groove

sound recording

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Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

A "microgroove" refers to a narrow, continuous V-shaped spiral track with closely spaced turns used on long-playing records. This technology, introduced in 1948, allowed for significantly longer playing times compared to earlier records.12

Sound recording involves transcribing sound vibrations onto a storage medium, such as a phonograph disc, and then reproducing them. A phonograph record stores sound waves as undulations within a spiral groove. A stylus follows this groove, and its vibrations are converted back into sound. Early sound recordings were etched onto tinfoil cylinders, but later innovations led to flat discs with spiral grooves, which became the standard for records.32

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sound recording
The phonograph disc
…of a spiral 90° V-shaped groove impressed into a plastic disc. As the record revolves at 33 1/3 rotations per minute, a tiny “needle,” or stylus, simultaneously moves along the groove and vibrates back and forth parallel to the surface of the disc and perpendicular to the groove, tracing…
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…of a spiral 90° V-shaped groove impressed into a plastic disc. As the record revolves at 33 1/3 rotations per minute, a tiny “needle,” or stylus, simultaneously moves along the groove and vibrates back and forth parallel to the surface of the disc and perpendicular to the groove, tracing…
Read More