Category: Mediums
An overview of audio formats that carried Soviet–era music—highlighting each medium’s technical traits, cultural role, and how listeners engaged with them.
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The First Soviet Original Album Cover Art: On the Wave of My Memory (1976)
Until the 70s, Melodiya sleeves were pretty much all the same, except for a few rare ones that were sold abroad. Some were used as advertising space for Soviet monopolies,…
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Sad Story of Soviet Compact Disc Players
Back in April of 1983, readers of the Soviet magazine Radio might’ve been intrigued by a small photograph on the back page: a futuristic rainbow-colored disc standing upright beside a…
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History of Laser Discs in USSR
The Electronpribor plant in Fryazino made a batch in 1993, long after the Ministry and the USSR had gone out of business. With the Soviet production network gone, no manufacturer…
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Soviet CD Production on Melodiya in 1990s
One of the big pluses of making records at the All-Union Enterprise “Melodiya” was that they had their own master disc recording unit. A lot of plants didn’t have the…
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MOZG: A Pioneer in Compact Disc Production in the USSR
I started at the Moscow Gramzapis Plant (MOZG) in 1978, just two months after it opened. The plant was actively hiring for different departments and labs. I already had experience…
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Russian Columbia — Shellac and Vinyl Production in Pre-Soviet Russia
In the early 20th century Columbia Phonograph Co. entered the vast Russian market. The Americans were among the first to introduce “talking machines” on the banks of the Neva, and their shop…
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The First Compact Disc in the USSR — Part 2
In this series History of the first compact-disc in the USSR — Part 1 History of the first compact-disc in the USSR — Part 2 Prev part: Part 1 Back…
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The First Russian Compact Disc — Part 1: The Beginning
In this series History of the first compact-disc in the USSR — Part 1 History of the first compact-disc in the USSR — Part 2 Next part: Part 2 The…