I found this little gem while killing time on the web over Christmas. It’s a 24 minute movie made by RCA back in 1956, documenting the recording and manufacture process of phonograph records.
Phonographic records? You know, the large round black things that people used to play music before the invention of the compact disk. Compact what? You know, the small shiny round things people used to play music before the invention of the iPod. Anyway…
The movie is called “The Sound and the Story”. It follows the process of making a 33-1/3 RPM "Long Play" or "LP" record, from original recording to its first play on a consumer record player. The movie begins with a lesson in early recording technology including the mastering of an early Ampex tape machine that's fed by a crude, by today's standards, recording console used back then.
"The Sound and the Story" clearly was aimed at the general audience and glosses over some of the more technical aspects of production. However it is still interesting and educational viewing once you get over the desire to giggle at the numerous references to “high tech modern equipment”. Five vinyl stars!
You can view the movie here http://www.archive.org/details/SoundAndTheS
