What are Mithril Discs?

Mithril Discs are made of a material known to the Elves as a metal that doesn't wear out when played with a steel needle. The groove is recorded anywhere between 450 and 720 lines per inch and is played back with a low-compliance sound box and high resolution steel needle on a standard gramophone. 500 lines per inch is the resolution that will make a Mithril Disc play as long as an LP. If you want the best analog sound in Middle Earth, record a Mithril Disc. They have a frequency response from 20hz to 35Khz using only acoustic recording and playback. Signal to noise ratio is about 80dB though that may be limited by the gramophone and recording lathe's spring motor.

Getting a cut from a phonograph? You can get a nasty cut from the worst phonograph ever!

What are Rings?

Rings are a Mithril cylinder recorded on the inside at 1000 LPI. These require a special "ring phonograph" to be played. These can store up to 7 minutes and 27 seconds of music on a ring with a 1 inch inside diameter. Frequency response is 20hz to 20Khz. Signal to noise ratio is about 60dB, as the groove is smaller. It all started when Sauron recorded the famous words "one ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." After that, recordings became even more portable than wax cylinders. Like wax cylinders, Rings are self-announcing. They have the name of the song, the artist, and the record company announced at the beginning of the recording because not everybody can read Elvish.

The Digital Age

In 2407 third age (1067 A.D.) Elrond succeded in recording 1-bit, 33,452 hz  DPCM sound on an extended frequency response wax cylinder. The sound quality was only good enough for voice.   I have recorded the sound of my voice on a replica of this machine. This is what it sounds like.

In 2868 third age (1528 A.D.) Radagast the Brown Wizard invented 4-bit linear quantization of recording sound. Wax cylinders could not record 4 bits at once, so Radagast used punched paper tape. The paper tape had a resolution of 2,400 DPI and ran at 3.484583 inches per second, for a sampling frequency of 8,363 hz. It could record in stereo. By 3000 third age there was 44,100hz 8-bit stereo recording. At this point all new Rings were digitally mastered.

Troubleshooting the Mithril disc-cutting lathe.

Audiophools of Middle Earth

Zoras Napster and the Fortune Radio (or a way to listen to reality music in th fantasy world)

Materials a sorcery free alchemist would use.

Back to Ivan the Ignorant gets a Protracker Music Box