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- The 12-inch single gramophone record came into existence with the advent of disco music in the 1970s. The first 12" (30 cm) single was actually a 10" (25 cm) acetate used by a mix engineer (Jose Rodriquez) in need of a Friday night test copy for famed disco mixer Tom Moulton. As no 7" (18 cm) acetates could be found, a 10" (25 cm) blank was used. Moulton, feeling silly with a large disc which only had a few centimeters of groove on it, asked Rodriguez to re-cut it so that the grooves looked more spread out. Because of the wider spacing of the grooves, a broader overall dynamic range (distinction between loud and soft) was made possible. This was immediately noticed to give a more favorable sound for discothèque play. Moulton's position as the premiere mixer and "fix it man" for pop singles ensured that this fortunate accident would instantly become industry practice. This would perhaps have been a natural evolution: As songs became much longer than had been the average for a pop song, and the DJ in the club wanted a sufficient sound level (more precisely, greater dynamic range), the format would have surely had to be changed from the 7 inch (18 cm) single eventually. Also worth noting is that the visual spacing of the grooves on the 12" assisted the DJ in locating the approximate area of the "breaks" on the disc's surface (without having to listen as he dropped and re-dropped the stylus to find the right point). A quick study of any DJ's favorite discs will reveal mild wear in the "break points" on the discs surface that can clearly be seen by the naked eye, which further eases the "cueing" task (a club DJ's tone-arm cartridge will be heavily weighted and mild wear will seldom spoil the sound quality). Many DJ-only remix services, such as Ultimix and Hot Tracks, issued sets with deliberately visualised groove separations (i.e. , the record was cut with narrow and wider spacings that could be seen on the surface, marking the mix points on the often multi-song discs). A broader dynamic range or louder recording level requires more space as the grooves' excursions (i.e. , the width of the groove waves and distance traveled from side to side by the turntable stylus) become much greater in amplitude, especially in the bass frequencies so important for dance music. Many record companies began producing 12-inch (30 cm) singles at 33 1/3 rpm, as the slower speed enhances the bass on the record. By the same token, however, 45 rpm gives better treble response and was used on many 12-inch singles, especially in the UK. The first official promotional 12" single was Southshore Commissions "Free Man". At first, these special versions were only available as promotional copies to DJs. Examples of this promos—released at almost the same time in 1975 are, GARY TOMS EMPIRE - "Drive My Car", DON DOWNING - "Dream World", BARRABAS - "Mellow Blow", THE TRAMPS - "Hooked For Life", ACE SPECTRUM - "Keep Holdin' On", SOUTH SHORE COMMISSION - "Train Called Freedom", THE CHEQUERS - "Undecided Love", ERNIE RUSH - "Breakaway", RALPH CARTER - "When You're Young and in Love", Michael ZAGER & The Moon Band Feat. Peabo BRYSON - "Do it With Feeling", MONDAY AFTER - "Merry-Go-Round", THE RITCHIE FAMILY - "I Want To Dance" and FRANKI VALLI - "Swearin' to God". By 1976, with the release of "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure on Salsoul Records, the new format was sold to the general public. Another possible candidate for the first such release might be the "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes (Stax 5C 052Z-62266 released 1971). The second song found on a 12" Single is Love to Love You Baby by Donna Summer, released in 1976. This song was originally a full side of her North American debut release, but released again in early 1977 backed with Try Me, I Know We Can Make It, on the Oasis/Casablanca label. Increasingly in the 1980s, many pop and even rock artists released 12-inch singles that included longer, extended, or remixed versions of the actual track being promoted by the single. These versions were frequently labeled with the parenthetical designation "12-inch version", "12-inch mix", "extended remix", "dance mix", or "club mix". Later musical styles took advantage of this new format and recording levels on vinyl 30 cm (12 in) maxis have steadily increased, culminating in the extremely loud (or "hot") cuts of drum and bass records of the 1990s and early 2000s. Many record labels produced mainly 12-inch singles (in addition to albums) during the 1980s, such as Factory Records, who only ever released a handful of 7-inch (18 cm) records. One of Factory's resident artists, alternative rock/dance quartet New Order, produced the biggest-selling 12 inch record ever in United Kingdom, "Blue Monday", selling over one million copies (some sources say more than three million). It was somewhat helped by the fact that Factory did not release a 7-inch version of the single. By way of comparison, "Blue Monday" came in 76th on the 2002 UK list of all-time best-selling singles.
- Le Maxi 45 Tours (aussi appelé Maxi 45 ou même tout simplement Maxi ou encore Super 45 tours) est un format de disque microsillon (ou disque vinyle) très apprécié des disc-jockeys et des collectionneurs. Sa principale particularité est d'avoir environ un titre ou deux par face (comme les petits 45 tours, mais dans un format 30 centimètres . Le terme « super 45 tours » correspond au « 12-inch single » anglais, qui a également designé des disques 33 tours.
- Een 12-inch is een vinylsingle op lp-formaat, waarop aan elke kant één nummer geperst staat. Omdat er meer ruimte is voor de groeven en ze op 45 toeren worden afgespeeld, kunnen groeven geperst worden waarmee voor het geluid een groter dynamisch bereik en een groter frequentiebereik haalbaar zijn. 12-inches werden tijdens de opkomst van de disco populair onder diskjockeys in discotheken, die vroegen om langere versies van discohits. Bij de ontwikkeling van de langere discoversie is met name de Amerikaan Tom Moulton van belang geweest. Voorbeelden van de ontwikkeling van langere versies in de jaren zeventig zijn: Love to love you baby van Donna Summer in een 16 minuten versie en het album Never can say goodbye van Gloria Gaynor, waarbij zelfs nummers in elkaar werden gemixt. Eind jaren 70 kwam de 12-inch steeds meer in zwang: niet langer was het 12-inch formaat voorbehouden aan disco artiesten, getuige de discomixes van Miss you van the Rolling Stones, Da ya think I'm sexy van Rod Stewart en I was made for loving you van Kiss. Deze trend zette zich voort in de jaren 80, waarbij het eerder regel dan uitzondering was, dat pop- en rockartiesten 12-inch singles uitbrachtten. Hitparade-technisch leverden 12-inches problemen op. Meestal was er ook een 7-inchsingle verkrijgbaar, waarvan de verkoop de notering in de hitparade bepaalde. Vanwege de speelduur, maar vooral vanwege het overheersende disco/dance genre dat op 12-inches verkrijgbaar was, heeft de Nationale Hitparade ze niet meegeteld voor de hitlijst, waardoor in 1983 In de disco van Noodweer nauwelijks een hitnotering kreeg (al werd ter elfder ure nog een 7-inchversie uitgebracht). Blue Monday van New Order haalde de Nationale Hitparade zelfs helemaal niet. In de top 40 bereikte Blue Monday in 1983 een 3e plaats alleen op basis van 12-inch verkoop. Blue Monday van New Order is wereldwijd gezien de bestverkochte 12-inch aller tijden. De naar verhouding kostbare productie van de floppy-vormige hoes van deze 12-inch, zorgde ervoor dat het platenlabel van New Order, Factory, zelfs geld toe moest leggen op de verkoop. Een zeer bijzondere 12-inch werd in 1979 uitgebracht van M's hit Pop muzik: er waren twee nummers met elk een eigen groef tussen de opzet- en de eindgroef geperst, waardoor je maar moest afwachten welk nummer er zou weerklinken. Ondanks de opkomst van de compact disc en de dvd worden 12-inches nog wel regelmatig gebruikt door diskjockeys omdat ze de draaisnelheid handmatig kunnen variëren en kunnen scratchen.
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