Nov 11
Carl Sagan was an inspirational figure to many of us, but he may not have had his last word just yet—because a dude on MetaFilter is claiming to have unearthed a box of his personal dictations on cassettes bought in a thrift store.
     |
Apr 25
It’s not often you get to hear with the 19th century sounded like, but thanks to 3D scanning and old wax cylinders, it’s possible. And now, for the very first time, we know what Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the all-important telephone, might have sounded like when he made that historic call. More »
Oct 25
Auto-tune this! Research team restores 134 year-old audio recording (update: audio links)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
A Berkeley Lab research team in California has successfully restored a 134 year-old audio recording. The historic audio was originally captured in 1878 by a phonograph designed by Thomas Edison, which consisted of a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil that used a stylus to record sound on the surface of the material. Due to the foil’s frailty, recordings were only good for a few playbacks on Edison’s phonograph. To restore this century-old mixtape, the research team created a 3D model of the grooves in the foil and ran it through a software that recreated the original audio track. As for the great mystery of the recording’s contents, it’s a 23-second horn instrumental followed by what is believed to be political writer Thomas Mason reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb and Old Mother Hubbard. Using modern technology for playback, the restored recording is set to have a listening party this week at the Museum of Innovation and Science in New York.
Update: For audio samples from the project, hit the coverage link below.
[Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection]
Filed under: Misc, Science, Alt
Auto-tune this! Research team restores 134 year-old audio recording (update: audio links) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.