In a message dated 3/28/2008 10:19:57 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: (reply below)
Allen, I found this information at http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/ It's at the bottom of the page. You can actually listen to the recording Edison made with the phonautograph. <<Metropolitan Elevated Railroad from 40 feet away (1878 Phonautogram) In 1878, when Thomas Edison was hired to study the objectionable noise produced by the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad in New York City, he turned to the phonautograph, adapting one of his tinfoil phonographs to draw a "readable" lateral waveform. Edison's colleague Charles Batchelor made this particular phonautogram as part of that project in September. We believe the excerpt presented here begins and ends with test shouts, with three specimens of actual train noise in between-the earliest American sounds yet reproduced. Note that pitch fluctuations are due at least in part to the irregular recording speed. * _Metropolitan Elevated Railroad from 40 feet away_ (http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/1878-Edison-MERR.mp3) (mp3) >> ============== aha, I see it, and thanks. I believe the 1878 date given on this site is in error. When I saw this tracing years ago at the ENHS, it was marked as being made in the 1880s. Allen _www.phonobooks.com_ (http://www.phonobooks.com) **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) From [email protected] Fri Mar 28 07:54:29 2008 From: [email protected] (Ron L) Date: Fri Mar 28 08:01:24 2008 Subject: [Phono-L] Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Caesar In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> I'm reminded of a TV show, it might have been "Outer Limits" or "Twilight Zone" where a Scientist had developed a device to extract sound trapped by or in rocks. If I remember correctly they listened to the screams of the people being killed in Pompeii. Ron L -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 10:19 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Caesar In a message dated 3/27/2008 2:19:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Loran, Thanks very much for passing this along. I had been wondering where David was all winter! This is a significant development in recorded sound research, and should put to rest (at least until an earlier phonautographic tracing is found) the question of the "world's oldest playable recording." This is one of the few times I'm thankful for computer-based technology - - and isn't it an ironic relationship? George Paul ? Before Caesar. Ha! Bet THAT got your attention! But I am reminded of studies in the Hermetic Philosophical Tradition that reveal the ancient Greeks were aware that sound was vibration (and corresponded to colors as well). Experiments were undertaken with pulverized sand on drum surfaces and consistancies of wave patterns on the drum surface to particular sounds and notes of the scale were recorded (in writing). Wouldn't it be fun to discover some of these wave patterns were "frozen" somehow, in castings perhaps, and we could listen now to a mystery school chant or a phrase of Pericles or Aristotle? Ya hafta wonda how the sound was focused... Did they use a horn? ; ) Edward Considering Greek 101 DeVito **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom0 0030000000001) _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
