16 rpm records – Was that really a thing?
I have no idea why this just popped into my head, but I had a flashback to being a kid (yes Jared, I was young at some point), and being fascinated with my parents’ record collection. I remember a good selection of Sixties 45s (including Double Barrel on 45 that got given to charity before I could lay my much older hands on it), a diverse collection of seventies LPs (Carpenters and Johnny Mathis for my Mum, and Deep Purple for my Dad) and even the odd inherited 78 too.
But there was a setting on our stereo music centre (it had one of those interchangeable spindles where you could stack up a bunch of 45s too) that confused me, and to this day I don’t think I’ve ever come across one, and that’s “16”. Unlike my seven year old self who did accidentally break the odd 78 (you knew this anyway parents), I have the internet, so googled “16 rpm records” and got back everything I needed to know about the mystery that has haunted me since childhood.
So instead of me trying to sound like an authority on something I just researched, check out this excellent Bloggerhythms piece from 2011. I also did a quick check on eBay — seems that The Bible in spoken word form is reasonably easy to locate, but nothing in the way of music. I wonder if 16 rpm can even me mastered and pressed these days? At least my TTXs can run 33 rpm at -50% should I ever stumble across one.
OVER TO YOU
Have you ever seen a 16 rpm record? Do you have particular memories of vinyl from your childhood?
Main picture courtesy of vinylengine.com. At least somebody had a picture of a 16 rpm sector. You might want to see if Techncis 1210s come with 16 rpm – (They don’t)
The problem with 16 RPM is that the sound quality was terrible. It was only suitable for spoken word/audiobook records. Also, albums well over an hour (a 12-inch 16RPM had one hour per side) were unthinkable at the time.
If anyone was gonna do this for music, it would be Jack White. He’s got an insatiable appetite for bizarre vinyl formats.
Playing a Kylie track on a NOW album at 16 speed, made her voice sound like Rick Astley…
so I’ve been told!
Playing a Kylie track on a NOW album at 16 speed, made her voice sound like Rick Astley…
so I’ve been told!
Aside from institutional use, this speed was also used for pressing Evangelical sermons that were sold either by mail order or directly to church attendees, often by traveling “guest pastors” at a merch table after the service. I have two (hilarious) Jimmy Swaggart sermon albums (12″) that are 16 RPM and it’s shocking how long the running time of each side is!
The Seeburg 1000 BMS1 Background music machine used 16rpm format, there’s a guy on youtube.com that has a 2 part video on in it. Here’s part one.-Jeff
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8kCHx3_vu9M
I have a few 16rpm vinyl 12inch records and I enjoy playing them on my Lenco 4 speed turntable.
Had a few for example Burl Ives ” I heard the bells” and it was no larger than a 45 at the time. Interesting why they chose this speed but when you slow down you can record more!
ndiamone here – look me up on the aforementioned vinylengine and tapeheads and audiokarma and lathetrolls and just about every other related vintage record engineering and electronics board.
1. re: Can these still be cut real-time?
In a word – yes. Of course all the Half-Speed-Mastered audiophile LP cutting centers can do it since they have to cut at 16 anyway. The only difference is they leave the source playback at real time instead of half speed.
2. Re: Sound quality. In the 50s and 60s when most of these were cut and pressed, yes the sound quality was only passable. But to be fair, on both the 7-inch as well as the 10-inch (Fonit) and 12-inch (Allied Artists) – the groove pitch was packed so tight as they would be in spoken word that there was no room for high fidelity.
In the case of the Allied Artists types – a lot of the time those were loaded into a Seeburg AMS that could handle LPs vs the BMS which could only handle its’ own custom 9-inch discs with the 2 inch hole and placed in restaurants etc.
By the late 60s though a number of stereo 16 RPM selections could be found, the most notable being Will Kennedy Dancetime Orchestra. Even the mono editions of the e.g. Riverside and Prestige Jazz series from ten years earlier, as well as the South African e.g. Jim Reeves 3 vol set very nearly rival their mono LP counterparts.
And then in 1973 when they were doing the Beatles Red Album White Album and Blue Album in a box set in add’n to their original 2-LP configurations – somebody made a mistake and cut single-disc double-play versions at 16 RPM and sent them out as promos in a box set with fiberboard in the other sleeves (for what would have been the other record) as padding.
These were quickly recalled and most made it back to the factory to be destroyed, but occasionally you run across one that somebody doesn’t know what they have since there’s no 16 RPM designation on it – only way to tell is the tracks are half as long as they should be.
3. Re: Odd formats
Never play those Seeburg/CustoMusic discs with a normal 33 stereo or mono stylus. They need a half-mil stylus a third smaller than the stereo LP version in order not to be destroyed. Same for the Chrysler 1956 Highway Hi-Fi – those need an even smaller stylus at a quarter-mil – 2/3 smaller than an LP stylus.
I have lots of 16 rpm records. My mother is actually on some of them. But I can’t find a way to play them. She wanted me to transfer them to CD so she could listen to them, but can’t figure out how, since I can’t find a player that has that speed.
You actually can, and you can do it using an existing, modern record player, even one of those little portable Crosley things (though I strongly recommend you use something with a magnetic cartridge!). Set the speed for 33 rpm and record the audio using whatever software you prefer.. There should be a utility in the software to adjust speed; set it for 50 percent EXACTLY (some software calls it -50%). Export your audio file and burn your CD.
If this is a recording of music, though, you might want to find a player that works at the correct speed. The speed conversion can cut off some of the high frequencies, and 16 rpm is limited enough already. record players with 16 rpm speeds were very common in the 1960s and can be found easily enough on eBay.
There were several experiments with the 16 2/3rpm speed at one time. There was a company called Audiobook that featured audio versions of books, as well as a Music Series. The records looked like 45rpm records with the large center hole. There were also 12″ records at that speed – Libraphone offered books read by professional actors (one was No Time for Sergeants read by William Lanteau) and Vox also tried marketing 12″ discs.