A needle drop is a version of a recording that has been transferred from a

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

to digital audio or other formats. Needle drops are sometimes traded among music collectors, especially when the original vinyl recording has not been released officially on a subsequent consumer format. It is also referred to as a "vinyl rip" or "record rip". Other reasons for trading needle drops include the lack of availability of certain recordings on digital media, the non-availability of less compressed versions in digital form, or the lack of availability of certain versions or mixes of that recording, e.g.

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

or stereo versions, or the loss of the

master tape Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via me ...

. The term is thought to have been coined in 1949 by Peter Goldmark during the first rush of transfers of lacquer and

78 RPM records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

to the then-new long playing 33 ⅓ RPM format. Needledrop (usually as one word) is also used in the advertising industry for audio "that is prefabricated, multipurpose, and highly conventional... an inexpensive substitute for original music; paid for on a one-time basis, it is dropped into a commercial or film when a particular normative effect is desired."

Linda Scott Linda Scott (born Linda Joy Sampson; June 1, 1945) is an American pop singer and actress who was active from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Her biggest hit was the 1961 million-selling single, " I've Told Every Little Star". She went on to ...

, "Understanding Jingles and Needledrop: A Rhetorical Approach to Music in Advertising", ''Journal of Consumer Research'' 17 (1990): 223–236.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Needle Drop (Audio) Audio engineering Music production 1940s neologisms

See also

References