Audio Fidelity Records
| Audio Fidelity Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Founded | 1954 |
| Founder | Sidney Frey |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | New York City |
Audio Fidelity Records, was a record company out of New York City, most active during the 1950s and 1960s. They are best known for having produced the first mass-produced American stereophonic long-playing record in November 1957 (although this was not available to the general public until March of the following year).
Sidney Frey (1920–68), founder and president of Audio Fidelity, had Westrex, owner of one of the two rival stereo disk-cutting systems, cut a stereo LP disk for release before any of the major record labels, several of which had the Westrex equipment but had not yet produced a stereo disk. Side 1 was the Dukes of Dixieland; Side 2 was railroad sound effects. This demonstration disc was introduced to the public on December 13, 1957, at the Times Auditorium in New York City. 500 copies of this initial demonstration record were pressed. On December 16, 1957, Frey advertised in the trade magazine Billboard that he would send a free copy to anyone in the industry who wrote to him on company letterhead.
That move generated a great deal of publicity and launched a revolution in the way the world listens to music: on two channels, for two ears, in stereo. Frey promptly released four additional stereo disks. The equipment dealers had no choice but to demonstrate on Audio Fidelity Records. Frey became known as "Mr. Stereo" during that era.
Stereophonic sound was not entirely new to the public. In 1952 sound engineer Emory Cook developed a stereophonic disk that used two separate grooves and playback needles; the following year he had a catalog of about 25 disks available for audiophiles. Multi-channel sound was integral to the widescreen motion picture processes Cinerama (1952) and CinemaScope (1953). Stereophonic audio tapes had been commercially available to audiophiles, although expensive, since the mid-1950s. After the release of the Audio Fidelity demonstration disks, the other spur to the popularity of stereo disks was the reduction in price of a stereo magnetic cartridge, for playing the disks, from $250 to $29.95 in June 1958. The first four stereo discs available to the general public were released by Audio Fidelity in March, 1958--Johnny Puleo and his Harmonica Gang Volume 1 (AFSD 5830), Railroad - Sounds of a Vanishing Era (AFSD 5843), Lionel - Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra (AFSD 5849) and Marching Along with the Dukes of Dixieland Volume 3 (AFSD 5851). By the end of March the company had four more stereo LPs available.
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