Sound Recording and Music Formats By Peter Doherty

The Beginning(Pre History) Long before sound was being recorded, music was being recorded, first by means of written notation, then also in forms that made it possible for the music to be played automatically by a mechanical device. The automatic reproduction of music can be traced back as far as the 9th century. By Peter Doherty

Phonautograph(1857) The first device that could record actual sounds as they passed through the air (but could not play them back—the purpose was only visual study) was the phonautograph. This machine was patented in By Peter Doherty

Phonograph(1877) The first practical sound recording and reproduction device was the mechanical phonograph cylinder, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877 and patented in The invention soon spread across the globe and over the next two decades the commercial recording, distribution and sale of sound recordings became a growing new international industry. By Peter Doherty

Disc Phonograph(1889) The next major technical development was the invention of the gramophone disc. Discs were easier to manufacture, transport and store, and they had the additional benefit of being louder (marginally) than cylinders, which by necessity, were single-sided. Sales of the Gramophone record overtook the cylinder ca. 1910, and by the end of World War I the disc had become the dominant commercial recording format. By Peter Doherty

Electronic Recording Between the invention of the phonograph in 1877 and the advent of digital media, arguably the most important milestone in the history of sound recording was the introduction of what was then called "electrical recording“. During World War I, experiments were undertaken in the United States and Great Britain to record and reproduce, among other things, the sound of a German U-boat (submarine) for training purposes. Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. By Peter Doherty

Magnetic Tape(1930’s) The Magnetic Tape was developed in the 1930’s by German audio engineers. Magnetic tape brought about sweeping changes in both radio and the recording industry. Sound could be recorded, erased and re-recorded on the same tape many times, sounds could be duplicated from tape to tape with only minor loss of quality, and recordings could now be very precisely edited by physically cutting the tape and re-joining it. By Peter Doherty

Vinyl records In 1931, RCA Victor (which evolved from the Johnson and Berliner's Victor Talking Machine Company) launched the first commercially available vinyl long-playing record, marketed as "Program Transcription" discs. Vinyl Records are typically played at 33, 45 or 78 RMP(Revolutions per Minute) In the 1960s Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and The Beatles (with producer George Martin) were among the first popular artists to explore the possibilities of multitrack recording techniques and effects on their landmark albums Pet Sounds, Freak Out! and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Vinyl Record was the main format of music from the 1950’s until the mid 80’s. By Peter Doherty

Compact Cassette(1970’s-Late 1990’s) Between the early 1970s and the late 1990s, the cassette was one of the two most common formats for pre-recorded music, first alongside the LP record and later the compact disc. While ubiquitous and accessible, cassette playback suffered from some flaws frustrating to both professionals and home recording enthusiasts. Tape speed could vary between devices, resulting in pitch that was too low or too high. By Peter Doherty

CD Audio CDs and audio CD players have been commercially available since October At the time of the technology's introduction, it had much greater capacity than computer hard drives common at the time. The reverse is now true, with hard drives far exceeding the capacity of CDs. CD’s provided a size advantage to Vinyl records, they could also be portable along with the 1984 release of the Sony D-50. By Peter Doherty

The Digital Age Nowadays music is digital, can be found on multiple websites and can be produced by pretty much anyone that can get their hands on the software required. Applications such as FL Studio and Audacity are popular among the Producers of today. Although the Digital Age is said to have killed physical music, 2012 recorded the highest increase of Record sales since This being the first time in nearly 15 years! By Peter Doherty