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99-421: In moral philosophy, fidelity refers to a person who keeps agreements. Strong fidelity refers to a person who keeps agreements even if not mutually beneficial to the other person. In audio, "fidelity" denotes how accurately a copy reproduces its source. In the 1950s, the terms " high fidelity " or "hi-fi" were popularized for equipment and recordings which exhibited more accurate sound reproduction . For example,

198-540: A "remarkable turnaround" with the success of artists including Britney Spears , the Dave Matthews Band , Natalie Imbruglia , the Verve Pipe , Robyn , SWV , Christina Aguilera , NSYNC , and Foo Fighters . A distribution deal with Loud Records yielded hit records from urban artists including Big Punisher , Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep . In 2002, BMG fully acquired J Records , which it had founded in 2000 as

297-559: A British punk rock label, and Jive Records , whose roster included Schooly D , Kool Moe Dee , and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince . By the end of the fiscal year 1988, RCA Records had gross revenue of $ 236 million in the United States, the most profitable year in the label's history. The album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range , sold more than three million copies, and

396-455: A different supporting cast. They also issued two studio cast versions of Show Boat , one with Robert Merrill, Patrice Munsel , and Rise Stevens in 1956, and the other with Howard Keel , Anne Jeffreys , and Gogi Grant in 1958. Contrary to the way the show is written, both of these Show Boat albums featured all-white casts, reflecting the era of racial segregation. In 2006, Sony BMG merged its Broadway music labels, including RCA Victor, to

495-442: A flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the human hearing range . High fidelity contrasts with the lower-quality " lo-fi " sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment, AM radio , or the inferior quality of sound reproduction that can be heard in recordings made until the late 1940s. Bell Laboratories began experimenting with various recording techniques in the early 1930s. Performances by Leopold Stokowski and

594-618: A joint venture called RCA/Ariola International. In December 1985, the RCA Corporation was purchased by General Electric (GE), with the acquisition completed in June, 1986. GE sold its 50% interest in RCA Records to its partner Bertelsmann and the company was renamed BMG Music for Bertelsmann Music Group. BMG revived the RCA "lightning bolt" logo that was retired in 1968 to differentiate RCA Records from

693-829: A joint venture with Clive Davis . Davis was then named chairman of RCA Records and J Records under the auspices of a new entity, the RCA Music Group , which included RCA Records, J, and Arista Records . In 2004, Sony and BMG merged their music divisions to create Sony BMG , and in 2007, the RCA Music Group was rebranded as the BMG Label Group . In 2006, Sony BMG merged its former Broadway music and classical labels, including Red Seal and Gold Seal, to Sony Masterworks . Legacy Recordings , Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division, reissued classic albums from RCA. In April 2008, former Zomba Label Group president and CEO Barry Weiss

792-511: A listening test is done in such a way that the listener who is assessing the sound quality of a component or recording can see the components that are being used for the test (e.g., the same musical piece listened to through a tube power amplifier and a solid-state amplifier), then it is possible that the listener's pre-existing biases towards or against certain components or brands could affect their judgment. To respond to this issue, researchers began to use blind tests , in which listeners cannot see

891-434: A modified dynamic range and possibly bit rates lower than audiophile standards. Tidal and others have launched a hi-fi tier that includes access to FLAC and Master Quality Authenticated studio masters for many tracks through the desktop version of the player. This integration is also available for high-end audio systems. RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment ,

990-783: A number of recordings with the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra , which was usually drawn from either Philadelphia or New York musicians, as well as members of the Symphony of the Air, and the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera . By the late 1950s, RCA Victor had fewer high prestige orchestras under contract than Columbia had: RCA Victor recorded the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , the Boston Symphony Orchestra , and

1089-534: A partial solution to the problem of reproducing the sound of live orchestral performers by creating separation among instruments, the illusion of space, and a phantom central channel. An attempt to enhance reverberation was tried in the 1970s through quadraphonic sound . Consumers did not want to pay the additional costs and space required for the marginal improvements in realism. With the rise in popularity of home theater , however, multi-channel playback systems became popular, and many consumers were willing to tolerate

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1188-515: A period during which RCA Records had notable success in the pop genre, with Christina Aguilera, Kesha , Pink , Kelly Clarkson and Pitbull scoring multiple #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. In May 2011, former Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris was appointed chairman of Sony Music Entertainment . Focused on A&R, Morris named Peter Edge , president of A&R at RCA and J Records, chairman and CEO of RCA Music Group. Tom Corson

1287-623: A power amplifier in one box is called an integrated amplifier ; with a tuner added, it is a receiver . A monophonic power amplifier is called a monoblock and is often used for powering a subwoofer . Other modules in the system may include components like cartridges , tonearms , hi-fi turntables , digital media players , DVD players that play a wide variety of discs including CDs , CD recorders , MiniDisc recorders, hi-fi videocassette recorders (VCRs) and reel-to-reel tape recorders . Signal modification equipment can include equalizers and noise-reduction systems . This modularity allows

1386-857: A practice of simultaneously recording orchestras with both stereophonic and monaural equipment. Other early stereo recordings were made of Toscanini's final NBC concerts (never officially issued) and Guido Cantelli respectively, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra; the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner . Initially, RCA used RT-21 quarter-inch tape recorders (which ran at 30 inches per second), wired to mono mixers, with Neumann U-47 cardioid and M-49/50 omnidirectional microphones. Then they switched to an Ampex 300–3 one-half inch machine, running at 15 inches per second (which

1485-433: A real world object, feature or condition. Fidelity is therefore a measure of the realism of a model or simulation. Simulation fidelity has also been described in the past as "degree of similarity". In quantum mechanics and optics, the fidelity of a field is calculated as an overlap integral of the field of interest with a reference or target field. In the field of program evaluation , the term fidelity denotes how closely

1584-408: A second definition: "A genre of rock music characterized by minimal production, giving a raw and unsophisticated sound." A third was added in 2008: "Unpolished, amateurish, or technologically unsophisticated, esp. as a deliberate aesthetic choice." In the fields of scientific modelling and simulation , fidelity refers to the degree to which a model or simulation reproduces the state and behaviour of

1683-416: A set of procedures were implemented as they were supposed to have been. For example, it is difficult to draw conclusions from a study about formative assessment in school classrooms if the teachers are not able or willing to follow the procedures they received in training. In translation , fidelity is the extent to which a translation accurately renders the meaning of the source text, without distortion. It

1782-431: A shallower and more closely spaced implementation of the large "standard groove" found on contemporary 78 rpm records, rather than the "microgroove" used for post-World War II 33 1 ⁄ 3 rpm " LP " (long play) records. The format was a commercial failure, partly because the new Victrolas with two-speed turntables designed to play these records were exorbitantly priced, the least expensive model retailing for $ 395.00 in

1881-485: A similarly controversial reputation, derided by some record collectors as "Dynawarp". RCA gradually phased out Dynaflex records and by the end of the 1970s had returned to manufacturing thicker vinyl records. In April 1970, RCA Records announced the first quadraphonic 4-channel 8-track tape cartridges ("Quad-8", later called just Q8). RCA began releasing quadraphonic vinyl recordings in the United States in February 1973, in

1980-467: A solid-state amplifier, the Quad 405, in 1978 after seeing the results from blind tests, but came to realize months later that "the magic was gone" until he replaced it with a tube amp. Robert Harley of The Absolute Sound wrote, in 2008, that: "...blind listening tests fundamentally distort the listening process and are worthless in determining the audibility of a certain phenomenon." Doug Schneider, editor of

2079-481: A stereo (stereophonic phonograph). In the world of the audiophile, however, the concept of high fidelity continued to refer to the goal of highly accurate sound reproduction and to the technological resources available for approaching that goal. This period is regarded as the "Golden Age of Hi-Fi", when vacuum tube equipment manufacturers of the time produced many models considered superior by modern audiophiles, and just before solid state ( transistorized ) equipment

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2178-404: A subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation . RCA Records is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA 's former long-time rival Columbia Records ; also Arista Records , and Epic Records . The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop , classical , rock , hip hop , afrobeat , electronic , R&B , blues , jazz , and country . The label's name is derived from

2277-485: A worn gramophone record will have a lower fidelity than one in good condition, and a recording made by a low budget record company in the early 20th century is likely to have significantly less audio fidelity than a good modern recording. Similarly in electronics , fidelity refers to the correspondence of the output signal to the input signal, rather than sound quality, as in the popular internet connection technology " Wi-Fi ". The term " lo-fi " has existed since at least

2376-549: Is transparent , a properly conducted double-blind test can prove that a method is not transparent. Blind tests are sometimes used as part of attempts to ascertain whether certain audio components (such as expensive, exotic cables) have any subjectively perceivable effect on sound quality. Data gleaned from these blind tests is not accepted by some audiophile magazines such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound in their evaluations of audio equipment. John Atkinson , current editor of Stereophile , stated that he once purchased

2475-468: Is 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Most adults can't hear higher than 15,000 Hz. CDs are capable of reproducing frequencies as low as 0 Hz and as high as 22,050 Hz, making them adequate for reproducing the frequency range that most humans can hear. The equipment must also provide no noticeable distortion of the signal or emphasis or de-emphasis of any frequency in this frequency range. Integrated , mini , or lifestyle systems (also known by

2574-448: Is contrasted with transparency , which is the extent to which a translation appears to a native speaker of the target language to have originally been written in that language. High fidelity High fidelity (often shortened to Hi-Fi or HiFi ) is the high-quality reproduction of sound . It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion , and

2673-458: Is the music server consisting of one or more computer hard drives that hold music in the form of computer files . When the music is stored in an audio file format that is lossless such as FLAC , Monkey's Audio or WMA Lossless , the computer playback of recorded audio can serve as an audiophile-quality source for a hi-fi system. There is now a push from certain streaming services to offer hi-fi services. Streaming services typically have

2772-644: Is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine Company . In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company , then the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs (including the famous " Victrola ") and phonograph records . The company then became the RCA Victor Division of RCA. In absorbing Victor, RCA acquired the New World rights to

2871-510: The Boston Pops Orchestra disc featuring Tchaikovsky 's Marche Slave and Ketèlbey 's In a Persian Market . RCA Victor issued boxed sets of four to six 45s, each set providing about the same amount of music as one LP (an extreme example of these 45 rpm boxed sets was the complete 1951 recording of the opera Carmen , featuring Risë Stevens and Jan Peerce , conducted by Fritz Reiner , which consisted of sixteen 45 rpm discs). In

2970-787: The National Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded in London's Kingsway Hall . In order to publish music in Japan, RCA collaborated with the Victor Company of Japan's publishing wing Victor Musical Industries Inc. in 1975 to found Japanese record label RVC. In October 1976, the RCA Corporation announced the revival of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. RCA Records reinstated Nipper to most (Victor, Victrola , Red Seal and Special Products) record labels (in addition to returning to

3069-685: The Nipper / His Master's Voice trademark for use in Japan. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban . Virtually all union musicians in the US and Canada were forbidden from making recordings during the period. One of the few exceptions was the eventual release of recorded radio broadcast performances from the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini . However, RCA Victor lost

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3168-660: The Philadelphia Orchestra during this period; the orchestra's contract with RCA Victor expired during the strike and when Columbia Records settled with the union before RCA Victor, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphians signed a new contract with Columbia and began recording in 1944. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra would not return to RCA until 1968. In the spring of 1946, "RCA Victor" replaced "Victor" on its record labels. In 1949, RCA Victor introduced

3267-722: The Philadelphia Orchestra were recorded in 1931 and 1932 using telephone lines between the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and the Bell labs in New Jersey. Some multitrack recordings were made on optical sound film, which led to new advances used primarily by MGM (as early as 1937) and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (as early as 1941). RCA Victor began recording performances by several orchestras using optical sound around 1941, resulting in higher-fidelity masters for 78-rpm discs . During

3366-687: The RCA Thesaurus label at its RCA Recorded Program Services studio in New York City. These recordings were not offered for sale to the general public and were intended solely for use in broadcasts carried over leading radio networks. By 1936, RCA's extensive musical library of recordings was eventually consolidated with NBC's own transcription division. During the 1950s, it included popular music by noted musicians, such as Sammy Kaye , Freddie Martin , Lawrence Welk and John Serry Sr. Besides manufacturing its own records, RCA's Custom Record Division

3465-591: The soundtrack album from the film Dirty Dancing , which cost RCA $ 200,000 to produce, sold 15.6 million copies in less than two years. Its follow-up, More Dirty Dancing , composed of song tracks which had been left off of the first album, was produced for $ 80,000 and went on to sell more than 5.6 million. RCA's most successful artists during the 1980s included the Eurythmics , Love and Rockets , Joshua Perahia , Rick Astley , Hall & Oates , Dolly Parton , Juice Newton , and Bucks Fizz . In August 1990, Buziak

3564-471: The 1930s, Avery Fisher , an amateur violinist, began experimenting with audio design and acoustics . He wanted to make a radio that would sound like he was listening to a live orchestra and achieve high fidelity to the original sound. After World War II , Harry F. Olson conducted an experiment whereby test subjects listened to a live orchestra through a hidden variable acoustic filter. The results proved that listeners preferred high-fidelity reproduction, once

3663-527: The 1950s, shortly after the acceptance of "hi-fi", but its definition evolved continuously between the 1970s and 2000s. In the 1976 edition of the Oxford Dictionary , lo-fi was added under the definition of "sound production less good in quality than ' hi-fi '", and in the glossary of the 1977 book The Tuning of the World , was defined as "unfavourable signal-to-noise ratio". In 2003, the Oxford Dictionary added

3762-462: The 1970s and 1980s preferred to buy each component separately. That way, they could choose models of each component with the specifications that they desired. In the 1980s, several audiophile magazines became available, offering reviews of components and articles on how to choose and test speakers, amplifiers, and other components. Listening tests are used by hi-fi manufacturers, audiophile magazines, and audio engineering researchers and scientists. If

3861-547: The 1970s was the integrated music centre —which combined a phonograph turntable, AM-FM radio tuner, tape player, preamplifier, and power amplifier in one package, often sold with its own separate, detachable or integrated speakers. These systems advertised their simplicity. The consumer did not have to select and assemble individual components or be familiar with impedance and power ratings. Purists generally avoid referring to these systems as high fidelity, though some are capable of very good quality sound reproduction. Audiophiles in

3960-459: The 45 became the preferred speed for pop music singles, overtaking U.S. sales of the same material on 78s by 1954, but Columbia's LP prevailed as the favored format for classical music and convenient one-disc "album" collections of eight or more pop songs. RCA Victor finally bowed to the inevitable and announced its intention to issue LPs in January, 1950. Among the first RCA Victor LPs released in 1950

4059-467: The 47-xxxx series), rhythm and blues on orange or cerise (50-xxxx series), and international on light blue (51-xxxx series). This array of colors complicated the production process, and the practice was soon discontinued, all records becoming black. Yellow and red Red Seal records held on until about 1952. The first 45 rpm record manufactured was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0147 pressed December 7, 1948 at

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4158-412: The 7-inch 45  rpm micro-grooved vinylite record, marketed simply as the "45". The new format, which had been under development for over a decade, was originally intended to replace 78 rpm discs. By the time RCA Victor unveiled it, the 45 was now competing with the 10-inch and 12-inch 33 1 ⁄ 3  rpm microgroove vinyl " LP " (Long Play) discs introduced by arch-rival Columbia Records in

4257-589: The Boston Pops, whereas Columbia had the Cleveland Orchestra , the Philadelphia Orchestra , and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under contracts. On October 6, 1953, RCA Victor held experimental stereophonic sessions in New York City's Manhattan Center with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of New York City musicians in performances of George Enescu 's Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and

4356-523: The CD-4 format developed by its former subsidiary, the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), and made commercially practical by Quadracast Systems Inc. (QSI). RCA's trade name became "Quadradisc". The CD-4 format required a special cartridge that had a ±1 db frequency response out to 50 kHz, a CD-4 demodulator which decoded the difference between the front and rear channels from a 30 kHz subcarrier, four separate amplifier channels, and four separate speakers for

4455-676: The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark for which EMI held the rights to in the U.K. and Europe. RCA set up its own British manufacturing and distribution in 1969. RCA Victor issued several spoken word albums in the 1950s and 60s, notably the soundtracks of the films Richard III , A Man for All Seasons and The Taming of the Shrew , as well as complete versions of the National Theatre of Great Britain stage productions of Othello (starring Laurence Olivier ) and Much Ado About Nothing (starring Maggie Smith , who also played Desdemona in

4554-595: The Olivier Othello ). None of these albums have appeared on compact disc, but the films of Richard III , A Man For All Seasons , The Taming of the Shrew and the filmed version of Olivier's Othello have all been issued on DVD. In 1960, RCA Victor announced the Compact 33 double extended play and singles; these were 7 inch records, which played at 33 1/3 rpm. In January 1961, the Compact 33 discs were released simultaneously with their 45 rpm counterparts. The long-term goal

4653-503: The RCA Nashville division and in March, 1995 was replaced by Bob Jamieson, the president of RCA's Canadian division. Jamieson overhauled RCA, streamlining middle management and retooling the label's marketing department. The A&R department was again restructured and the roster of artists further reduced. By the close of the decade, RCA Records had undergone what Billboard described as

4752-589: The Reggae Album of the Year Grammy. In June 2020, the label partnered with the Human Rights Campaign to present the 2020 Pride Benefit Concert, a livestream supporting LGBTQ equality in June. RCA artists including Isaac Dunbar, Cam, and Citizen Queen performed. SZA released the single " Good Days " on December 25. In January 2021, Mark Pitts was appointed president of RCA Records and John Fleckenstein

4851-856: The Sherman Drive plant in Indianapolis. The use of vinyl, which was much more expensive than the gritty shellac compound normally used for 78s, was actually cheaper because of the smaller diameter and greatly reduced bulk of the new records, which required very little raw material. The smaller, lightweight discs were also more economical to store and ship. RCA Victor marketed the 45 as a direct replacement for 10-inch and 12-inch 78 rpm records, which typically played for about three and four minutes per side respectively. The company also released some " extended play " (EP) 45s with playing times up to 7 minutes per side, primarily for vocal collections and light classical selections, as typified by an Arthur Fiedler and

4950-637: The UK and its territories on the HMV label until 1957. RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV recordings on the RCA Victor and special HMV labels in North America. Due to hostilities between Japan and the United States during World War II , ties between RCA Victor and its Japanese subsidiary Victor Company of Japan (Nippon Victor) were severed. JVC's record company is known today as Victor Entertainment and still retains

5049-457: The Vik label was discontinued the following year. From the label's beginnings in 1902, and intensifying through the 1940s and 1950s, RCA Victor was in direct competition with Columbia Records . A number of recordings were made with the NBC Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Arturo Toscanini ; sometimes RCA Victor utilized recordings of broadcast concerts (Toscanini had been recording for the label since

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5148-406: The advent of integrated multi-speaker console systems in the 1950s, hi-fi became a generic term for home sound equipment, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player . In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the development of stereophonic equipment and recordings led to the next wave of home-audio improvement, and in common parlance stereo displaced hi-fi . Records were now played on

5247-518: The case of operas, symphonies and other complete recordings of classical music, there was an interruption every four minutes as one record side ended and another side began. These disruptive "side breaks", a nuisance long familiar to listeners of album sets of classical and operatic 78 rpm records, were minimized by an extremely fast automatic record-changing mechanism that was a core feature of RCA Victor's 45 players. Thanks in large degree to RCA Victor's massive five million dollar advertising campaign,

5346-490: The center and edge of a record are thicker than the playing area, reducing scuff marks during handling and when stacked on a turntable with an automatic record changer. Most competitors quickly adopted the raised label and edges. In 1955, RCA Victor purchased the recording contract of Elvis Presley from Sun Records for the then-exorbitant sum of $ 40,000. His first single for RCA Victor was " Heartbreak Hotel ", recorded in January 1956. Ten million Presley singles were sold by

5445-452: The components being tested. A commonly used variant of this test is the ABX test . A subject is presented with two known samples (sample A , the reference, and sample B , an alternative), and one unknown sample X, for three samples total. X is randomly selected from A and B , and the subject identifies X as being either A or B . Although there is no way to prove that a certain methodology

5544-522: The days of acoustic recordings , and RCA Victor had been recording the NBC Symphony since its creation in 1937). After Toscanini retired in the spring of 1954, the NBC Symphony was reorganized later that year as the Symphony of the Air . The orchestra, while no longer connected to NBC, continued to record for RCA Victor, as well as other labels, usually conducted by Leopold Stokowski . RCA Victor also released

5643-602: The depths of the Great Depression . By 1933, the format was abandoned and two-speed turntables were no longer offered, but some Program Transcriptions lingered in the Victor record catalog until the end of the 1930s. During the early days of the Depression, RCA Victor made a number of attempts to create a successful low-priced label to compete with " dime store labels" such as Perfect , Oriole , Banner , and Melotone . The first

5742-512: The early summer of 1948. In heavy promotion, RCA Victor sold compact, inexpensive add-on and stand-alone units that played the 45 rpm format exclusively. At first, RCA Victor's 45s were issued on colored vinyl according to the musical genre: contemporary pop music on black vinyl (47-xxxx series), prestigious Broadway musicals and operettas on "midnight blue" vinyl (52-xxxx series), classical music on red vinyl (49-xxxx series), country and polka on green (48-xxxx series), children's fare on yellow (also in

5841-649: The enthusiast to spend as little or as much as they want on a component to suit their specific needs, achieve a desired sound, and add components as desired. Also, failure of any component of an integrated system can render it unusable, while the unaffected components of a modular system may continue to function. A modular system introduces the complexity of cabling multiple components and often having different remote controls for each unit. Some modern hi-fi equipment can be digitally connected using fiber optic TOSLINK cables, USB ports (including one to play digital audio files), or Wi-Fi support. Another modern component

5940-579: The famous Nipper /" His Master's Voice " trademark . In 1931, RCA Victor's British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI . This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33 1 ⁄ 3 rpm records sold to the public, calling them "Program Transcription" records. These used

6039-582: The first half of the decade, RCA released platinum and multi-platinum records by artists including A$ AP Rocky , Cage the Elephant , Chris Brown , Kelly Clarkson , Miley Cyrus , D'Angelo , Dave Matthews Band , Foo Fighters , G-Eazy , Jennifer Hudson , R. Kelly , Kesha , Khalid , Alicia Keys , Kings of Leon , Miguel , Pentatonix , P!nk , Pitbull , Shakira , Sia , Britney Spears , Bryson Tiller , Justin Timberlake , T-Pain , and Tinashe . Since 2012,

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6138-466: The first stereo 8-track tape music Cartridges ( Stereo 8 ) which were first used in the 1966 line of Ford automobiles and were popular throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. (The initial release comprised 175 titles from RCA Victor and RCA Camden's catalog of artists.) In late 1968, the Radio Corporation of America, wishing to modernize its image, introduced what was then a futuristic-looking new logo (the letters 'RCA' in block, modernized form), replacing

6237-485: The format never became popular, and both RCA and CBS/Columbia abandoned quadraphonic recording in 1976; some of the RCA sessions were later remastered for Dolby encoding (same as Peter Scheiber 's original matrix system) and released on compact disc This included Charles Gerhardt 's acclaimed series of RCA Red Seal albums devoted to classic film scores by Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Alfred Newman , Dimitri Tiomkin , Max Steiner , Franz Waxman , and others, performed by

6336-475: The initials of its now defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and became a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment after the 2004 merger of BMG and Sony; it was acquired by the latter in 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music. RCA Records

6435-506: The label bought back $ 25 million in unsold albums and lost $ 35 million during the fiscal year 1987. As a partial corrective, a decentralized style of management which allowed RCA Records to function as a free-standing entrepreneurial business was implemented for 1988. Buziak drastically cut the RCA roster from around 40 artists to 11, and began to rebuild it with a focus on developing new artists, including artists acquired through marketing and distribution agreements with Beggars Banquet Records ,

6534-542: The label during 1956; Presley went on to become RCA Victor's biggest selling artist. Effective in 1957, EMI/HMV ended its 55-year association with RCA Victor, after EMI's acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955. Capitol then became the main distributor for EMI recordings in the Americas; Decca Records became the manufacturer and distributor for RCA Victor in the United Kingdom, using the RCA lightning bolt logo, instead of

6633-658: The label had signed Thai rapper Lisa , a member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink , for her venture into American solo endeavors. RCA Victor has produced several notable Broadway cast albums, among them the original Broadway recordings of Brigadoon , Paint Your Wagon , the Mary Martin Peter Pan , Damn Yankees , Hello, Dolly! , Oliver! , and Fiddler on the Roof . RCA has also recorded and released recordings of revival stagings of musicals. These include

6732-512: The label has released music by artists including: Kevin Abstract , A$ AP Ferg , Becky G , Bleachers , Brockhampton , Bryson Tiller , Cam , G-Eazy , Childish Gambino , Martin Garrix , H.E.R. , Normani , Kaytranada , Khalid , Kygo , Tate McRae , Mark Ronson , Sasha Sloan , Jazmine Sullivan , SZA , ZAYN . In 2015, RCA Records reinstated its 1968 space-age 'RCA' styled logo after utilizing

6831-461: The left and right front and left and right rear. Both the CD-4 Quadradisc and Quad-8 tape cartridge systems were true discrete 4–4–4 quadraphonic systems. Columbia Records introduced a quadraphonic matrix system, SQ, which required a decoder, 4-channel amplifier and the four speakers. The SQ system was referred to as a 4–2–4 matrix system. The Warner Music Group labels also adopted Quadradisc, but

6930-607: The lightning bolt logo since 1987. The lightning bolt logo is still used by RCA's Nashville division. John Fleckenstein and Joe Riccitelli were appointed as co-presidents of RCA Records in January 2018. Later that year, RCA named Keith Naftaly president of A&R, and Tunji Balogun executive VP of A&R. In addition to releasing successful albums by Bryson Tiller, Alicia Keys, Fousheé' and Pentatonix in 2020, RCA had #1 records with Doja Cat 's "Say So" feat. Nicki Minaj ; Miley Cyrus' " Plastic Hearts " and Chris Brown & Young Thug's " Go Crazy ". Brockhampton's single "Sugar"

7029-434: The manufacturer to allow piecemeal repairs. Although some high-end audio manufacturers do produce integrated systems, such products are generally disparaged by audiophiles , who prefer to build a system from separates (or components ), often with each item from a different manufacturer specialising in a particular component. This provides the most flexibility for piece-by-piece upgrades and repairs. A preamplifier and

7128-452: The musical productions staged at Lincoln Center , such as the 1966 revivals of Show Boat and Annie Get Your Gun , the 1987 revival of Anything Goes and the 1998 Broadway revivals of Cabaret and The Sound of Music . Call Me Madam was recorded by RCA Victor with all of its original cast except for its star Ethel Merman , who, due to contractual obligations, could not be released from her American Decca Records contract. She

7227-522: The new Masterworks Broadway Records . All of these recordings are now on Masterworks Broadway Records , which has remastered and reissued many of these albums. Victor's early recording studios were established in Philadelphia in 1901 and then at its headquarters in Camden, New Jersey and also in New York. In 1917, Victor acquired the abandoned Trinity Church located at 114 North 5th Street in Camden and used it as

7326-433: The noise and distortion introduced by early sound equipment was removed. Beginning in 1948, several innovations created the conditions that made major improvements in home audio quality possible: In the 1950s, audio manufacturers employed the phrase high fidelity as a marketing term to describe records and equipment intended to provide faithful sound reproduction. Many consumers found the difference in quality compared to

7425-488: The older terms music centre or midi system ) contain one or more sources such as a CD player , a tuner , or a cassette tape deck together with a preamplifier and a power amplifier in one box. A limitation of an "integrated" system is that failure of any one component can possibly lead to the need to replace the entire unit, as components are not readily swapped in or out of a system merely by plugging and unplugging cables, and may not even have been made available by

7524-673: The online Soundstage network, argued the opposite in 2009. He stated: "Blind tests are at the core of the decades' worth of research into loudspeaker design done at Canada's National Research Council (NRC). The NRC researchers knew that for their result to be credible within the scientific community and to have the most meaningful results, they had to eliminate bias, and blind testing was the only way to do so." Many Canadian companies such as Axiom, Energy, Mirage, Paradigm, PSB, and Revel use blind testing extensively in designing their loudspeakers. Audio professional Dr. Sean Olive of Harman International shares this view. Stereophonic sound provided

7623-548: The original lightning bolt logo, and the virtual retirement of both the Victor and Nipper/His Master's Voice trademarks. The Radio Corporation of America officially changed its name to the RCA Corporation; the RCA Victor Division was now known as RCA Records. The 'Victor' trademark was restricted to the labels and album covers of RCA's regular popular record releases. RCA Victor record labels were changed to bright orange or yellow (becoming tan briefly late in 1975–76), replacing

7722-468: The other RCA divisions, which GE either liquidated, sold, or closed. BMG also revived the "RCA Victor" label for Red Seal, Broadway and soundtrack releases and other musical genres outside of rock, pop and country music. In 1986, Bob Buziak, formerly an artist manager, was appointed president of the label. During the mid-1980s, RCA Records operated at a deficit, due in part to "overpriced deals" with pop stars including Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross . In 1986,

7821-432: The prefix "LSP". RCA utilized these catalog prefixes until 1973, when they were changed to "ARL1" and "APL1" for stereo classical and stereo non-classical single LPs, respectively. During the 1950s, RCA Victor had three subsidiary or specialty labels: Groove , Vik and "X". The edition of Billboard magazine dated April 11, 1953, announced a new RCA Victor subsidiary label, its first to use independent distribution and

7920-506: The six to eight channels required in a home theater. In addition to spatial realism, the playback of music must be subjectively free from noise, such as hiss or hum, to achieve realism. The compact disc (CD) provides about 90 decibels of dynamic range , which exceeds the 80 dB dynamic range of music as normally perceived in a concert hall. Audio equipment must be able to reproduce frequencies high enough and low enough to be realistic. The human hearing range, for healthy young persons,

8019-464: The then-standard AM radios and 78-rpm records readily apparent and bought high-fidelity phonographs and 33⅓ LPs such as RCA 's New Orthophonics and London's FFRR (Full Frequency Range Recording, a UK Decca system). Audiophiles focused on technical characteristics and bought individual components, such as separate turntables, radio tuners, preamplifiers , power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Some enthusiasts even assembled their loudspeaker systems, with

8118-592: The traditional black label color for popular releases) in countries where RCA held the rights to the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. Nipper was once again widely used in RCA newspaper and magazine advertisements and sales literature, as well as store displays and promotional items such as T-shirts caps, posters, coin banks, keychains, watches, coffee mugs and stuffed toys. The trademark was also restored to RCA stationery, shipping cartons and company vehicles. In 1983, Arista Records owner Bertelsmann sold 50% of Arista to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA Records formed

8217-424: The traditional black label color in use since 1901. The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark was seen only on the album covers of RCA Red Seal Records . RCA Records introduced a thin, pliable, lightweight vinyl LP record known as Dynaflex in late 1969. This very thin, flexible record claimed to overcome warping and other problems encountered with conventional thicker LP records and like Dynagroove, it soon developed

8316-620: The waltz from Tchaikovsky 's opera Eugene Onegin . There were additional stereo tests in December, again in the Manhattan Center, this time with Pierre Monteux conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In February 1954, RCA Victor made its first commercial stereophonic recordings, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Münch , in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. This began

8415-492: Was Gaîté Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach , performed by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra , which had been recorded in Boston 's Symphony Hall on June 20, 1947; the record was given the catalogue number LM-1001. Non-classical LP record albums were issued with the prefix "LPM". When RCA Victor began issuing classical LPs in stereophonic sound in 1958, the prefix "LSC" was used. Non-classical stereo LPs were issued with

8514-696: Was appointed chairman of the BMG Label Group, and Davis was named chief creative officer of Sony BMG worldwide. In October, Sony acquired BMG's 50% ownership and the BMG Label Group was merged with the Jive Label Group to establish the RCA/Jive Label Group . It included RCA, Jive, J, Arista, Polo Grounds, LaFace Records , Volcano Entertainment , Hitz Committee , Battery Records , and the Verity Gospel Music Group . The decade marked

8613-467: Was certified platinum, and singles by Flo Milli and Latto (formerly known as "Mulatto") were certified gold. Both Doja Cat and Kaytranada received multiple Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, H.E.R. received her 13th Grammy nomination, and the Strokes album The New Abnormal won for Best Rock Album. Koffee signed with RCA just after she became the first woman and the youngest person to win

8712-512: Was distributed by RCA, which had released the Broadway cast album. RCA Victor also released the original American cast album of Hair . Similarly, RCA Victor also made several studio cast recording albums, including a Lerner and Loewe series with Jan Peerce , Jane Powell , and Robert Merrill , as well as a 1963 album of excerpts from George Gershwin 's Porgy and Bess , with its 1952 revival leads, Leontyne Price and William Warfield , but

8811-448: Was introduced to the market, subsequently replacing tube equipment as the mainstream technology. In the 1960s, the FTC with the help of the audio manufacturers came up with a definition to identify high-fidelity equipment so that the manufacturers could clearly state if they meet the requirements and reduce misleading advertisements. A popular type of system for reproducing music beginning in

8910-600: Was later increased to 30 inches per second). These recordings were initially issued in 1955 on special stereophonic reel-to-reel tapes and then, beginning in 1958, on vinyl LPs with the "Living Stereo" logo. RCA has continued to reissue many of these "Living Stereo" recordings on CD. Another 1953 project for RCA was converting the acoustically superior building Webster Hall into its main East Coast recording studio. RCA Victor operated this studio venue from 1953 to 1968. In September 1954, RCA Victor introduced "Gruve-Gard" where

9009-737: Was named chief operating officer. Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales hit #1 on the Billboard R&;B albums chart. Tate McRae's " You Broke Me First " (stylized as "you broke me first") was quadruple platinum in Ireland, double platinum in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand, and platinum in the US, UK, Australia, Finland, France, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. She was #1 on the Billboard emerging artist chart. In April 2024, Variety announced that

9108-555: Was named president and COO. On the seventh of October of that year, the Jive, Arista and J imprints were altogether permanently merged into RCA. As a result, the RCA Music Group was then disbanded and RCA was reinstated as a standalone label under the Sony Music umbrella. Following the shutdown of the three labels, a majority of various artists from the rosters of Jive, Arista and/or J were shifted to release future material under RCA. During

9207-416: Was nameless when it was first revealed. For the lack of any better designation, Billboard chose to refer to the new, unnamed label in the story as Label "X"; the new label began to hire staffers and decide on a direction, and the name stuck until 1955. RCA Victor officially announced the formation of label "X" on April 20, 1953. Groove was an R&B specialty label founded in 1954 and folded into Vik in 1957;

9306-517: Was redesigned, and it became known as the 'buff' label). Another discount label, Sunrise, was produced (although it is not known for whom it was produced, as Sunrise records are exceptionally rare today). The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and the Bluebird label is still in existence today, nine decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued. During this time, RCA Victor also produced electrical transcriptions of music under

9405-456: Was replaced by Joe Galante , who had been the president of RCA Records Nashville division. The roster was cut once again and the A&;R department was restructured. Along with the launch of BNA Records and the expansion of the urban music division, these initiatives would prove to be positive, but RCA was unsuccessful under Galante, ranking 10th in market share in 1995. Galante returned to head

9504-405: Was replaced on the RCA Victor album by Dinah Shore . RCA Victor was also responsible for the film soundtrack albums of Damn Yankees , South Pacific , Bye Bye Birdie , Half a Sixpence , and The Sound of Music . The album made from the 1965 hit Julie Andrews film was (and is) one of the best selling soundtracks of all time. The film soundtrack of Oliver! , made by Colgems Records ,

9603-456: Was the leading record manufacturer for independent labels . RCA's Midwestern plant in Indianapolis , at 501 North LaSalle Street (the site is now part of a Demolition and Blight Reduction Project). The Custom Division notably pressed many record compilations for The Reader's Digest Association . RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1938, but EMI continued to distribute RCA Victor recordings in

9702-410: Was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931, sold exclusively by Montgomery Ward . Bluebird Records was created in 1932 as a sub-label of Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a dark blue label, alongside the 8-inch Electradisk label (sold by F.W. Woolworth ). Neither label was a success. In 1933, RCA Victor reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label (Bluebird's label

9801-539: Was to phase out the 45 rpm disc, but sales of the new records were poor and by early 1962 the campaign had failed. In 1963, RCA Victor introduced Dynagroove which added computer technology to the disc cutting process, ostensibly to improve sound reproduction. Whether or not the complex process was actually an improvement is still debated among audiophiles. RCA quietly phased out the Dynagroove process by 1970. In September 1965, RCA and Lear Jet Corp. teamed up to release

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