

1931 – The first long-playing record, pressed on flexible plastic discs, introduced by RCA Victor (it was widely regarded as a failure).1925 – The standard record recording speed was 78 rpm.These could play for more than three and four minutes, respectively, whereas contemporary cylinders could only play for about In 1901, 10-inch disc records were introduced, followed in 1903 by 12-inch records.It was a 12” vinyl recording of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The First vinyl record ever created was by RCA Victor in 1931.The phonograph was then invented by Thomas Edison in 1877.In fact, it was not until 2008 that phonautograms of speech and singing that were made by Scott in the 1860s were played back as sound!.This was not for the intention of playing them back at the time, though. This used a stylus and vibrating diaphragm so that sound waves could be graphically recorded as tracings on sheets of paper. Back in 1857, the phonautograph was patented by Leon Scott.Even more dramatic sales started hitting the markets beginning in 2012. Since 2006, vinyl record sales continue to increase according to.By 1991, vinyl records left the mainstream.Vinyl records were also sold in different sizes such as:.Other features of vinyl records included reproductive accuracy or fidelity (High Fidelity or Hi-Fi, Orthophonic and Full-Range), their time capacity (long-playing or single), and the number of channels of audio provided (mono, stereo or quadraphonic).The revolutions per minute (RPMs) of the more popular vinyls are: Depending on the speed at which the sound was recorded, the vinyl record will need to be played at a corresponding speed on the record player.The sound is recorded by inscribing it on a modulated spiral groove. The analog sound storage medium consists of a flat disc. Some of them were a gramophone record or a phonograph record. When vinyl records first came on the market they had other names.If this is new information to you, start pulling out some of the records in your collection and check it out. You'll find this dating system used on some 45 rpm re-releases of RCA material originally issued earlier in the century on 78 rpm recordings. This dating system actually starts earlier in the century, as follows: Examples of RCA Victor regular releases and custom pressings are: A typical RCA matrix number contains eight digits of letters and numbers.

In the list above, the letters: I, O, Q, V and Y are skipped. Notice that the system skips any letter that could be easily confused with a number. The following chart shows the dating information from 1950 to 1975:


In 1955, RCA changed it's system slightly so that the first letter alone represented the year.
#Rca victor vinyl code
The code is located in the first letter and number of the eight digit matrix number up to 1954. There is a code in the RCA matrix numbers that identifies when the record was mastered (it was usually pressed and released immediately thereafter). Their pressing plant in Indianapolis, Indiana pressed 1000's of local label releases in the area throughout the 1950's, 60's and 70's. RCA custom pressed a large number of local label records across the United States from the early 1950's on. Go To Discography of all RCA Pressings in our Database
