People still absolutely baffled by how vinyl records work even after seeing video of how they're made
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: X/@learnsomething
If there's one thing in this life that could convince me magic is real, it's vinyl records.
You're telling me that having a tiny, sharp needle sit in a groove on a piece of plastic as it spins around in a circle can produce the sound of some of the most beautiful, creative and renowned music in the world? I don't think so.
It just doesn't make sense to me, and I'm not the only one.
Maybe a video showing how they get made will help?
Advert
The above clip has been shared online, and shows how the vinyl albums go from being lumps of plastic to flat, precise records with intricate designs.
The plastic is pressed down by a machine into its recognizable shape, before being slotted under a knife to remove any excess around the edge.
It's a pretty impressive process, but unfortunately it doesn't do much to answer the question of exactly how the grooves on the vinyl translate into music.
Viewers are still completely clueless after watching the video, with one writing: "I still don’t understand how they get the music on there like I googled it and still don’t understand."
"How do they get the sound on it though?" wrote another, while a third asked: "How do you add music to this lol."
While I don't personally know the answer off the top of my head, hopefully the London Sound Academy can provide the knowledge we're all so desperate for.
The academy explains that 'to understand the genius behind vinyl, you first need to understand how sound waves work'.
That's right, we're going to get sciencey.
To put it as simply as possible, sound moves through the air in waves, as vibrating particles.
We hear the sound when those waves hit our eardrums, causing them to vibrate.
On a vinyl, the grooves you can see on the surface hold a reflection of these sound waves. The cuts within the groove are a physical recording of how sound waves behave as they move through the air.
As the needle rests on the vinyl, it vibrates through the groove and its bounces are transmitted down the metal bar to meet an electromagnetic device called a cartridge, which contains a piezoelectric crystal, or electrical coils and a magnet.
Each time the metal bar moves, it wobbles the crystal or pushes the magnet past the coil, generating an electrical signal which is fed out to the amplifier, resulting in the music we hear.
Get it?
Honestly, me neither - but if you can memorize how it works, you might just be able to impress someone the next time you see a vinyl player.
Failing that, it's probably just best if you sit back and enjoy the music.