Monday, December 23, 2013

History of Sound Recording

Sound recording is the electrical or mechanical inscription of sounds. Through this type of technology, we can record sounds and music of our choice. Since the beginning, sound recording has offered the public with rapid and unprecedented access to music, unhindered by any other factor such as time, place, social class, etc. Thus, sound recording has been a major element in the entire music industry. It has also been beneficial to the industrialized world through the rise of many recording companies, influencing the rate of employment (Thberge  Moogk, 2010).
   
This history of sound recording dates back to the 19th century. The first and practical sound recording device was made of covered brass cylinders or commonly referred to as tinfoil records which were invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1877. This particular invention became a worldwide sensation that time, and the commercial recording, reproduction, and marketing of recorded sounds became a growing industry in the international community (Stauderman, n.d.).
The next technical development in sound recording was the invention of gramophone disc in 1889. Discs are far more convenient to manufacture, and they transport and store and much louder than cylinders (Stauderman, n.d.).

Then in the early 1920s, sound recording moved towards the direction of mechanical process due to the developments in the field of electronics, which began to revolutionize the recording industry with the introduction of sound transducers such as microphones and loud speakers. Magnetic tape and tape recorders were the other important inventions in sound recording as they brought significant changes in the radio and recording industry. They enabled sounds to be recorded, erased, and rerecorded on the same tape many times (Stauderman, n.d.).

These significant improvements in sound recording paved the way for the invention of digital sound recording and compact discs in 1982. Through digital recording, a person not only can record a sound but he or she can also alter and format it in different formats and apply different effects. Many devices also emerged to play the recorded sounds (Stauderman, n.d.).
   
Sound recording is an aspect of mass media which has a long and rich history. The improvements in sound recording are a great addition to the international industry as recording companies are in demand for the numerous artists marketing their products. In turn, the developments in the field of sound recording enable us to enjoy recorded music and sounds.

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