Command test record
Encyclopedia
The Command test record (Stereo Check Out) was an LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 produced by Command Records
Command Records
Command Records was a record label founded by Enoch Light in 1959 and later associated with ABC-Paramount Records....

 in 1960. It contained recordings designed to allow users to test their stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...

 equipment.

Command Records

In 1959, Enoch Light
Enoch Light
Enoch Henry Light was a classical violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer. As A&R chief and vice-president of Grand Award Records, he founded Command Records in 1959. Light's name was prominent on many albums both as musician and producer...

 formed Command Records
Command Records
Command Records was a record label founded by Enoch Light in 1959 and later associated with ABC-Paramount Records....

 with the intent of releasing recordings featuring the best in stereo technology and equipment that the recording industry had to offer. Command Records' recordings were very popular with Hi-Fi buffs as stereo test records because of their use, novel at the time, of instruments in one track only.

Album details

Like many other Command records, the Stereo Check Out came in a gatefold
Gatefold
A gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.- LP covers :...

 cover with extensive liner notes and full technical data inside. Charles Stark narrated both sides, providing both technical details and information about the musical instruments used on the tracks on Side Two.

Side one

Side One of this LP consists of turntable tests. An oscilloscope
Oscilloscope
An oscilloscope is a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences using the vertical or 'Y' axis, plotted as a function of time,...

 is a useful tool when used in conjunction with these tests:
  1. Stereo Balance Check
  2. Left and Right Channel Check
  3. Volume
    Loudness
    Loudness is the quality of a sound that is primarily a psychological correlate of physical strength . More formally, it is defined as "that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud."Loudness, a subjective measure, is often...

     Reference Check
  4. Frequency
    Frequency
    Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...

     Run Check
  5. Output Balance Check
  6. Flutter or Wow
    Wow (recording)
    Wow is a relatively slow form of flutter which can affect both gramophone records and tape recorders. In the latter, the collective expression wow and flutter is commonly used.-Gramophone records:...

     Check
  7. Phasing
    Phase (waves)
    Phase in waves is the fraction of a wave cycle which has elapsed relative to an arbitrary point.-Formula:The phase of an oscillation or wave refers to a sinusoidal function such as the following:...

     Check
  8. Acoustical
    Acoustics
    Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...

     Check
  9. Rumble Check

Side two

Side Two of this LP consists of musical selections from the Command catalogue:
  1. Hernando's Hideaway
    Hernando's Hideaway
    "Hernando's Hideaway" is a tango show tune from the musical The Pajama Game, written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and published in 1954. The lyrics describe a dark and secretive nightclub....

     (from Provocative Percussion Vol II)
  2. Cumana
    Cumaná
    Cumaná is the capital of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located 402 km east of Caracas. It was the first settlement founded by Europeans in the mainland America, in 1501 by Franciscan friars, but due to successful attacks by the indigenous people, it had to be refounded several times...

     (from Provocative Piano)
  3. Tenderly
    Tenderly
    "Tenderly" is a popular song published in 1946 with music by Walter Gross and lyrics by Jack Lawrence.Copyright 1946 by Edwin H. Morris & Company, Inc....

     (from bongos
    Bongo drum
    Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...

    )
  4. Enjoy Yourself
    Enjoy Yourself (1948 song)
    "Enjoy Yourself" is a popular song published in 1949, with music written by Carl Sigman and lyrics by Herb Magidson.-Well known recorded versions:...

     Cha-Cha
    Cha-Cha
    Cha-Cha, Cha Cha, ChaCha or Chacha may refer to:*Cha-cha-cha , the name of a dance of Cuban origin*"Cha Cha" , a 2006 song by Latin artist, Chelo*Cha Cha , a 1978 album by Herman Brood & His Wild Romance...

     (from Pertinent Percussion Cha-Cha's)
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