http://www.metafilter.com/tags/AlexanderGrahamBell Posts tagged with 'AlexanderGrahamBell' at MetaFilter. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:35:03 -0800 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:35:03 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/112641/Listening%2Dto%2Dthe%2Dpast%2Drecorded%2Don%2Dtin%2Dfoil%2Dand%2Dglass%2Dfor%2Dthe%2Dfirst%2Dtime%2Din%2Dover%2Da%2Dcentury Towards the end of the 1800s, there were three primary American groups competing to invent technology to record and play back audio. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30112/30112-h/30112-h.htm">Alexander Graham Bell worked with with Charles Sumner Tainter and Chichester Bell</a> in at their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volta_Laboratory_and_Bureau">Volta Laboratory</a> in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., while <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html">Thomas A. Edison</a> worked from his <a href="http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/the-recording-archives.htm">Menlo Park facilities</a>, and <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/berlhtml/berlreco.html">Emile Berliner</a> worked in <a href="http://phonojack.com/Berliner.htm">his independent laboratory</a> in <a href="http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/ss/gramophone_5.htm">his home</a>. To secure the rights to their inventions, the three groups sent samples of their work to the Smithsonian. These recordings became part of the permanent collections, now consisting of 400 of the earliest audio recordings ever made. <a href="http://newsdesk.si.edu/factsheets/early-sound-recording-collection-and-sound-recovery-project">But knowledge of their contents was limited to old, short descriptions, as the rubber, beeswax, glass, tin foil and brass recording media are fragile</a>, and playback devices might damage the recordings, if such working devices are even available. That is, until <a href="http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/playback-130-year-old-sounds-revealed">a collaborative project with the Library of Congress and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory came together to make 2D and 3D optical scanners</a>, capable of <a href="http://www.irene.lbl.gov/">visually recording the patterns marked on discs and cylinders</a>, respectively. <a href="http://invention.smithsonian.org/about/about_from_the_staff.aspx">Six discs from Bell's Volta Laboratory have been scanned</a>, and made available on <a href="http://bio16p.lbl.gov/">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's page for the project</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6F59F72775B4EA64&feature=plcp">posted on YouTube</a>, and high quality images have been <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/sets/72157628420928559/with/6512506535/">posted to Flickr</a> (<a href="http://www.flickr.com//photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/sets/72157628420928559/show/">Flash-based slideshow</a>). The National Museum of American History blog has a two-part post on the audio recovery: <a href="http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2012/01/trilled-rs-and-the-dawn-of-recorded-sound-in-america.html">Trilled R's and the dawn of recorded sound in America</a>, and <a href="http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2012/01/forgotten-early-sound-recordings-given-a-voice.html">Forgotten early sound recordings given a voice</a>. <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/62970/Ive-got-moves-you-havent-even-seen-yet">IRENE (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.), previously</a>, in <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070816024500/http://irene.lbl.gov/">2007</a> (Archive.org view of irene.lbl.gov), before work on these hundred-plus year old audio recordings were scanned. And Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory previously worked on audio recreation: <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/70270/Researchers-Play-Tune-Recorded-Before-Edison-See-also-Photoautograph">the 1860 phonautogram, first thought to be a female voice</a>, <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/82099/Oldest-recorded-voice">later determined to be the (male) inventor himself</a>, and <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/105335/123yearold-recording-of-Twinkle-Twinkle-Little-Star-recited-it-with-feeling-and-expression">Edison's phonograph doll</a>, the actual first recording of a woman's voice. All this work is different from the <a href="http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2003/02/57769">Digital Needle software written by Ofer Springer, a university student from Israel</a> (<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/19832/Music-Industry-releases-new-piracyproof-format">previously</a>, <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/23444/Digital-Needle">twice</a>), which was more of a proof-of-concept project than an effort to archive broken or fragile media. One more prior post, this on <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/111089/Listenin-to-the-oldies">Phonozoic, dedicated to the history of the phonograph and related media</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2012:site.112641 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:35:03 -0800 AlexanderGrahamBell analog audio beeswax Bell Berliner brass CharlesSumnerTainter ChichesterBell digital Edison EmileBerliner glass history imaging MenloPark physics recording rubber sound technology ThomasEdison tinfoil vinyl Volta wax filthy light thief http://www.metafilter.com/104147/You%2Dhave%2Dto%2Dhave%2Dsome%2Dmanners%2Dbaby%2Dcant%2Dyou%2Dsee <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmtUqaz0rx8">Telephone Manners For Kids</a> (SLYT WTF) tag:metafilter.com,2011:site.104147 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:19:11 -0800 alexandergrahambell everythingisterrible kids manners slyt telephone wtf youtube yellowbinder