phonautograph sound transcript

For vintage music technology nerds, it is an event which could be described as equivalent in impact to the Second Coming: last week it was announced that audio scientists using modern technology played back a sound recording made 148 years ago, 28 years before Edison's first phonograph recording.

In the year 1860 Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville was analyzing sound waves visually on a phonautograph. At that time it was inconceivable that these graphs would be ever be played back as sound recordings.

Audio historian David Giovannoni and Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory transcribed these graphs onto computer software, and were able to play back a haunting 10 second sample of a murky ghost-like voice singing the melody of an old French folk song,
Au Claire de la Lune.

(posted by VB via SM)


- sally mckay 3-31-2008 4:04 am

It's Au Claire de la Lune forward but what is it backwards?
- joester (guest) 3-31-2008 6:40 am


If they never imagined being able to play it back is it really a recording?
- joester (guest) 3-31-2008 6:41 am


backwards it's kill your French parents.
- L.M. 3-31-2008 7:00 am


"...écoutez moi, tuer vos parents...n'hesitez pas..."

(All grammatical and spelling errors are my own. I am 80% anglo after all.)
- C.R. (guest) 3-31-2008 9:13 pm


...et l'autre 20% est putain.
- L.M. 3-31-2008 10:05 pm


n'oubliez pas au boogie

- the bru (guest) 4-05-2008 8:06 am





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