Recording formats

Over the years, R&D teams in the audio industry have provided us with many ways to capture sound. Keith Gemmell examines the formats used for recording, from wax to hard disk.

Recording sound was actually possible as early as 1806, when English physicist Thomas Young recorded the vibrations from a tuning fork onto a rotating wax drum. The drawback he faced, however, was proving conclusively that he’d actually recorded anything, because he had no way of hearing the recording play back. In 1857, Frenchman Leon Scott de Martinville had the same problem when he recorded fluctuations in air pressure onto soot – using a rotating drum, a large diaphragm and pig’s hair.

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 21
Filed under Ten Minute Masters

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