Today instead of class on campus, we visited British Library Sound Archive. We took part in a talk guided by Tom Ruane about the history of sound formats and the British Library program called Save Our Sounds and Unlocking Our Sound Heritage. Both of these programs aimed to digitize as many physical recordings as possible to prevent them from getting ruined which will cause, the sound encrypted on them, to be lost forever. At the begging, Tom talked about the first sound recorders, and how it all began and showed us examples of what we were talking about such as Edison’s wax cylinders, Tinfoil Photograph, and Instantaneous Discs. It all started with the Phonautograph invented in 1860 by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville. It transcribed sound waves as undulations or other deviations in a line traced on smoke-blackened paper or glass. In 1877 Thomas Edison invented Tinfoil Phonograph. In July, while developing his telephone transmitter, Edison conceived the idea of recording and playing back telephone messages. After experimenting with a telephone “diaphragm having an embossing point & held against paraffin paper moving rapidly,” he found that the sound “vibrations are indented nicely” and concluded, “there’s no doubt that I shall be able to store up & reproduce automatically at any future time the human voice perfectly.” Another one invented in 1896 was the Phonograph cylinder. these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface, which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph. At the same time, Emile Berliner introduced his Gramophone. The 20th century brought Lacquer discs also called acetates or instantaneous discs. Lacquer discs were used in a recording system that enabled instantaneous playback after recording. And lastly, we have a magnetic recording. Method of preserving sounds, pictures, and data in the form of electrical signals through the selective magnetization of portions of a magnetic material.
In the end, Robin showed us around the basement of Sound Archive where acetate discs and vinyl discs are dried, cleaned, and restored. Above is a picture of how the space looked. I am embarrassed to say that I have never really studied the history of sound formats or the beginnings of sound recordings. I was amazed to learn that Thomas Edison had his part in how sound is encrypted and how his invention influenced the next inventions in the sound world. I found this trip very instructive and fascinating.