Jazz spread from New Orleans throughout the world, southern blues found its way to urban listeners, and classical music and early pop were also recorded on shellac. For singers, orchestras, and bands, a recording meant the opportunity to reach an audience far larger than the hall in which they performed. The gramophone democratized music: not only the elite in concert halls, but also ordinary families could now share in the latest sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also the period when the industry professionalized. Studios sprang up to record music as accurately as possible, engineers developed methods to improve sound quality, and record companies built networks to distribute their products. The shellac record became not only a technological medium but also a cultural symbol. It represented modernity, a new way of engaging with art and entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Limits of Shellac and the Legacy That Remained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the limitations of shellac were inevitable. Its short playing time limited composers' creativity, its fragility made the medium impractical, and the noise became increasingly bothersome as recording quality improved. The quest for better materials ultimately led to the introduction of vinyl. When Columbia introduced the LP in 1948, it immediately became clear that this was the medium of the future: twenty minutes of music per side, a lighter and more durable material, and significantly better sound reproduction. Within a few years, the shellac record disappeared from the market, supplanted by the LP and later the vinyl single.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Yet the legacy of the 78 rpm record is profound. It was the first mass medium to bring music into the living room. It laid the foundation for the length of the pop song and made music a product you could own, collect, and cherish. For many, it was the first time that music wasn't a one-off and fleeting experience, but a repeatable experience that found its own place in daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, shellac records are primarily found among collectors and in archives. Their sound, full of hiss and crackles, evokes a nostalgic charm. But behind that crackle also resonates the echo of a revolution. Every groove is a reminder that there were once people who dared to dream that sound didn't have to disappear. Edison's phonograph, Berliner's records, the 78 rpm standard: together, they formed the first major step towards the LP. Without those pioneering years, the world of vinyl we cherish so much today would simply be unthinkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we place an old shellac record on an antique gramophone today and slowly lower the needle into the groove, we're not just listening to music. We're listening to the beginning of a story that continues to this day, a story in which technology, culture, and passion intertwined in black grooves that still sing more than a century later.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Van de eerste dromen tot de fonograaf van Edison Wie vandaag een plaat op de draaitafel legt, beseft zelden dat er een lange en grillige weg aan voorafging voordat muziek ooit in groeven werd vastgelegd. Het idee dat klanken konden worden bewaard, ontstond in de negentiende eeuw, een tijd waarin geluid nog[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1436,1437],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-achter-de-groef","category-geschiedenis-van-fonograaf-tot-vinyl"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/78rpm-Featured-Image.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20597"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20614,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20597\/revisions\/20614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hetbejaardeplaatjeshuis.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}