Turntable
The record player has been at the heart of the American music industry for more than a half-century. The record player, phonograph, gramophone and turntable all refer fundamentally to the same technology: they are mechanical devices for the reproduction of music, and they all play records. But their functions, forms and patterns of use have changed significantly over time and therefore their intended meanings have changed as well. What was initially a playback device is today a musical instrument.
The origins of the turntable can be traced back to two key inventions from the late nineteenth century: Thomas Edison’s phonograph from 1877, which captured sound on a wax cylinder; and Emil Berliner’s gramophone from 1887, which performed the same function but on a flat round disc. Edison’s phonograph used tin foil wrapped around a cylinder to record the sound, while Berliner’s gramophone used a beeswax disc dipped in zinc. Both these media existed for a few years eventually marked by one of the earliest “format wars” (later followed by the war between the 33 rpm and 45 rpm records, the cassette and the CD, and so on). Berliner’s disc emerged as the standard and cylinders disappeared. This disc led to the development of the 78 rpm shellac record, which was eventually replaced by the thinner and easier-to-manufacture vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC) record.
In the mid-1970s, the phonograph began to lead a double life in American popular culture. It continued to serve its original purpose as a playback device for recorded sound, but it also began to function as a musical instrument for the manipulation, alteration and combination of prerecorded sound. Pioneering DJs such as Francis Grasso, Kool Herc and Grand Wizard Theodore pushed their equipment to generate sounds and effects never heard before (like slip-cuing, mixing, the break and scratching). Using two turntables, lots of records, a mixer, headphones and a microphone, they created a new culture of electronic dance music.
Such innovative and unusual usage required sturdy turntables. The Technics SL 1200, first manufactured in 1972, continues to be most favored by DJs because its robust engineering can withstand the constant back and forth movements of the records, pitch changes and other purposeful mishandling. Technics and other companies such as Numark, Vestax and Stanton manufacture models specifically designed for turntablists. Today, club and hip-hop DJs may use two or more vinyl turntables, CD turntables, MP3 players, mixers, headphones, records, laptop computers and other gear to create music. In a circular rhythm of production and consumption, design and use, manufacturers developed turntables to listen to records, DJs started using them to create new genres of music and manufacturers, in response, designed new turntables to promote these practices.
