VMP Magazine

No part of the business of listening to records might realistically be described as cutting edge. The 33rpm stereo LP is bordering on sixty years old, and while we've tweaked, prodded and refined the playback process, it still involves dragging a needle through a groove like the devil's own trench run. Despite this, there are some older aspects of vinyl that represent an interesting additional world of great music—the subset of mono and 78rpm pressings.

These two formats relate to one another—78rpm records are only ever mono—but need to be treated separately from mono recordings that play at 33 or 45rpm. As such, we'll start with mono and move into the world of 78s once we're comfortable with the basics. There is no better time to be looking at the fundamentals of mono playback- there has been a spate of re-releases of material in mono and many industry legends have appeared in the public eye saying that mono mastered versions of some very famous albums represent the best way to hear them.