"From 1854 he [Scott de Martinville] became fascinated in a mechanical means of transcribing vocal sounds. While proofreading some engravings for a physics textbook he came across drawings of auditory anatomy. He sought to mimic the working in a mechanical device, substituting an elastic membrane for the tympanum, a series of levers for the ossicle, which moved a stylus he proposed would press on a paper, wood or glass surface covered in lampblack. On 26 January 1857, he delivered his design in a sealed envelope to the French Academy. On 25 March 1857, he received French patent #17,897/31,470 for the phonautograph.
The phonautograph used a horn to collect sound, attached to a diaphragm which vibrated a stiff bristle which inscribed an image on a lamp black coated, hand-cranked cylinder. Scott built several devices with the help of acoustic instrument maker Rudolph Koenig. Unlike Edison's later invention of 1877, the phonograph, the phonautograph only created visual images of the sound and did not have the ability to play back its recordings. Scott de Martinville's device was used only for scientific investigations of sound waves." [Wikipedia]
The phonautograph used a horn to collect sound, attached to a diaphragm which vibrated a stiff bristle which inscribed an image on a lamp black coated, hand-cranked cylinder. Scott built several devices with the help of acoustic instrument maker Rudolph Koenig. Unlike Edison's later invention of 1877, the phonograph, the phonautograph only created visual images of the sound and did not have the ability to play back its recordings. Scott de Martinville's device was used only for scientific investigations of sound waves." [Wikipedia]
But the story goes on:
"In 2008, the New York Times reported the discovery of a phonautogram from 9 April 1860.The announcement of the discovery was accompanied by an announcement that the visual recording was made playable — "converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California." The phonautogram was one of Leon Scott's forgotten images in Paris; they were scanned then processed by a sophisticated computer program developed a few years earlier by the Library of Congress.
The recording was a ten-second snippet of a singer, originally thought to be the daughter of the inventor, before it was discovered that the recording was played at twice normal speed and was probably his own voice, performing the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune". This phonautograph recording is now the earliest known recording of a human voice and music in existence, predating, by twenty-eight years, the longest surviving Edison phonographic recording of a Handel chorus from the oratorio "Israel in Egypt", made in 1888." [Wikipedia]
"Au Clair de Lune" can be heard here.
via Javier Sierra at Milenio 3
"In 2008, the New York Times reported the discovery of a phonautogram from 9 April 1860.The announcement of the discovery was accompanied by an announcement that the visual recording was made playable — "converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California." The phonautogram was one of Leon Scott's forgotten images in Paris; they were scanned then processed by a sophisticated computer program developed a few years earlier by the Library of Congress.
The recording was a ten-second snippet of a singer, originally thought to be the daughter of the inventor, before it was discovered that the recording was played at twice normal speed and was probably his own voice, performing the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune". This phonautograph recording is now the earliest known recording of a human voice and music in existence, predating, by twenty-eight years, the longest surviving Edison phonographic recording of a Handel chorus from the oratorio "Israel in Egypt", made in 1888." [Wikipedia]
"Au Clair de Lune" can be heard here.
via Javier Sierra at Milenio 3
1 comment:
Hi there My name is Todd, I live in Hamilton New Zealand. I attend a High school, called Hillcrest High school, and I am doing a project at the moment and I would like to ask for you permission to use the first image on your blog page for my project.
Many thanks, Todd :)
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