Evgeny Maksimov ©
There are a lot of disputes and legends on this issue, but before drawing conclusions, let's take an interest in this company.
In this article, I used material from Wikipedia, and selected the most significant facts about the great work and excellent quality of Melodiya.
Foreign trade association "Mezhdunarodnaya kniga" became the representative of "Melody" abroad. Through the "International Book" contracts were concluded, exported.
Through mediation in 1965, Melodiya signed a contract with Ariola-Eurodisc, the German company Ariola Records (also known as Ariola, Ariola-Eurodisc), a German record label. 
The Ariola-Eurodisc label was founded in 1958. In the 1980s, Ariola Records established a branch for developing computer programs and video games, Ariolasoft.
By the way, since the late 1980s, Bertelsmann Music Group has been owned, as part of Ariola entered Sony Music Entertainment.
In accordance with the agreement, Ariola received special rights to publish and distribute classical music from the Melodiya record libraries.
The success of sales of Soviet records in Germany was a factor in the signing of an exclusive contract "Melody" with the US company "Capitol" in August 1966.
Capitol Records is a major US record label.
It was founded in 1942. In 1955 it was bought by the British big sound recording company EMI. In 2001, EMI merged Capitol Records with another label, Priority Records. 
According to Capitol president Alan Livingston, most the material was planned to be recorded in Russia; At the same time, he noted that the high quality of Soviet sound recording is not inferior to American.
By 1970, Capitol planned to release 300 million records of classical music from the Melodiya record library.
For this, the joint company Melodiya-Angel was founded. Moreover, the expectations from sales in America were justified, and later, in connection with the sale of 250,000 records of Soviet records, Melodiya was awarded the Golden Disc from Capitol.
In 1968, a contract was signed with HMV, with HMV Group PLC- inheriting its name from the famous "His Master's Voice" logo, showing a dog, HMV Group PLC is one of the leading 
enterprises retail music, books, and entertainment media of the United Kingdom, entries from the Melodies catalog were in the UK.
The dog at the gramophone is the main value of the HMV Group. The HMV logo, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, is one of the legendary ones. It depicts Nipper, a fox terrier listening to the recorded voice of his deceased owner. By the way, the name HMV itself stands for “His Master’s Voice” (“His Master’s Voice”), but the company was originally called The Gramophone Company.
At one time, for this right to portray Nipper, she was paid £100.
(1884-1895) was a dog who served as the model for a painting called His Voice 
Host of His Master's Voice. This image was the basis for the logo used by several audio brands: Victor Talking Machine Company, HMV, EMI, RCA, RCA Victor, Victrola, Electrola, Bluebird, Zonophone, JVC and Deutsche Gramophone.
As of 1970, Soviet records were exported to more than 65 countries, including France, the Netherlands, and even Japan; moreover, contacts were established with the countries of Eastern Europe.
Since 1973, after the accession of the USSR to the World Convention on copyright began to develop licensing agreements.
The desire to expand production and improve the products of "Melody" was indicated with the launch of a new enterprise - the Moscow Pilot Plant "Gramzapis" (MOZG), which went into operation in 1978.
In 1986, a contract was signed with Mobile Fidelity.- Founded in 1977 by Brad Miller, MFSL 
specializes in the remastering of music by a major label for the "" market. which became the exclusive distributor of Melodiya records in North America.
By 1991, Firma Melodiya owned 21 enterprises, including factories and record stores.
But the circulation of Melodiya products began to gradually decline. This was due to the economic situation in Russia, the reduction in orders.
In the early 1990s, the director of Melodiya, Valery Vasilyevich Suhorado, signed an agreement with the BMG recording concern.
Under the agreement, licenses for phonograms and distribution rights were transferred to BMG for exclusive use, which, according to Troshin, led to the destruction of the entire structure of the Melodiya company. In 2003, the contract with BMG expired. so, what is next????
Of the recording equipment, the studio had, in particular, a Swiss four-track tape recorder Studer J-87 (1971).
From the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Sound engineer" Anatoly Veizenfeld.
- The microphones were really tube Neumann 47, 87, etc.
- Both Leningrad and "Ekran" were used, now "Nevaton"
- Consoles - Amek, Neve, Siemens, Valley People
- There was very little processing in the main: Valley People compressors, Klark teknik, Sony, Trace Elliot EQs.
- sheet reverbs AKG, Tesla.
- Tape recorders - Studer, Sony, Otari, as well as Telefunken.
The master disc was cut on an Ortofon device from the so-called “corrected take” the equipment in the studios was the best that only then existed, but far from all operators were allowed to use such high-quality equipment and not everyone knew how to work - moreover, the quality of the Melody records is on sale differed greatly. Hence a lot of questions about the differences between records on labels, factories -.
Studio sound engineer Rafik Ragimov, spoke about the work on the 1st albums of the Pesnyary group in 1979-1980, mentions the 24-track Studer and Otari, the English Amec console, the German Neumann U47 microphones. From the beginning of the 1960s, all VSG recordings were made only in, in the 1970s, the development of quadraphonic recording began. In 1966-1976, the WSG received about 50 international awards. not sickly, for those times !!!
Also in operation in the 1980s was the traveling studio "Tonwagen", also known as "MCI", manufactured in London and 
demonstrated at the Moscow exhibition "Communication-80". There are some underground groups on it: they went after the studio and worked in it at night.
So in 1983, the Aquarium group recorded their albums and strange games, and in the period from 1987 to 1989, the albums "Block of Hell" and "The Sixth Forester" of the Alisa group were recorded. Of the discs officially recorded at the studio, the 1st studio album of the Master group is known.
The All-Union Recording Studio (VSG) was organized on November 5, 1957, the recordings took place in a specially equipped building of the former Anglican Church, with a large (on the ground floor) and a small (on the second floor) studio halls.
There were also special equipment rooms for editing recordings and removing duplicates, which were equipped with numerous devices for recording on magnetic tape and census on tondisks, a restoration equipment room for restoring especially old records from archives, as well as private collections. Available for recording from the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the Bolshoi Theatre. The editorial office and management of the VSG was located in the pastor's house at the church.
The Leningrad recording studio was opened on April 29, 1959. In 1964, the studio became part of Melodiya as an independent structure.
All recordings took place in the building of the Academic Chapel, and since 1988 in the premises of the Lutheran Church on Bolshoy Prospekt of Vasilyevsky Island. Initially, the studio was equipped with equipment developed by the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association, then with Czech equipment from Tesla - I have such layers-very good. good ones. And again )))
In 1964, together with the Riga plant, she became part of Melodiya. From the first days of its foundation, the permanent editor-in-chief Joan Yushchuk (Est. Joann Juštšuk) worked in the studio. In 1967, there were already 8 people in the studio staff. The sound engineer and music researcher Heino Pedusaar improved the high quality of the recordings.
The main part of the cultural heritage of the Melodiya studio was the work on a series of recordings organ music. I myself this series)))
In 1978-1986, the musicologist Ruta Skudienė, a compiler of Lithuanian jazz collections, worked as an editor at the studio.
Over time, the studio was equipped with the most modern equipment, stereo and multi-channel recording methods were mastered: in 1987, the studio had an 8-channel Studer mixing console, 2-channel Studer A-80 and C37 tape recorders and an 8-channel Ampex 440V, sound speakers.
The Leningrad plant of gramophone records was put into operation under the leadership of the director and innovator Yu. Kh. Tsomaev in 1948 at 11 Tsvetochnaya Street.
In 1956, the release of long-playing records began, in 1962 - stereophonic records. Since August 1957, it became known as "Accord" and became subordinate to the management chemical industry Lensovnarkhoz.
On July 11, 1964, the plant was included in the Melodiya company under the name Leningrad Record Plant of the All-Union Record Company Melodiya. He released records at 78 (grands) and 33 rpm. (flexible, minions, grandees, giants). In 1972, the plant mastered the production of color records. In the mid-1980s, in addition to the main ones, he printed records for the Polish company Tonpress.
Of course, the conclusions are up to you, gentlemen, but based on this material, it can be judged that the Melodiya company was equipped with excellent imported equipment, and could compete well with the well-known record labels of those years.
Many people are already interested in the highest sound quality of their loved ones. musical performers who performed and perform on different concert stages. According to many, vinyl records from the times of the USSR, which are still available in a fairly extensive and versatile assortment, have the best sound quality. Such high-tech products over time, with proper use, do not lose their original quality. They are in rather high demand among connoisseurs and at the same time cost very little.
The price of records can differ quite seriously - starting from hundreds of rubles, and ending with hundreds of thousands. Of course, this applies only to those records that were released not on the territory of the USSR, but, for example, in the USA. Finding out the real cost of a particular product is not always possible on your own - in some cases it will not be superfluous to consult with specialists who can give a real assessment and help you purchase the right record at a democratic cost. In some cases, you should compare different options and only after that you can already purchase the desired record.
Speaking briefly about the cost of Soviet vinyl records, I can assure you that 99 percent of all records kept by our citizens do not cost even 50 rubles apiece. The price will be about 100 rubles if the record is in excellent condition, and at least not unpacked. Sometimes you can try to sell some copies that were released in a small edition, at a price of up to 300 rubles. This, for example, soviet rock, or a Beatles record released by Melodiya.
Someone may say, they say, I saw a Beatles record for sale worth 20,000 rubles. Everything is simple here - the concepts of “made in the USSR” and “branded record” are different. Or another example - a record with Vysotsky's recordings of any Soviet factory today costs 20-30 rubles, but if the plastic with Vysotsky's recordings is made somewhere in France or in the USA, then its price increases by 100-200 times. Maybe you have one too, if someone brought it to you from abroad. And they can also say that on some resources, ordinary Soviet records are sold at a price of 500-1000 rubles apiece. Remember, if you are selling, it does not mean that you are buying. For example, on the forums of collectors, sets of Soviet vinyl records (in the amount of 100-200 pieces) can be bought for literally 1000-2000 rubles.
People who are far from collecting may ask a reasonable question - why then the records are cheap, because there are no more of them. The answer is simple - at one time there were records in every Soviet family, respectively, hundreds of millions of them have survived to this day. And there are not so many collectors of vinyl records. For example, I know about 50-60 coin collectors, but not a single record collector.
There are a number of different Soviet high quality and interesting vinyl records that have been released in limited editions, which is why they are in high demand and have high artistic value. Every year they are more and more difficult to get, which is why their cost is constantly increasing. It is easy to be really convinced of this by comparing the cost of certain records according to different years release. The total cost of records depends on a number of factors, namely:
manufacturer company;
- year of issue;
- the number of records in circulation;
- popularity and relevance of musical recordings;
- the general condition of the vinyl;
- label on the disc;
- the presence of the envelope and its condition;
- dedicatory inscription of the performer, etc.
The most famous factories producing various vinyl records in the time of the USSR were the following - the firm "Melody", "Moscow Experimental z-d Gramozapis"," Aprelevsky Order of Lenin gramophone records" "Leningradsky plant records", "Riga Order of Honor Records Factory", "Tbilisi Recording Studio" and some others. Such manufacturers produced products of the highest quality that fully met the standards of quality and reliability. You can easily verify this if you start listening When choosing one or another record, you need to check its quality, since there are times when fakes come across or the product has received serious wear.
It is possible to find and select the desired record, both in the relevant music stores, boutiques, and on specialized portals and forums. At the same time, preference should be given to those who have already managed to prove themselves and offer products of the highest quality level. Soviet records- this, although not the most profitable investment, but many modern collectors choose them for their collections.
Today we will talk about the factories that produced Melodiya records in the USSR.
A little background: Melodiya is a Soviet and Russian recording company, the oldest sound industry company in Russia. Founded in 1964 as the All-Union Gramophone Company. It united the main record factories and recording studios that existed at that time in the USSR, and became a state organization for the production, storage and distribution of sound.
Let's start with the most important plant "Moscow Pilot Plant Gramzapis" - this plant produced lacquer (until 1986), then copper discs of phonograms sent from the "All-Union Recording Studio" or sound recording studios located in large cities of the USSR. The enterprise printed records from the third negative of phonograms, the first two copies were intended to reveal defects. "BRAIN" also made matrices for other factories, which will be discussed later. At this plant, records were produced in very small quantities, the quality of these records was at their best, then the matrices were sent to the "Aprelevka Order of Lenin Records Plant" since there were large capacities for the production of vinyl.
The Aprelevsky Order of Lenin Gramophone Record Plant is the oldest plant in Russia. Its history begins in 1910. Gottlieb Moll created the Metropol Record company. In the early 1950s, the plant began mastering the production of vinyl records, in 1952 the first batches of long-playing phonograph records were made in the country, and in 1961 the first stereo records. This plant produced at that time all known formats of records: minions, grandees, giants, as well as color and flexible ones; for 78, 33 and 45 rpm, including minions for 45 rpm for export and by order of the Soyuzinventarium office for Meloman jukeboxes. The Aprelevka plant produced gramophone records at 78 rpm until 1971. The quality of the records varied from excellent to average, as the production large circulation the matrix was worn out and this affected the quality of the recording as a whole.
"Leningrad plant of gramophone records" - put into operation in 1948. The equipment of the plant was assembled on the basis of the expropriated German gramophone plant "Tempo".
In the mid-1980s, in addition to the main orders, he printed records for the Polish company "Tonpress". Also in Leningrad own studio records, the main repertoire was classical music. The quality of the records of this enterprise was average, the records were stamped thick, the sleeves for the records were made of ordinary paper and they quickly fell into disrepair, varnished paper was used on others, and the factory itself produced records a year after they appeared at the Moscow Pilot Plant Gramzapis. At the beginning of 1990, they began to release the "Signal Series of Records", the main repertoire of which was the rock music of such groups as: "Auction", "NOM", "Crematorium", "Picnic", "Crisis", etc.
"Riga Order of Honor Record Factory" - "Rīgas skaņu ierakstu studija" was founded in 1958 with branches in Tallinn and Vilnius. The Riga studio was one of the first in Melodiya to switch to stereophony. The studio had high-quality equipment: Swiss microphones, modern consoles and tape recorders. Due to this, the records were of high quality and were even sent for import. Janis Lusens, one of the founders of the Latvian group "Zodiac", recalls the early 1980s:
"The main thing is that we were lucky with the sound engineer Alexander Griva, who actually became the producer of our first record. He perfectly felt the new western music and I realized that there is a lot of good ... "
"Tashkent factory named after M.T.Tashmukhamedov" - Tashkent record factory was founded in 1945 on Gramplastinok street, house 58. The production was assembled on the basis of the equipment of the Noginsk factory evacuated in 1941. Since 1957 he has been releasing long-playing records. In 1964 or 1965 he became part of Melodiya, in 1969 the plant was named after the singer Mulla Tuychi Tashmukhamedov, a pioneer of recording in Turkestan. In 1972, the plant mastered the production of stereo records. The quality of the released records was poor, the culture of production at the enterprise was weak. The records did not cool down properly and they had a characteristic "sand" sound.
"Tbilisi Recording Studio" - Tbilisi Record Factory produced long-playing mono and stereo records, flexible records. At the beginning of 1972, American equipment worth $300,000 was purchased and the production of components for tape cassettes was launched. According to information at the end of 1981, the plant produced components for compact cassettes and had a replication line. The quality of vinyl records was worse than at the "Tashkent Plant", and the "pyataks" of the records in the upper part were printed badly, even on export editions (the photo you see now).
P.S. These factories no longer exist. The last plant was "Aprelevskiy", which released the last record in 1997. By the 50th anniversary, the Melodiya company released several records, the first of which was the 1987 album of the Aria group, Hero of Asphalt. I want to believe that the fashion for vinyl records will return.
Thank you for your attention!
