Evolution of Audio

Evolution of AudioBy: Dakota Coffee1877Thomas Alva Edison, working in his lab, succeeds in recovering Marys Little Lamb from a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a spinning cylinder. He demonstrates his invention to the offices of Scientific American, and the Phonograph is born.

1878The first music is put on record: cornetist Jules Levy plays Yankee Doodle.1881Clement 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.

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

1888Edison introduces an electric motor-driven phonograph.

1895Marconi successfully experiments with his wireless telegraphy system in Italy. Leading to the first transatlantic signals from Poldhu, Cornwall, UK to St. Johns, Newfoundland in 1901.

1898Valdemar Poulsen patents his telegraphone, recording magnetically on steel wire.

1901The Victor Talking Machine Company is founded by Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson. Experimental optical recordings are made on motion picture film.

1906Lee DeForest invents the triode vacuum tube, the first electronic amplifier.

1912Major Edwin F. Armstrong is issued a patent for a regenerative circuit, making radio reception practical.

1913The first talking movie is demonstrated by Edison using his Kinetophone process, a cylinder player mechanically synchronized to a film projector.

1917The Scully disk recording lathe is introduced.

1921The first commercial AM radio broadcast is made by KDKA, Pittsburgh PA.1926ONeil patents iron dioxide-coated paper tape.

151929The Blattnerphone is developed for use as a magnetic recorder using steel tape.

1933Magnetic recording on steel wire is developed commercially.1936Von Braunmuhl and Weber apply for a patent on the cardioid condenser microphone.

1939Major Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio, makes the first experimental FM broadcast.1942The first stereo tape recordings are made by Helmut Kruger at German Radio in Berlin.1946Webster-Chicago manufactures wire recordings for the home market.1948The Audio Engineering Society(AES) is formed in New York City.1950IBM develops a commercial magnetic drum memory.

1953Ampex engineers a 4-track, 35 mm magnetic film system for 20th-Century Foxs Christmas release of The Robe in CinemaScope with surround sound.

1954The first commercial 2-track stereo tapes are released.1958The first commercial stereo disk recordings appear.1963Philips introduces the Compact Cassette tape format, and offers licenses worldwide.1969Dr. Thomas Stockham begins to experiment with digital tape recording.1975Digital tape recording begins to take hold in professional audio studios.1981Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc (CD).1983Fiber-optic cable is used for long distance digital audio transmission, linking New York and Washington, D.C.1986The first digital consoles appear. 1991Apple debuts the QuickTime multimedia format.1993Mackie unveils the first affordable 8-bus analog console.1995Iomega debuts high-capacity jazz and zip drives, useful as removable storage media for hard disk recording.1996Experimental digital recordings are made at 24 bits and 96 kHz.1998MP-3 players for downloaded internet audio appear.1999Audio DVD Standard 1.0 agreed upon by manufacturers.http://www.aes.org/aeshc/