The three eras of pre-digital recording in 18 photos (1877 - 1975)
Enter a world of tape, circuits and mechanical madness
The modern day recording process is by no means a simple task. Creating solid sounds that are worthy of widespread consumption requires a technical knowhow and a creative ear which can ultimately turn into an arduous and meticulous task that takes weeks, months and if not years to complete.
Having said that, the ability to open up Ableton (or any DAW for that matter) and shop out projects with no consequences pales in comparison to the complexities of old school recording methods. From the invention of the phonograph to Robert Moog's brilliant analog adventures, exploring the inventions of pre-digital sonic pioneers and understanding their painstaking recording methods of can add some much needed perspective for budding music producers.
Take a trip back to the days of old with these 18 astonishing photos of pre-digital music recording equipment.
The Acoustic Era (1877 - 1925)
In 1887, Thomas Edison creates the worlds first phonograph after successfully recovering 'Mary's Little Lamb' from a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a spinning cylinder.
Lionel Mapleson tweaks the recording equipment he used to record performances at the New York’s Metropolitan Opera House (1902). (New York Public Library)
The Art of Noise: Futurist painter Luigi Russolo aims to open our ears to the noise of the modern age with his jarring mechanical orchestra (1913). (UbuWeb)
"Every manifestation of life is accompanied by noise. Noise is therefore familiar to our ears and has the power to remind us immediately of life itself. Musical sound, a thing extraneous to life and independent of it... has become to our ears what a too familiar face is to our eyes."
The Victor Orchestra crowds around an enormous horn at the Victor Talking Machine Company studio for an early acoustical recording session. (Library of Congress)
The Electrical Era (1925 - 1945)
Two engineers teaching sound recording discs on a Vitaphone; an early recording mechanism that was used for the synchronization of sound and film.
An engineer at Western Electric using an electromechanical disk cutter to put together a master recording.
Invented in 1931, the Blattnerphone was the first mechanism to record audio on thin magnetic steel tape.
Employees at a radio station in Sweden gathered around a Magnetophon K4, the reel-to-reel recording system that significantly reduced tape-hiss on recordings (1940).
The Magnetic Era (1945 - 1975)
Legendary guitarist, composer and technician Les Paul shows off his DIY eight-track studio.
Thelonius Monk listens to a hi-fi stereo playback at Reeves Recording Studio in NYC (1951). (Photo by E. Edwards)
One of the first mobile studios. Bob Fine's recording truck saw thousands of hours of action and was at one point allowed to enter the Soviet Union (during the hight of the Cold War) to record Russian musicians (1952 - 1962).
Taken from a 1950's DIY electronics publication. (Radio Craft & Radio Electronics #405)
Belgian composer David Van de Woestijne operating an echo and reverb machine (1963). (IPEM ‘Institute for Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music)
Musique Concrete pioneer Daphne Oram goes live on television to demonstrate Radiophonic techniques with Brenell tape recorders and a Jason oscillator (1958). (BBC)
Electronic music pioneer Else Marie Pade experiments with sounds at her home studio (1962).
