Audio Timeline

By: Shae Reid

The phonograph was born• In 1877, Thomas Alva Edison regained Mary’s

Little Lamb from a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a spinning cylinder.

• He demonstrates his invention to the offices of Scientific American.

The stereo affect• In 1881, Clement Ader, using carbon

microphones and armature headphones, accidentally produces a stereo effect when listeners outside the hall monitor adjacent telephone lines linked to stage mikes at the Paris Opera.

Multiple copies of flat-disc gramophone.

• In 1887, Emile Berliner is granted a patent on a flat-disc gramophone, making the production of multiple copies practical.

Electric motor-drivin phonograph

• In 1888, Edison introduces an electric motor-driven phonograph.

First transatlantic signals• In 1895, Marconi successfully experiments

with his wireless telegraphy system in Italy, leading to the first transatlantic signals from Poldhu, Cornwall, UK to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1901.

Telegraphone • In 1898, Valdemar Poulsen patents his

"Telegraphone," recording magnetically on steel wire.

First electronic signal amplifier• In 1906, Lee DeForest invents the triode

vacuum tube, the first electronic signal amplifier.

First live broadcast• In 1910, Enrico Caruso is heard in the first live

broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, NYC.

The first “talking movie”• In 1913, The first "talking movie" is

demonstrated by Edison using his Kinetophone process, a cylinder player mechanically synchronized to a film projector.

The Scully disk recording• In 1917, The Scully disk recording lathe is

introduced. • E. C. Wente of Bell Telephone Laboratories

publishes a paper in Physical Review describing a "uniformly sensitive instrument for the absolute measurement of sound intensity" -- the condenser microphone.

RCA is founded• In 1919, The Radio Corporation of America

(RCA) is founded. It is owned in part by United Fruit.

First commercial on AM radio broadcast

• In 1921, The first commercial AM radio broadcast is made by KDKA, Pittsburgh PA.

Magnetic recorder using steel tape

• In 1929, Harry Nyquist publishes the mathematical foundation for the sampling theorem basic to all digital audio processing, the "Nyquist Theorem."

• The "Blattnerphone" is developed for use as a magnetic recorder using steel tape.

The first cardioids ribbon microphone is patented

• In 1932, The first cardioids ribbon microphone is patented by Dr. Harry F. Olson of RCA, using a field coil instead of a permanent magnet.

Magnetic recording on steel wire is developed commercially

• In 1933, Magnetic recording on steel wire is developed commercially.

• Snow, Fletcher, and Steinberg at Bell Labs transmit the first inter-city stereo audio program.

first plastic-based magnetic tapes

• In 1935, AEG (Germany) exhibits its "Magnetophon" Model K-1 at the Berlin Radio Exposition.

• BASF prepares the first plastic-based magnetic tapes.

first tape recording of a symphony concert

• In 1936, BASF makes the first tape recording of a symphony concert during a visit by the touring London Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Thomas Beecham conducts Mozart.

• Von Braunmühl and Weber apply for a patent on the cardioids condenser microphone.

first column loudspeaker array• In 1938, Benjamin B. Bauer of Shure Bros. engineers

a single microphone element to produce a cardioids pickup pattern, called the Unidyne, Model 55. This later becomes the basis for the well known SM57 and SM58 microphones.

• Under the direction of Dr. Harry Olson, Leslie J. Anderson designs the 44B ribbon bidirectional microphone and the 77B ribbon unidirectional for RCA.

• RCA develops the first column loudspeaker array.

eight-track stereophonic sound

• In 1940, Walt Disney's "Fantasia" is released, with eight-track stereophonic sound.

Commercial FM broadcasting begins in the U.S

• In 1941, Commercial FM broadcasting begins in the U.S.

• Arthur Haddy of English Decca devises the first motional feedback, lateral-cut disk recording head, later used to cut their "ffrr" high-fidelity recordings.

The first stereo tape recordings

• In 1942, The RCA LC-1 loudspeaker is developed as a reference-standard control-room monitor.

• Dr. Olson patents a single-ribbon cardioids microphone (later developed as the RCA 77D and 77DX), and a "phased-array" directional microphone.

• The first stereo tape recordings are made by Helmut Kruger at German Radio in Berlin.

Model 604 coaxial loudspeaker

• In 1943, Altec develops their Model 604 coaxial loudspeaker.

Sources• http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/

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