9,453 plays

jtotheizzoe:

The Oldest Known Recording, Restored in the Digital Age

Hearing the voices of dead people might make you feel a little odd, but give this a listen.

In 1878, writer Thomas Mason sat down in front of one of Thomas Edison’s just-invented phonograph recorders, and captured himself playing cornet, laughing, and even the first recorded screw-up (trying to read a line from “Old Mother Hubbard”.

According to writings, Edison had recorded himself the year before, just after he invented the device, reading “Mary Had A Little Lamb”. This recording has since disappeared, making Mason’s the oldest known playable copy.

Except it wasn’t really “playable”. The metallic drum had deteriorated so badly that it couldn’t be played mechanically, so Lawrence Berkeley scientists had to develop a way to digitally scan the grooves and convert them into real sound.

Check out Rebecca J. Rosen’s article at The Atlantic to find out more about the history of this recording and to hear more samples, and check out the research project’s site to find out how they did it. So. Cool.

It’s nice to know that, for as long as people have been laying sound to records, they’ve been messing up. No one’s perfect, even the pioneers of sound! At least we can laugh with them, right along with the recording.

924 notes

Show

  1. mrpottts reblogged this from spetharrific
  2. on-the-fence reblogged this from catbountry
  3. likelytofail reblogged this from queen-of-france
  4. ducky9 reblogged this from queen-of-france
  5. queen-of-france reblogged this from catbountry
  6. halvingthetimeofmylife reblogged this from futurejournalismproject
  7. its-crowded-in-here reblogged this from sagansense
  8. math-erin reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  9. never-for-get-who-you-are reblogged this from shesanem and added:
    This is amazing!
  10. gobytheshadow reblogged this from mysavageheart
  11. apinchofcyanide reblogged this from noneedtobeahero
  12. querulouschutney reblogged this from aquestionofdiscipline
  13. steinbit reblogged this from funismajin
  14. lattedrinkingliberal reblogged this from harveyswick
  15. harveyswick reblogged this from sansaofhousestark
  16. zippyrocketbean reblogged this from super-mama-ready
  17. daetrimental reblogged this from subconsciousflow
  18. amyeem reblogged this from douchebagsayswhat
  19. crushedkokoro reblogged this from naya-nae
  20. naya-nae reblogged this from douchebagsayswhat
  21. minori-chan reblogged this from ladancingpatata
  22. ladancingpatata reblogged this from haughtytwat
  23. haughtytwat reblogged this from douchebagsayswhat
  24. shecomesfrommars reblogged this from douchebagsayswhat
  25. douchebagsayswhat reblogged this from clev3r-url
  26. flaccidfungus reblogged this from we-are-star-stuff

Blog comments powered by Disqus