http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE6_M6BkUM8
This was recorded by a French typesetter in 1860, 16 years before Thomas Edison developed the first true phonograph and 28 years before the previously oldest known sound recording. What the guy basically did here was have his machine etch sound waves into paper, mainly to study the waves themselves. He had been interested in the idea of recording and playing back sound, but wasn't quite able to make that final leap.
Until today, 148 years later.
Some scientists at UC Berkeley got hold of those paper etchings and figured that since they are basically grooves in paper, they could play them like a record. So they ran it through a computer program and now, long after he's dead, we can hear his daughter sing a French folk song.
Interestingly, there seems to be a lot of breath feedback on the recording, so it doesn't sound too much different from a lot of amateur YouTube videos. And like I said, the guy didn't know it could ever be played back.
Pretty amazing stuff, if you asked me. But this has been an interesting week regarding old legends. You might have heard they found what may have been DB Cooper's parachute last week too.
This was recorded by a French typesetter in 1860, 16 years before Thomas Edison developed the first true phonograph and 28 years before the previously oldest known sound recording. What the guy basically did here was have his machine etch sound waves into paper, mainly to study the waves themselves. He had been interested in the idea of recording and playing back sound, but wasn't quite able to make that final leap.
Until today, 148 years later.
Some scientists at UC Berkeley got hold of those paper etchings and figured that since they are basically grooves in paper, they could play them like a record. So they ran it through a computer program and now, long after he's dead, we can hear his daughter sing a French folk song.
Interestingly, there seems to be a lot of breath feedback on the recording, so it doesn't sound too much different from a lot of amateur YouTube videos. And like I said, the guy didn't know it could ever be played back.
Pretty amazing stuff, if you asked me. But this has been an interesting week regarding old legends. You might have heard they found what may have been DB Cooper's parachute last week too.
. It sounded like a moaning ghost.
