29 July 2007
Who Performed The First Recording And How?
The first recording was made by Thomas Edison in 1877. His machine had a cylinder turned by a hand crank, a horn and a blunted needle or ‘stylus’. At the small end of the horn there was a flexible cover. Sound waves that entered the large end of the horn moved this cover one way or another. Since the stylus was also attached to this, it too moved up and down with the sound waves. The cylinder was covered by the layer of tin foil. As the crank was turned, the stylus pressed against this tin foil went around the cylinder many times, thereby making crease on the foil. When a person spoke into the horn, it made the stylus move up and down. When the stylus was down, it made a deeper groove in the tin foil and when the stylus was in an upward position, it made a lighter crease. The changing depth of the groove was the pattern of the sound waves made by a person singing or talking. It was the record of the sound. To play the record, the stylus and the horn were moved back to the beginning of the g rove. As the stylus followed the groove, it caused the flexible cover in the horn to vibrate in the some pattern. Further, it made the air in the horn move to and fro, which could make a sound like the original sound recorded. Thus, this was the whole process by which Edison performed the first recording.