first audio recording - 1860?

Post by **hugh** » March 28th, 2008, 9:11 am

news story:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/28/2201748.htm?section=justin

official site, w links to recordings:
http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/

Jan_M · Post by **Jan_M** » March 28th, 2008, 10:16 am

I came across this story yesterday and found it fascinating! For me, it's both exciting and chilling to hear a voice recorded before the American Civil War. Even more interesting, the recording was never intended to be played back, but the researchers were able to reproduce the sound just the same. Talk about a voice from the past ...

----- Jan

Great Plains · Post by **Great Plains** » March 28th, 2008, 12:17 pm

Hi-fi! 8)

And way cool.

John Lieder · Post by **John Lieder** » March 28th, 2008, 12:24 pm

Think anything we record will be around 148 years from now? What will happen to the technology in that amount of time?

genecode · Post by **genecode** » March 28th, 2008, 7:02 pm

Can't distinguish any human voice from those recordings....
Just lots of static noise......

In fact kinda sound like voice from outer space to me.

musicmaiden · Post by **musicmaiden** » March 28th, 2008, 7:38 pm

I saw an article about this in our newspaper today too. I can't really understand anything, but it's still cool! The technology in 148 years . . . completely mind-boggling!

icyjumbo · Post by **icyjumbo** » March 28th, 2008, 9:59 pm

You know how a tune catches in your brain? Well, my wife had been singing "O claire de la lune" for a couple of days when she played me that clip and asked me what I thought it was. (She's an obsessive consumer of news, and I never bother, so she knew I hadn't seen the article.) I finally understood why she had been humming the tune, but I didn't get what it meant until she told me. Absolutely fascinating! Maybe there is something to be said about reading the news after all......

Jc · Post by Jc » March 29th, 2008, 9:38 am

genecode wrote:Can't distinguish any human voice from those recordings....
Just lots of static noise......

In fact kinda sound like voice from outer space to me.

I think you'd need to know the French song first to be able to distinguish it from the static.
I heard this on the radio and could barely figure out the song myself, but it's quite a neat discovery.

Cloud Mountain · Post by **Cloud Mountain** » March 29th, 2008, 11:01 am

Is this the recording that when played backwards, states clearly, in a Liverpool accent, "Paul is dead"?

Jc · Post by Jc » March 29th, 2008, 11:32 am

Cloud Mountain wrote:Is this the recording that when played backwards, states clearly, in a Liverpool accent, "Paul is dead"?

ROFL why don't you try it? You can play it backwards using Audacity.

Post by **hugh** » March 30th, 2008, 2:37 pm

BBC newsreader cracks up after telling this story. LV recorders can probably sympathize:

http://speechification.s3.amazonaws.com/BBCRadio4-News-CharlotteGreenGiggles.mp3

ExEmGe · Post by **ExEmGe** » March 31st, 2008, 1:28 pm

hugh wrote:BBC newsreader cracks up after telling this story.

The blessed Charlotte has form. She once had to read an item about a chap called 'Jack Tuat' with similar consequences

Post by **hugh** » March 31st, 2008, 1:30 pm

yes, reading up on this she said, she is now worried about being known as a giggler, as it's happened twice now in a decade!