Official 78 Project Stroboscopic Disc now available in our store.
We knocked together our love of sound, technology and the moving image to create The 78 Project. We are just so excited about exploring the places where music, film and science meet. Call it nerdy, we won’t argue. But we know you’re with us!
It’s why, when we were looking to make something, a piece of The 78 Project that you can hold in your hands, a Stroboscopic Disc seemed like the perfect thing. It’s a vintage science experiment you can perform on your turntable at home, with a useful function, and a cool visual effect to boot.
For almost 200 years stroboscopes have been employed as useful tools for determining cyclic speed. On a stroboscopic disc, concentric bands of radial squares each correspond to a speed on your turntable – 33.3, 45 and 78 rpm.
Place the disc on your turntable, apply direct light and set the platter spinning. The corresponding radial appears to be perfectly still if the record player is working just right.
If you’re testing a vinyl or acetate recorder, the extra hole on the disc fits right onto your stabilizer pin. We use this to test our PRESTO before each recording!
Our friend, and super-talented Brooklyn silkscreen artist, Kayrock, cooked these Strobes up for us. He even had them die-cut for precision. We love them. Can’t help it. They’re the perfect piece of functional beauty.