Audio 'Recording' from 1860

[I Grok Spock]

The 10-second clip of a woman singing "Au Clair de la Lune," taken from a so-called phonautogram, was recently discovered by audio historian David Giovannoni. The recording predates Thomas Edison's "Mary had a little lamb" — previously credited as the oldest recorded voice — by 17 years.


The tune was captured using a phonautograph, a device created by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville that created visual recordings of sound waves.

Using a needle that moved in response to sound, the phonautograph etched sound waves into paper coated with soot from an oil lamp.

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Recording Link


Nifty yet spooky.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

It is pretty eerie-sounding, but damn, that's cool. Thanks for posting it.

 

[anti-matter]

Yikes did I hear correctly? Sounded like someone moving furniture across the floor.

 

[alchemist]

Yikes did I hear correctly? Sounded like someone moving furniture across the floor.

But seriously, does this discount Edison's claim as the first? I wouldn't think so given that it appears that Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville wasn't able to play the recording back, unlike Edison.

Does anyone know any differently?

 

[Geoff]

But seriously, does this discount Edison's claim as the first?

That depends upon what you mean. The first to do what?

Edison is still the first person ever to have ever recorded sound and played it back. But there's no question that de Martinville successfully recorded a recognizable human voice seventeen years before Edison recorded his own voice on a wax cylinder for the first time. It's just that the technology to play back de Martinville's recording didn't exist until 148 years later.

 

[John Picard]

Just like the incandescent light bulb. Edison was the one who perfected a bulb that could be repeatedly turned on and off.

 

[alchemist]

But seriously, does this discount Edison's claim as the first?

That depends upon what you mean. The first to do what?

Edison is still the first person ever to have ever recorded sound and played it back. But there's no question that de Martinville successfully recorded a recognizable human voice seventeen years before Edison recorded his own voice on a wax cylinder for the first time. It's just that the technology to play back de Martinville's recording didn't exist until 148 years later.

I would agree with you 100% on everything above!