A Short History of recording Technology
The Acoustic-Mechanical Recording Era
In 1877,
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
The first recorded sounds were Edison
speaking the rhyme "Mary had a little lamb..."
The device
consisted of a hand cranked brass cylinder wrapped with tin foil that could
both record and playback. Acoustic energy was focused as it moved through a
trumpet-shaped cone terminating in a flat mica diaphragm. A stylus attached at
the center of the diaphragm transferred the acoustic energy into motion while
cutting a groove in the foil. Wax quickly replaced foil as a recording format
because it could be played many times.
Emile Berliner
Emile
Berliner, known for his invention of the carbon microphone transducer used in
telephones, greatly improved on Edison's talking machine by inventing the 78rpm
flat disc format in 1887. It allowed 4 minutes of recording time on a 12-inch
disc. These discs were far cheaper to manufacture.
Recording & Mixing
The
recording "mix" was adjusted by moving musicians towards or away from
the 9-foot recording horn. These non-electric acoustic-mechanical processes
would be the main production technique till the late 1920s. Edison's cylinder
format was retired in 1929 and only the flat disc format remained.
Nicola Tesla
In 1895,
Nicola Tesla, who originally predicted the concept of "wireless"
telephone, had built a prototype in his New York lab. His lab and prototype,
however, were destroyed in a mysterious fire before he could win the radio
patent
Guillermo Marconi
Instead,
in 1896, Guillermo Marconi, a 21 year old Italian inventor patented the
wireless.
Family connections in England helped him set up the first radio manufacturer,
British Marconi.
The lack
of amplification technology limited wireless radios to maritime-use
broadcasting Morse code.
Pre-1920's:
Planting the seeds of today's record labels and broadcasters
Only one
of Edison's record franchises would survive the century. Its success lay in
recording musical performances. This business called itself Columbia Records,
after its location: the District of Columbia. By 1891, it was the most
profitable of all recording companies and had hundreds of cylinder recordings
in its
catalog. This is the seed of the same Columbia now owned by Sony.
Record Companies
Emile Berliner, the inventor of the
78 rpm flat disc format opened 3 important record companies:
1) Deutsche Gramophone Gesellschaft in Germany,
2) HMY or His Master's Voice in London (now
EMI), England
3) Victor Records in the United States. The
Seagrams Company purchased PolyGram (Philips) in 1998, HMV of EMI (Thorn) and
Victor a part of BMG.
RCA
General
Electric bought British Marconi's American subsidiary, American Marconi for its
patents for $14 million and founded RCA, the Radio Corporation of America.
Other investors into RCA included Westinghouse and AT&T, on the whole,
called the Radio Group. RCA is the parent company of NBC, formed in 1927.
Major American Technological
advances in Sound until 1948
Radio
began its modern form after the invention of the Audion vacuum tube by Edwin
Armstrong. This tube technology made amplification possible in 1906.
Commercial Radio Station
The first
experimental commercial radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had its
first broadcast on November 6, 1920. By 1923, 600 stations operated in the
United States, creating an unprecedented demand for recorded music. From the
1920's onward, the record industry would be dwarfed by the broadcast industry.
Condenser Microphone
In 1920,
Bell Labs invented the condenser microphone. This was a crucial step on the
road to hi-fidelity. Bell eventually sold the idea to Victor and RCA records in
1925,ushering in a new era in sound recording: the electronic recording
process. Now the microphone replaced the crude recording horn.
Sound to Movies
In 1926,
Bell telephone then invented the vitaphone for talking movies. It involved the
use of phonograph records, an electrical pickup, and exponential horns large
enough to fill a hall with sound. There was enough time on the record for a
single reel of film (1000 feet equaling 11 minutes). The Vitaphone release, The
Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson saved film studio Warner Brothers from going
out of business during the depression.
LP’s
In 1931,
RCA used Vitaphone technology and released a commercial version called the LP
(long play) record that spun at 33 1/3 rpm and employed a half-sized groove.
Though the format was clearly better than the 78-rpm format, their timing could
not have been worse. The depression made it impossible for consumers to buy the
proper playback equipment and the heavy tone arms and giant old needles
destroyed the discs.
Disney uses Stereo
In 1933,
Bell Labs revolutionized recorded sound by developing stereo.
Walt
Disney. In 1940, Disney releases the first stereo sound production available to
the public: Fantasia.
Records
In 1948,
Columbia reintroduced the 33 1/3 rpm 12 inch vinyl LP record. This new format
was so superior to 78s and 45s that many artists defected to Columbia.
Also in
1948, RCA introduced an even better selling product: the 7 inch 45 rpm single
designed on the idea that radio sold music as single hits. Sales of 45s would
excel LPs into the late 1960's (though they were less profitable per unit).
Magnetic tape
Magnetic
pulses as a recording medium was first devised in 1898 by Valdemar Poulsen of
Denmark as a telephone recorder utilizing thin steel wire.
But the
lack of sufficient amplification technology made it too quiet to be useful.
A German scientist Stille and Marconi
developed the first useable quality magnetic recorders using steel tape. These
machines were huge and expensive and very few were made.
In 1927, American J.A. O'Neil was the first
to work on a low cost replacement to steel tape: iron oxide coated paper tape.
He never achieved a working model.
Nazi Germany Develops Magnetic Tape
By 1928,
Fritz Pfleumer, an engineer from Germany made the first workable tape recorder.
He developed a tape making process involving
bronze particles and cigarette paper at a cigarette company.
AEG
("General Electric" in German) bought the idea and developed it. They
next develop the ring head, which is still in use today. They made the first
decent quality tape recorder in 1935 called the Magnetophone.
Magnetophones,
considered "secret," were successfully used for propaganda throughout
the war. The K-4 model Magnetophone of 1939 was immensely improved and is the
model of today’s analog tape machine. The K-4 had a 40 Hz- 15 kHz frequency
response, 65 dB of dynamic range with less than 3% distortion. This led to
interest from the US government. The best the Allies had were transcription
recordings made on Vitaphones.
John T. Mullin
Months
into the Normandy Invasion of 1945, Major John T. Mullin discovered and studied
the German's secret K-4 Magnetophones and requisitioned two to be officially
sent back to the US. He kept two older models for himself, sending them home in
pieces along with 50 reels ~f tape.
Mullin
rebuilt the electronics based on German schematics and demonstrated them to the
industry executives and engineers at the San Francisco Institute of Radio
Engineers.
In1946
Bing Crosby, who had the biggest radio show in the US, became the first commercial
user of magnetic tape (with Mullin as engineer). The improvement in sound over
traditional radio is so significant that the Ampex Company begins building
their own versions of Magnetophones.
Magnetic Tape and the Recording Studio
By 1950,
transcription discs were obsolete in the recording studio and magnetic
recording became the standard.
The
original machines were full track (1 channel) recorders.
By about
1952, stereo (2-track) machines were made by Ampex, but they did not have the
low noise floor, and so did not catch on.
By 1954,
Ampex released 3-track on 1/2-inch tape, which became the standard until the
late 1960's.
In the meantime, a musical artist, Les Paul
was developing multitrack recording in his basement. The results were the 8 track
tape machine married to a custom console, the first with modern signal flow
characteristics that would allow flexible channel and monitor paths.
Magnetic Tape and the Recording
Studio
Ampex
bought the tape deck idea from Les Paul and released their version in 1957.
Engineer Tom Dowd convinced Atlantic Records to purchase the first one. Very
few studios felt they needed more than 3 tracks, however. Later in the 1950's,
4 and 6 track machines became available. These machines become popular in
Nashville studios to support the multitrack-based "Nashville Sound."
The development of the transistor in 1958 led to an explosion of inexpensive,
low cost, hi fidelity consumer audio and video products. This invention raised
the overall awareness and demand of good sounding and good-looking products
The Studio Becomes Creative
Today
the studio is more than a place to record a sonic event. It is a place, which
can also mold, shape, color, and transform live and recorded sound. It is quite
a creative place. The engineer has moved from being a technician in the 1940s
to being a "sonic-artist" in the 1990's. This transition began in
earnest in the mid 1960s with three great collaborations between musicians
(with big budgets) and young creative producers and engineers. The first of
these is the Beach Boys album of 1966 Pet Sounds (producer Brian Wilson). This
inspired the Beatles to take a new approach on their LP Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967- engineered by Geoff Emerick). The third was
artist Jimi Hendrix on the album Electric Ladyland (engineered by Eddie
Kramer). These artists and engineers allowed the recording studio to become
creative space and began the modern era of how most recording projects are
done.
24 Track & CD
24 track
studios became the standard by the mid 1970's.
1977 marks
the introduction of digital tape by Ampex. Also, the late 1970's saw the
development of compact disc technology by Philips. Their first consumer format
released is the Video Laser Disc.
Microprocessor Manufacturing
The 1980's
recording studio saw the implementation of these microprocessors in the
proliferation of outboard gear, not affordable with previous technology.
For musicians, it manifested in MIDI by 1983
and smart synthesizers like the Prophet 600 of 1978 and the DX-7.
The joint
Philips/Sony creation, the audio Compact Disc, is released to the public in
1982. 8 bitsampling became available in 1982 with Fairlight. 16-bit sampling
became available in 1983 with the Synclavier.
Digital
Recent
trends have made digital multitracking available at lower costs by moving from
the standard 2-inch magnetic tape to multitracks digitally encoded on 8mm-video
tape.
The first of these is the Akai ADAM 12 track,
followed by the ADAT formats popular today.
The
downward spiraling costs of Personal Computers have made random access editing
more affordable. The well-endowed Synclavier of 1990 cost about $200,000. High
quality workstations now average under $50,000. Good, basic disc editing for
audio can be reached with a PowerMac or newer PC, a large hard disc, and about
$200 of software.
A Recording History Time-Line
1877-Edison
introduces the phonograph utilizing the cylinder format
1887-Emile Berliner introduces flat disk 78RPM format
1920-Bell Labs introduces Condenser microphone
1920-Commercial radio introduced-KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA
1929-Edison cylinders finally “die" and only flat disc format remains
1931-RCA introduces consumer 33 1/3RPM format
1940-Disney releases Fantasia, the first stereo recording introduced to the
mass public
1946-John Mullin demonstrates Magnetophone at the San Francisco Institute of
Radio Engineers
1947-Bing Crosby becomes first commercial user of magnetic tape
1948-Columbia reintroduces 331/3RPM consumer format
1948-RCA introduces 45RPM consumer format
1982-Compact