Towards the end of the 1800s, there were three primary American groups competing to invent technology to record and play back audio.
Alexander Graham Bell worked with with Charles Sumner Tainter and Chichester Bell in at their
Volta Laboratory in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., while
Thomas A. Edison worked from his
Menlo Park facilities, and
Emile Berliner worked in
his independent laboratory in
his home. 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.
But knowledge of their contents was limited to old, short descriptions, as the rubber, beeswax, glass, tin foil and brass recording media are fragile, and playback devices might damage the recordings, if such working devices are even available. That is, until
a collaborative project with the Library of Congress and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory came together to make 2D and 3D optical scanners, capable of
visually recording the patterns marked on discs and cylinders, respectively.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Feb 10, 2012 -
19 comments
In Martian Chronicles, a young-adult novella by
Cory Doctorow, colonists leave a bloated earth and head towards the economic promise land of Mars. There's a fascinating spin on this tale that isn't summarize-able so go listen to it.
Part 1,
2,
3.
posted by Taft
on Jan 30, 2012 -
132 comments
Lily, the caretaker's daughter, was literally run off her feet...
Today is the feast of Epiphany, the last day of the traditional Christmas season; the day also when the Misses Morkan held that grand affair, their annual dance, in James Joyce's
"The Dead." [more inside]
posted by Iridic
on Jan 6, 2012 -
71 comments
Phonozoic, Patrick Feaster's website "dedicated to the history of the phonograph and related media," is an amazing collection of information about historic recordings. Not just early recordings, however, but also
experimental "eduction projects": the "automatic 'playing' of primeval inscriptions of sound."
[more inside]
posted by litlnemo
on Dec 30, 2011 -
1 comment
Bfxr is a web app for creating sound effects for your game or own amusement.
Use the Randomize button to get started.
posted by Foci for Analysis
on Dec 13, 2011 -
24 comments
Over 143 episodes of audio, Mike Duncan has covered the founding of Rome through the Crisis of the Third Century in his
History of Rome podcast [
previously], having now reached the last pagan Emperor,
Julian The Apostate. Enlivened by drawing on comparisons to popular culture, from
The Empire Strikes Back (when Hannibal makes his appearance) to
The Godfather (as a metaphor for Rome's social client system), Mr Duncan's work makes for fun, informative 25-minute sessions with the greatest empire of the ancient western world. If you're interested in more, the podcasts could be handily supplemented with...
[more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Jul 10, 2011 -
42 comments
Hop in the
Video Time Machine and scroll to any year: from
1860 (the first recorded sound) to the
present day to experience video and audio from that time period: most of it iconic, some forgotten, and others entirely random. Results can be filtered for music, sports, movies, current events and more.
[more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Jul 5, 2011 -
8 comments
On the 29th January 1942 the first ever
Desert Island Discs was broadcast. Surpassed only by the
Grand Ole Opry it is the second longest running radio show in history. Beautiful in its simplicity - each castaway is asked to choose eight pieces of music, a book and a luxury item for their imaginary stay on the desert island. For those who have not come across it before aquaint yourself with its iconic theme tune 'By the Sleepy Lagoon'
here. Then for newcomers and old hands aquaint yourself with the wonderful new
BBC website with searchable archives of 2852 episodes detailing castaways choices, and
now with more than 500 episodes available for free download.
posted by numberstation
on May 3, 2011 -
23 comments
Following the success of
The Haunter of The Dark, the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcasts presents two new readings,
From Beyond and
The Picture in The House, by Andrew Leman and Bruce Green. Both recordings are available "In 3D". Alternatively if you like your Lovecraft with both pictures AND sound, the HP Lovecraft Historical Society version of
The Whisperer in Darkness is complete and being shown at worldwide film festivals - it's a talkie! (The HPLHS are now also offering a rather handsome
"official membership" pack.) Want something more interactive?
Cthulhu Dark offers a complete Lovecraftian tabletop RPG system that fits on two sides of a sheet of paper. Please note:
"If you fight any creature you meet, you will die. Thus, in these core rules, there are no combat rules or health levels. Instead, roll to hide or escape."
posted by Artw
on Mar 29, 2011 -
21 comments
Large
audio archive of Wallace Stevens reading from his poems. Other Stevens links: several poem
texts with annotation; many more of the
poems; his
letters on Google Books (full view).
posted by Paquda
on Feb 15, 2011 -
8 comments
Modern mainstream video games tend to be about framerates and millions of polygons per second. But it is possible to play games that have hardly any graphics at all: audio-only games like
Papa Sangre, designed for iOS devices, being the most recent example of the genre (and with binaural audio, probably the most ambitious). There are others:
In The Pit for Xbox 360 (or a PC with a 360 wired controller)
[previously], the (sadly incomplete)
Cadet 277 for PC and Mac, and
SoundVoyager, released in 2006 for the Nintendo. More at the
Experimental Gameplay Project.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Feb 12, 2011 -
14 comments
Adachi Tomomi,
Alex Baker,
Ian Baxter,
Ithai Benjamin,
Lesley Flanigan,
Lorin Edwin Parker,
Peter Blasser,
Phil Archer,
Todd Bailey,
Tommy Stephenson & Patrick McCarthy,
Tuomao Tammenpaa, and
Vasco Alvo are all featured in Nicolas Collins' extraordinarily good book
Handmade Electronic Music.
posted by mhjb
on Jan 21, 2011 -
14 comments
While the self-appointed task of one creative act per day continues to exist, I present the sonic explorations of
Clang Jingle Clang . Highlights of Kerrith Livengood's early morning posts include a
Goomba attack, political
musings, and a fable from
Aesop.
posted by Bistle
on Jan 14, 2011 -
2 comments
Still clinging desperately to those reading-things of yours made from dead trees? While you're at it,
scan the damn thing and make your own e-book. (My prediction is that there are copyright issues here that the manufacturer is ignoring, but that will come back to haunt them.)
posted by anothermug
on Jan 13, 2011 -
48 comments
folktek do beautiful things with sound and sculpture that are so unique as to defy description
posted by mhjb
on Dec 20, 2010 -
10 comments
