CMN 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Tin Foil, Phonograph Cylinder, Sound Studies
25 May 2016
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Document Summary
Functions of sonic communication (karen collins and bill kapralos) Key themes in the study of sonic communication. Audio technologies and practices of audio production and consumption. Acoustical recording usd vibration-sensitive needles to record and playback sound; no electrical amplification. 1877: edison files a patent for the phonograph ( to write sound ) 1977: emile berliner introduces metal disc and plastic mold system, which enabled mass production. 1920"s: record companies (columbia, victor, etc) begin producing records using electrical recording technology developed by joseph maxwell (bell laboratories) 1931: rca victor electrola combined electric radio receiver and gramaphone in the same device. 1970"s: electronics firms develop digital recording system. Inscription of continuous waves replaced by digital sampling. Millisecond intervals of sound represented in binary numbers (ones and zeros) and replayed rapidly so that human ear hears continuous sound. Three perspectives on the socio-cultural impact of audio recording: walter benjamin, michael chanan, rick altman.
