Can anyone explain the concept behind double LP releases?

[philtex]

I have just re-discovered vinyl, been away for about 30 years and have just now come back into the fold. Over the last 2 months after getting my Orbit, I have purchased maybe 30 to 40 new records, and having a great time. Some new stuff and a lot of reissues. Back in the day, getting a double album was really special: It meant you got a ton of new songs with one release. I have been really surprised at how many records that I order now arrive as double LPs. Many have only 3 songs on each side, and the other half of the sides are blank. Can anyone explain the motivation for this? Is there some type of technical benefit or aural advantage to release as a double? I don't think its financial because it seems to be about the same price as other single release LPs. (unless there actually happens to be more tracks) I usually like the extra heft and graphics with the double packaging, but getting up to flip that damn side so quick ain't fun for me in my advancing mid 50s!

http://leeeditorial.blogspot.com/2016/04/after-over-30-years-i-have-fallen-in.html

[ryantark]

My best attempt:

1- Cash money

2- Avoiding inner groove distortion 

3- Some are 45rpm, wider grooves, better fidelity. 

4- Some have fancy etchings or screen prints to make you feel better about a completely blank side. 

 

[philtex]

11 minutes ago, ryantark said:

My best attempt:

1- Cash money

2- Avoiding inner groove distortion 

3- Some are 45rpm, wider grooves, better fidelity. 

4- Some have fancy etchings or screen prints to make you feel better about a completely blank side. 

 

Thanks... yeah a few are 45. But what is inner groove distortion?

 

[TheGhostOfRandySavage]

http://www.recordtech.com/prodsounds.htm

[ryantark]

6 minutes ago, philtex said:

Thanks... yeah a few are 45. But what is inner groove distortion?

 

The inner/last song towards the inside of the record can sound distorted. I believe the grooves are tighter or something. Google it. 

[MCDELTAT]

39 minutes ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

http://www.recordtech.com/prodsounds.htm

This. I'd read this several times on other forums and it does a decent job at explaining inner groove distortion (paragraph 8) amongst other things. If a record label could care less about how the LP comes out, then many of these things may be neglected. But if you come across an artist that cares, then they will split it up on 2xLP when any of these limitations of vinyl become a problem.

[colbourne25]

56 minutes ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

http://www.recordtech.com/prodsounds.htm

Great read.

[TheGhostOfRandySavage]

I just figured...why try to explain it when he does a better job than I could hope to

[The Vool]

5 hours ago, ryantark said:

My best attempt:

1- Cash money

2- Avoiding inner groove distortion 

3- Some are 45rpm, wider grooves, better fidelity. 

4- Some have fancy etchings or screen prints to make you feel better about a completely blank side. 

 

To the point!

[tape]

No one's really brought up average song/album length yet. The CD era brought along single albums that were over 60 minutes in length (since the maximum length of a CD is either 74 or 80 minutes). Before CDs, albums were created specifically to the time limitations of vinyl where once you start getting past about 22 minutes/side you start having to make tradeoffs w/r/t fidelity and volume. Therefore, a single 75-minute CD best fits on two LPs. A 60-65 minute album probably best fits on three LP sides.

 

Then there's song length as well. Songs in excess of four minutes are far more common than they used to be. Three six-minute songs and you're at 18 minutes.

[ethanpricington]

8 hours ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

http://www.recordtech.com/prodsounds.htm

Such a great article. A must read for sure

[thievedrelic]

12 hours ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

http://www.recordtech.com/prodsounds.htm

" A hot club record should be under 12 minutes, 8 to 10 minutes is ideal. Some of the top club DJs tell me they won’t even play records that are over 12 minutes long because they know the levels will be low and don’t want to adjust gain. "

 

This is the most interesting thing I learned.  I always wondered why dj's used singles, etc...never considered the depth of the groove and how a deep cut would compress the amount of music you can actually fit on a side.

[steeltoeagogo]

1 hour ago, thievedrelic said:

" A hot club record should be under 12 minutes, 8 to 10 minutes is ideal. Some of the top club DJs tell me they won’t even play records that are over 12 minutes long because they know the levels will be low and don’t want to adjust gain. "

 

This is the most interesting thing I learned.  I always wondered why dj's used singles, etc...never considered the depth of the groove and how a deep cut would compress the amount of music you can actually fit on a side.

I always wondered the same thing. Thanks for the read Randy Savage!

[somethingvinyl]

13 hours ago, tape said:

No one's really brought up average song/album length yet. The CD era brought along single albums that were over 60 minutes in length (since the maximum length of a CD is either 74 or 80 minutes). Before CDs, albums were created specifically to the time limitations of vinyl where once you start getting past about 22 minutes/side you start having to make tradeoffs w/r/t fidelity and volume. Therefore, a single 75-minute CD best fits on two LPs. A 60-65 minute album probably best fits on three LP sides.

 

Then there's song length as well. Songs in excess of four minutes are far more common than they used to be. Three six-minute songs and you're at 18 minutes.

Certainly a forgotten reason in the age of progress. 

[allenh]

16 hours ago, tape said:

No one's really brought up average song/album length yet. The CD era brought along single albums that were over 60 minutes in length (since the maximum length of a CD is either 74 or 80 minutes). Before CDs, albums were created specifically to the time limitations of vinyl where once you start getting past about 22 minutes/side you start having to make tradeoffs w/r/t fidelity and volume. Therefore, a single 75-minute CD best fits on two LPs. A 60-65 minute album probably best fits on three LP sides.

 

Then there's song length as well. Songs in excess of four minutes are far more common than they used to be. Three six-minute songs and you're at 18 minutes.

I must admit I thought it was mostly this, for a long time after CD's became the mainstream albums were still formatted for vinyl so CD's were not exactly full even though they were the primary medium. And on a download there isn't even the 80 minute limit

Now that people have got used to the space available and not having to worry about where the tracks need to go in the sequence because digital doesn't have the same technical limitations as vinyl it does mean that more thought is needed on the layout of a vinyl album over it's CD equivalent but you still don't see that much track resequencing apart from splitting them over 3 or 4 sides.

[soundofsilver]

On 6/7/2016 at 1:34 AM, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

I just figured...why try to explain it when he does a better job than I could hope to

Good read - the DJ comment is spot on

 

Something to keep in mind for future releases - online streaming rules pertaining to what counts towards sold units/recognition (Gold, Platinum) have some stipulation regarding the length of the songs.  Prob has something to do with royalties, but I've read more than one source explaining this might be an issue w physical releases going forward. Just something to keep in mind.  

Edited June 8, 2016 by soundofsilver