Back in the day I used to play records at half speed to learn guitar parts, I had this ancient Philips deck which could play 16 rpm talking books which was really useful.
Funny story comes to mind... I remember a friend way back in high school loaned me a cassette dub he had of the Star Wars soundtrack LP from 1977. When I put it in my player it was obvious it had been dubbed at 45rpm to the cassette! I then borrowed the LP itself and made another proper dub with my mom's stereo.
By playing 45 rpm vinyl at 33 rpm +8% pitch in the late 80's, an new music genre was born in the Belgian Disco's, called New Beat. A great example is the track A split second - Flesh. It gave it a new dimension, slightly heavier bass etc.
I think playing a 33 1/3 at 78 *might* damage some of the higher pitch recordings slightly, since the stylus is whizzing through the grooves at more than twice the design speed. However, one use of speed changing is when converting records to mp3. You can play records faster, and then use software to convert the recording to the right speed afterwards, provided your sample rate is high enough. That means you can get more records 'done' quickly. Also, if you have 78s but no 78 speed on your turntable you can play them at 45 and then use the software to speed them up to the right speed. BUT you still need to use a 78 stylus as the grooves are larger.
Timothycan I have done that! We had 78's on hand that we wanted to see what was on them, so we played them as 33's, then speed corrected them in Audacity and bam! It worked perfectly.
I play Justin Bieber as fast as I can to make the pitch so high to annoy the bats with it while I am happy because I can't hear that crap. Also I use extremely high speeds to shatter his albums.
Oh, you don't like Justin Bieber, what a unique opinion. I've never heard that one before. Maybe not buy his albums and move out of your cave. Then both your JB and bat problems are gone.
Many years ago, my mom, who grew up with a phonograph that only played at one speed (possibly 78 RPM), often played records at the wrong speed. I'd often tell her, "Mom, that record plays at another speed!" I even experiment with the speed with reel-to-reel tapes, especially if I don't know (or I happen to forget) the native speed, as you call it, for said tapes.
The Grado 78E is a great all-round 78 rpm cartridge. The Nagaoka MP-series has a complete range of plug-in styli: 1.0 mil for mono LP's and 45's, and 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0 mil for newer vs. older/more worn 78's.
My mum always said playing records at the wrong speed would wreck my player but I never believed it. All that would happen is that the stylus would read the sound data at a different speed and the sound would change accordingly. Thanks for proving a very important point.
I played my 45 of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells the theme from the excorsist and played it at 33 man it sounded creepy. I have a tape player with adjustable recording speed and I play tapes at different speeds. TB sounded so different at my slowest speed. Love it
Interesting video as always. Well, when I was a kid, playing around with record speeds was a great source of entertainment, and when I once listened to an old opera soprano 78 rpm record at 16 2/3 rpm I wondered if that is how elephants sound when they mate. Anyway, when I was young in the 1980s I once was asked to tape a 45 rpm 12” single with Kraftwerk's ”Tour de France” for a friend who was into dancing to such music. I was not that familiar with Kraftwerk back then and I was not that aware of 12” singles either, so I taped it at 33 1/3 rpm for him … he complained about the weird sound and I had to redo it of course. Some years ago I found Walter Carlos album of music from Clockwork Orange and I listened to it but I thought that Walter/Wendy was playing the classical music on his/her moog synthesizer even faster than usual … it was not until I had played the whole side A when I realised that I had played the record at 45 rpm. As you mention in the video, with electronic music, you may not always realise immediately when the speed is off. Cheers! Björn.
Honestly I love playing records at the wrong speed you can make speed metal sound like Stoner metal and you can make super fast Ska music sound like reggae definitely works best with stuff without vocals but it's still a lot of fun
I like to play my tame impala 45's at 33 1/3, especially "powerlines" and "list of people to try to forget about". I feel like the slow version is a secret bonus song you only get to hear if you have it on a 45. I actually only discovered it by forgetting to change the speed to 45, but I liked the song that way and every once in a while that's how I want to hear it.
Two very good points of personal privilege: First, have a Canadian-made 78 of "The Chipmunk Song", and it appears that if played at 33 1/3, you'll hear what is closer to David Seville's actual voice! Second, also have a clear-vinyl 12" single of Herb Alpert's #1 hit "Rise", which is pressed at 33 1/3, but in 'The Billboard Book of Number One Hits', there's an anecdote about some club DJs were inadvertently playing it at 45 RPM, which made for a, uh, considerably faster Beats Per Minute count than Herb imagined!! This was certainly one of the more interesting videos from this page!
As someone who recently started collecting records, I actually experiment with the different speeds from time to time, and I find that _A Taste of Honey_ by the Mexicali Brass band sounds better at 45 than 33, since the music sounds much more lively and upbeat. I also use the 78 setting to brush my records by just holding the brush in place while the record spins.
When I was younger, I used to have an old Zenith portable 4-speed record player. The player had an extra setting marked "R" and that would sort of put the turntable into neutral. I used to play my records at the various speeds and I would get a good laugh out of it. I also played my 45's without using the adapter for the hole and place the records off center and let 'er rip and it made it sound weird (as in drug-trip weird). When I put the speed lever on "R", I could then start playing the records backwards by moving it around the turntable manually with my finger.
Played Led Zeppelin LP on 45rmp, sounded weird but it's led zep, so I was thinking maybe it's just the song that sounds pitched, but it continued with Kashmir and I understood my mistake
So here's a thing: There was this Belgian electro-funk band called Future that released a single in 1981 called "I Can't Read Your Mind." Frankly, it's very pedestrian electro-funk and passably pleasant at the 45 RPM speed the 12" single was meant to be played at. HOWEVER, played at 33 1/3, the tune turns into this massively awesome, thick, P-Funk like jam that is WAY better than the original! Check it out if you get the chance.
Funny thing is: I bought "The Dark Side of the Moon" wich I never ever heard before. I liked the first title Breathe espacially for the voice that sounded like a women. Till I recognized I forgot to change the speed back to 33 1/3 rpm after listen to a 7' record. -.-
Greetings, I would hasten to point out to anyone who might be considering ingesting their library into their digital domain - thinking that speeding up the turntable would expedite the transfer, then "time stretching" the file after the fact. . . . not a good idea. It would 'speed up' the process but it also frequency shifts the audio. 33.33 rpm played at 45rpm (or even 78rpm) completes the ingest sooner, AND the frequency bandwidth is shifted UP. At times 2 speed - 4Khz becomes 8Khz and 16Khz becomes 32Khz. Most cartridges, pre-amplifiers, processors, etc. top out at 25Khz; after all - system frequency response is useless above the hearing range of the average human and barring harmonic distortion at high frequencies. Having spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars transferring vintage vinyl - I can speak fervently to the awesomeness of vinyl and my library reflects the same. I'm tickled by the amount of interest rekindled in once-considered obsolete technology. I never stopped accumulating specimens of all things - recording; and while there are those that poo pooed vinyl when everybody else did. . . (y'know those who had to have the latest and greatest of technology, thumbing their collective noses at yesterdays tech), I on the other hand, kept it alive - only to discover that what goes around comes around. . . . . . including vinyl (pun intended).
The only thing I find lately is that some new presses that are made on double LP's and made for 45 rpm's actually has no printed information at all about this, neither on the sleeve nor the label. I think the album "Fever Daydream" by "Black Queen" was one example where I found that out as soon as the singing began, and that was quite a bit into the record... :)
And let's not forget that some 78 rpm records were made out of vinyl. I own in my collection 4 promotional singles from RCA Victor that were made out of vinyl in the 50s. They have white labels that read: "RCA VICTOR / RECORD PREVUE / DISC JOCKEY SAMPLE / NOT FOR SALE. / USE 1 MIL NEEDLE." All 4 are 10" discs. They are in Near Mint condition. Not all of them have the 1 Mil Needle notation, but they are vinyl. Also, a couple are missing from Discogs. There is a company called Rivermont Records that still presses vinyl 78s, using colored vinyl yet!
I have a Pro-ject Turntable, so it's easy to forget you've changed the speed. On top of that, I often play instrumental Jazz. I must confess, sometimes, especially with some of the avant garde stuff, if goes unnoticed for a song or two.
Related topic you may want to discuss at some point: the pitch control slider, which allows for more subtle changes in platter speed (probably most useful for DJs).
You have my curiosity now. It looks like speeding the record up would cause damage because with the beat and sounds closer together at higher speeds, wouldn't you also add more friction on the stylus and record? If so, it sounds like both the stylus and the record would wear faster.
When my sons started elementary school they hated getting up in the morning. As a threat, I warned them the punishment would be endless showing s of the incredibly bad movie SNL's "It's Pat". When that got worn out, I introduced them to the MGM Records 45rpm flip side of "Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley PLAYED AT 33 1/3rpm. The song is called "I Can't Believe You're Mine". Again a 45 playing at LP speed with max volume. It is beyond awful. A few rise and shine playings of that musical nightmare and they were never late for school again 😁
When I directed the music for a local revue theater company decades ago, we took advantage of the 33->45 pitch & speed change (and I credit my theatrical director A.T. for the idea). Using the Sweet Charity song, Big Spender, originally a song by adult hookers to their johns, we used the faster, higher version for some "babies" in a nursery to sing to their "baby johns." The sexual connotation of the original was transformed, on stage, into an innocent anthem.
What will happen when you play records at different speeds? Make it hard for the copyright police of course! Also when the McDonald’s record was played at 78 it was so fast the stylus was jumping and mis-tracking 😆.
I Always play my record on native speed, but i have a funny question for you related to this,there is 3 speeds on turntables we know are standard 33 -45 and 78,how about multiply 33 and 45 together? The answer wil be 78-right-So i wonder-hal come the 78 is around the subject all the time when it comes to speeds on tunrtables either way, if you multiply or just playin a 78 record ? Is this a number a very planned ,or is it just a coincident?
Many songs are actually sped up 2-5 percent so an intermediate speed on a cd or record player could come in handy. James Brown and Shalamar records do this among many others. "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis and Billy Joel's debut "Cold Spring Harbor" were mastered at the incorrect speed. Oops!
I remember listening to records and how the different speeds affected how the album sounded growing up in the 1980's. These days I would like to share with my kids what records were like versus the computerized apps these days.
If you have a turntable that can do 16 rpm (like my dual 1019) you can listen and learn to play the parts of a 33rpm record. I've heard louis Armstrong did this.
I did this on my Fisher Price record player. it didn't take me long to figure out what speed to play it on. I am glad I didn't try to play any 78 records on it.
I used to do this as a child to make me laugh with my mom and dads records. I used to play a 45 at 16 as my brother had a 4 speed record player from the late 50s or a 33 at 78
There are a few records that were meant to be played at different speeds. Third Stone From The Sun on Jimi Hendrix's first album is one I can think of. Brian Eno's Music For Airports Vol. 1 is another.
Well that's nice. Got a 45 rpm album added to my collection of 2 33 rpm albums. Being the overly protective guy that i am when it comes to fragile stuff, it's better to ask than to try it out. Just gotta figure out how to change between rpm's on my record player...
Changing speeds on a record player involves either pressing button(s) or flipping a lever back and forth between the speed settings. Every record player has one or the other.
I once got a 12" record for free without the sleeve and any information from Germany. It was actually a post-punk band and I loved their sound, it was like Joy Division. After the 4th or 5th listen I accidentally played it on 45rpm and only then did I realise that it was an EP release and the native speed was 45, not 33,3. The funny thing is that they truly sounded better slow and deep :D
Oh yeah. I used to put the speed control in neutral (rim Drive turntable) and spin by hand. Back and forth, play Stairway to heaven backwards to hear satanic messages. Did all that stuff. Back when I didn't know it may damage the record. Even shut the motor off, and listen to it "grind" to a stop.
Guess what the RCA Select-A-Vision was a record player that played vinyl discs with a aluminium foil with a video signal recorded into it and was played at a very fast speed.
Cool song of the day should be people vultures by king gizzard and the lizard wizard!!! Check them out they're crazy both with their vinyl releases and their music!! Also I got this split record by iron Regan and gatecreeper although it's a 12" it plays at 45 RPM's so I played it at 33 1/3 RPM's and it sounds hella good and doomy on the gate creeper side.
I have a 10" 45rpm record by The Dickies, they play very fast. I like to play their version of Paranoid, by Black Sabbath, at 33 speed, it sounds very heavy.
Another way playing a record at the wrong speed can be useful is if you’re digitizing a 78 using a two-speed turntable. I’m going to need to do just that with my 78s several months down the road. What I’ll be doing is transferring the material at 45 RPM and then doing a digital speed correction.
Done that loads of times! Nowadays you can do the same thing with an app! Have you ever Watched Photonic induction's 'extreme speed record player' video, he's modified a turntable to run at 10'000rpm!
I've been playing records at the wrong speed for years. It's what i did as a kid. I'm 47 now this is funny lol. Playing records at slower speed was the invention of Chopped and Screwed, Slowed and Throwed, etc, etc.
A while back I was reading a biography of Sting (The Police) and in the said biography he goes on about how he would listen to records at a different speed (I forget which speed), he did this because it was much better for him to hear and learn the basslines on songs which means he could easily copy them by listening to vinyl at a different speed.
When I was a kid and records were the top format we used to play around with the speed all the time. When you are ten years old stuff like that was funny as hell. I had a record player that also played at 16RPM.
I never intentionally played my records at the wrong speed. However I have a Queen Record that plays at 45rpm. Well its the size of a 33rpm record so I thought it played at 33 1/3rpm so I got very slow " We are the Champions" it sounded terrifying lol. What about for the song of the day, Get Lucky by Daft Punk?
A light pitching on the manual slide is always great for sometimes find the right flow for a song.. sonetimes a song needs more drive and energy, so pitch them up a bit.. and if the songs needs more rawness and a slower pace, just pitch it a little down. For djs itz a normal way to play Records, especially if your doin a mix.. itz needed.
We played records at the wrong speed many times growing up in the 60s and 70s. I had a record player that had a 16 speed, we played Tiny Tim albums on 16 to see what he'd sound like as a "normal" person. I'll never forget playing a Brian Eno album, or rather it was album sized, meant to be played at 45 though. We played it on 33 because that's what we assumed it was owing to its size. We sat there listening to this odd, slow instrumental sound thinking that it was Brian Eno, so it was supposed to be weird. We laughed when we found out we were playing it on the wrong speed. I don't know if anyone else here mentioned the notorious "Jolene" by Dolly Parton, when the single is played at a slower speed it still sounds decent! One way we played records backwards (when hunting for messages was the rage) was to put the speed selector in between speeds, my record player would do that, then just spin the record backwards with one or two fingers.
I play them at their speed they are supposed to be played on my Pioneer C-4600. Sometimes I already had the problem that I started a side of the record with the wrong speed cause the speed wasn't mentioned on the lable and each side is recorded at a different speed on some of my records. On some side A is at 33 1/3 and side B at 45 rpm and some records are the other way around so side A is 45 and B is 33 1/3.
dj's are doing this since the 70s, in Italy dj Daniele Baldelli & Beppe Loda invented the Cosmic Disco/Afro genre, in Belgium they started dance music with the New Beat genre in 1988 by slowing EBM/Industrial/Wave to 33+8...
