The first recorded voice on the gramophone is attributed to Thomas Edison himself, reciting the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” This recording was made in 1877.
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The first recorded voice on the gramophone is attributed to Thomas Edison himself, reciting the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” This groundbreaking recording was made on December 6, 1877. Edison had been working on developing a practical method of recording sound, and this historic moment marked a significant milestone for the world of audio technology.
One interesting fact is that the recording was made on a tinfoil cylinder phonograph, an early version of the gramophone. The tinfoil cylinder was manually rotated while a stylus traced grooves onto the surface, capturing the sound vibrations. Although the sound quality of the recording was far from perfect, it represented a fundamental breakthrough in the field.
To add an intriguing quote to emphasize the significance of this event, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, once remarked, “It is a more astonishing invention than the telephone, if you come to think of it.”
Below is a table showcasing some interesting facts related to the first recorded voice on the gramophone:
Fact | Detail |
---|---|
Inventor | Thomas Edison |
Date of recording | December 6, 1877 |
Nursery rhyme recited | “Mary Had a Little Lamb” |
Recording method | Tinfoil cylinder phonograph |
Significance | It marked a groundbreaking milestone in the development of sound recording technology |
Sound quality | Although the quality was limited, it demonstrated the possibility of reproducing sound mechanically |
Impact on future inventions | Paved the way for the development of modern audio technology and the music industry |
Preservation of the recording | The original tinfoil recording still exists and is housed at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park |
The first recorded voice on the gramophone not only showcased the ingenuity and persistence of Thomas Edison, but it also laid the foundation for the remarkable advancements in audio technology that we enjoy today.
A video response to “What was the first recorded voice on the gramophone?”
The YouTube video titled “Edison Phonograph | Gramophone & Audio Recording History” discusses the evolution of recorded music formats and introduces the Edison phonograph. The narrator reflects on the current convenience of streaming music, the high quality of CDs, the compactness of audio cassettes, and the nostalgia of vinyl records. They then delve into the invention of the Edison phonograph in 1877, which initially used cylinders instead of disks. These early phonographs had limitations, such as a maximum recording time of two minutes and lower sound quality compared to today’s standards. However, encountering an old phonograph, despite its imperfections, still evokes a sense of magic.
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Mary had a little lambIn 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the first machine that could record sound and play it back. On the first audio recording Edison recited, “Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow.
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Edison gave a sketch of the machine to his mechanic, John Kruesi, to build, which Kruesi supposedly did within 30 hours. Edison immediately tested the machine by speaking the nursery rhyme into the mouthpiece, "Mary had a little lamb." To his amazement, the machine played his words back to him.
On April 9, 1860—157 years ago this Sunday—the French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville created the first sound recording in history. An eerie rendition of the folksong "Au clair de la lune," the clip was captured by Scott’s trademark invention, the phonautograph, the earliest device known to preserve sound.
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