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With the introduction of Thomas Edison\'s (1837 - 1941) phonograph (Greek, ‘sound-writer’) in 1877, the world of recording was born. His system used a diaphragm at the end of an amplifying horn to move a stylus in synchronism with the sound, cutting fine grooves on the circumference of a rotating metal drum. When the stylus retraced the groove, sounds were produced through the horn. These metal drums proved to have poor reproduction qualities and it was not until 1888, when wax cylinders were introduced, that recordings became clearer.
The next advance in sound reproduction came in 1888 with Emile Berliner\'s invention of flat discs with a long spiral groove. His invention opened up the way for the mass-production of recordings, as master discs could now be used to cut as many copies as were required. Recordings further improved in the 1920s when the sounds were captured by microphone, electrically amplified and the electric signal used to cut the master disc.
Other innovations, such as the introduction of stereo by EMI in 1933, and the development of magnetic tape by Telefunken and Farben in 1935, all helped to improve the quality of reproduction. Recording was also helped by better and more reliable reproduction equipment as the valve was superseded by the transistor.
During the 1970s, work was carried out that transformed people\'s way of thinking about recording. The introduction of the video and the compact disc have increased our expectations of sound and visual reproduction. The video is a magnetic tape recording of the signals necessary to produce picture and sound in a television set. The compact disc, however, uses laser light to interpret digital coding on a flat disc and translate it into speech and music. Since the sound is digitally recorded the quality of the original is retained much more effectively than by mechanical grooves or magnetic tape. AA
Further reading John Eargle, Sound Recording. |
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