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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 discotheque 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 surely have had to been 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. 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). (en)
- 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 de beaucoup de 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 (12 inch en anglais).
Remarque : Le nom super 45 tours correspond au 12-inch single anglais, qui a également designé des disques 33 tours. (fr)
- 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.
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 overwegende 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 te laatster ure nog een 7-inchversie geperst) en Blue Monday van New Order eveneens in 1983 zelfs helemaal die hitlijst niet haalde. Ook scheelde het de nummer één-notering voor Wanna be startin' something voor Michael Jackson.
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. (nl)
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