Direct-to-disc recording

Recording via magnetic tape became the industry standard around the time of the creation of the LP format in 1948, and these two technological advances are often seen as being joined, although 78 rpm records cut from tape masters continued to be manufactured for another decade.

Although such tapes were often made to preserve the recordings in case the direct-to-disc process failed or the master disc became damaged before the final product could be produced, direct-to-disc albums were almost never re-issued as standard albums made from tape masters.

[citation needed] One exception to this was Sheffield Lab's 1976 direct-to-disc LP release of Dave Grusin's Discovered Again!

Technically, direct-to-disc recording is believed to result in a more accurate, less noisy recording through the elimination of up to four generations of master tapes, overdubs, and mix downs from multi-tracked masters.

[4] Which is why many professional musicians have always had to tune up their instruments themselves during live shows and often even in the middle of a song.