Chapter 01 of 5
Capturing Sound
The first recordings, a talking tinfoil machine and why pop songs last three minutes.
- The Problem
Sound vanishes
For most of history, music existed only while it was being played. Once the last note faded, it was gone.
- The Inventor
Scott de Martinville
In 1857 a Parisian printer, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, invented the phonautograph, which traced sound waves onto paper.
- The Catch
No playback
His machine could draw sound, but not play it back. He saw it as a way to study speech, not to listen to it.
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Why do many pop songs last about three minutes?
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📻 The Sound That Changed Everything
- 01Capturing SoundThe first recordings, a talking tinfoil machine and why pop songs last three minutes.
- 02The Microphone Changes SingingCrooners, radio, magnetic tape and a guitarist who recorded with himself.
- 03The Studio as InstrumentWalls of sound, backwards guitars and the Beatles' sonic experiments.
- 04Machines Make MusicThe synthesizer, the sampler and the six-second drum break heard on thousands of records.
- 05From CD to Auto-TuneDiscs, downloads, streams and the pitch fixer that became a sound of its own.