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The earliest known recording of the human voice
The phonautograph
The earliest known recording of the human voice
The earliest known recording of the human voice was made on April 9, 1860.
Modeled after the human ear, the manual device called the phonautograph was invented in 1857 by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Scott, a printmaker and bookseller by trade, fashioned a contraption whereby the horn funneled the sound to a diaphragm. A bristle then transcribed the vibration onto smoke-blackened paper or glass. The phonautograph could not play back recordings, but only kept a visual copy of the recording.
The first known recording is thought to be of Scott himself, singing French folk song "Au clair de la lune". The ten-second long recording was retrieved in 2008.
Modeled after the human ear, the manual device called the phonautograph was invented in 1857 by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Scott, a printmaker and bookseller by trade, fashioned a contraption whereby the horn funneled the sound to a diaphragm. A bristle then transcribed the vibration onto smoke-blackened paper or glass. The phonautograph could not play back recordings, but only kept a visual copy of the recording.
The first known recording is thought to be of Scott himself, singing French folk song "Au clair de la lune". The ten-second long recording was retrieved in 2008.
April 9, 1860
post by Chanez Baali
project: The Glass Files #onthisday via Instagram
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