How do vinyls play music

Do you think they produce a "warmer" sound? Let us know in the comments below! The Written Sound The Economist "In February a news report echoed around the internet, purporting to play back 6,year-old voices and other sounds from a clay pot. The receiver consisted of a tin foil wrapped cylinder and a very thin membrane, called a diaphragm, attached to a needle. Sound waves were directed into the diaphragm, making it vibrate. Mental Floss "Opinions aside, what we can all agree on is that there is indeed a difference in the sound that comes from vinyl versus that of digital media, both in the way it is produced and heard.

Seeker Indie. Social Media Links. The needle that sits in the grooves of the record; normally made from sapphire or diamond. Both stylus and cartridge are lowered, by the tone arm, onto the spinning record. To preserve the groves, the stylus should be placed onto the lead in — a 6mm blank space at the outer rim of the record. As the record turns, the stylus falls into the tiny cut grooves, causing it to vibrate.

This electrical wave is fed into an amplifier, amplified i. In today's digital age, you may or may not be familiar with old-school vinyl records. They do seem to be making a comeback. Or, maybe you're a vinyl record aficionado, with a collection of vinyl records covering every wall of shelving in your house. Whichever way you lean, you may or may not fully understand exactly how vinyl records work.

It can be a bit of a mystery, for sure. Sound waves, you say? Etched and recorded so they can be played back? What kind of voodoo is this?

Merely technology and the major moves and advances in said technology that have been made over the years. Simply put a vinyl record spins on the record player while the stylus moves through the records grooves. A stylus is made of an industrial gemstone sometimes diamond and is attached to the record arm. Please note, there are record player cartridges that use piezoelectricity and some that use magnets, but in the end they both feed the signal to the amplifier. Know that you know how records work, you may want to understand the actual record player device to get more context.

Vinyl record players are electromagnetic devices that change sound vibrations into electrical signals. When a record spins, it creates sound vibrations that get converted into electrical signals. These signals are fed into electronic amplifiers. Electric amps vibrate and feed the resulting sound into speakers, which amplify it and make it louder. Record players still use the whole needle and groove methodology that a phonograph used, although record players today are much more high tech.

So how do they work exactly? The needle, or stylus of a record player is one of several parts that make up a transducer. A transducer is what changes mechanical energy into electrical energy and changes electrical energy into mechanical energy. The whole system contains a stylus, magnets, coils, cantilever, and a body within a cartridge. The mechanical energy from the sound waves is converted into electrical energy, which is then sent into the amplifier and out to the speakers.

When a vinyl record is made, a needle is used to create grooves in the vinyl that is basically recorded information of the desired sound or music. A needle or stylus is also used to read the information contained in the grooves, playing it back so that we can hear the recorded information.

On the left side of the groove and on the right side are channels of audio information that makeup stereo sound. Fun factoid; once upon a time, records were made of rubber.