snow lizard
Dedicated Slacker
I think the one piece of technology that has impacted music recording the most is the telephone.
The telephone was the first piece of technology to have transducers that could convert sound waves into electrical signals and vice versa. Microphones and speakers. The carbon microphone is the first thing that came along. Microphones are still widely used to this day, although we now have several different varieties including crystal mics, moving coil, ribbon and capacitor. They all do basically the same thing - convert sound waves to electricity.
As we know, the telephone transmits audio signals over long distances. One of the limitations was that the signal strength of the transducer itself was not powerful enough to be very useful. Amplification devices were employed to boost the signal strength to a useable level. Many different types of amplification devices are still in use to this day for similar reasons. Marshall, for example.
At some point, somebody realized that there had to be a way of measuring the level of signal present in any such device. As we're talking about audio levels, a similar measure of voltage which corresponds directly to audio levels would have been very handy. Someone figured out a system of measuring sound levels with a unit of measure known as a Bel, so named after Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. This unit of measure was rejected because it was too large. Smaller increments of sound measure would need to be employed. Ultimately what we ended up with was the decibel (dB) which is one tenth of a Bel. Decibels are still a widely used unit of sound measurement. Another way to measure sound levels is by the 1/10 scale, or even the 1/11 scale. Note the reference to Marshall amps above. Marshall amplifiers are very popular of course because they go to 11. It's "one louder".
So knowing this and given nothing more than a microphone (sound wave to electricity transducer) an amplifier (Marshall, for example) and a speaker cabinet (most commonly using speakers designed very much like moving coil microphones), we can take sound waves, convert them into electricity, amplify the signal, and convert the electricity back into sound waves. In order to do this, we need to be able to connect all the devices with wire cables to carry the electrical signals. In order to avoid having to deal with the messy business of using screw connectors for the wires, or soldering tools, a handy way of coupling and decoupling the necessary cables is to use a type of quick connector known as a phone plug. Phone plugs were originally used in telephone stations by people known as operators so's your telephone call could get to the right destination. Phone plugs are still widely used to this day by a number of devices including but not limited to Marshall amplifiers.
Recording is the process of storing the electricity, or rather the specified electrical values that ended up being the result of the originating sound wave. Wax cylinder, magnetic tape, vinyl and digital audio are all popular and historic storage media. A telephone answering machine is an example of a recording device.
Sequencers have played an important role in music recording since the days of vaudeville and the advent of the player piano. The player piano is one of the early examples of a machine that employs Numeric Control, or NC. A scroll of paper with holes punched in it would represent the individual notes to be performed on the piano, thus greatly reducing the overall need for musicians in the field of musical performance. Personal computers, earbuds, iPod docking stations and cell phones all rely on Numerical Control for their manufacture, which is still very much like vaudeville in many respects. Sequencers don't necessarily rely on the technology of the telephone specifically in order to do their thing, but tech support and booking agents alike still rely on the telephone very much.
The telephone was the first piece of technology to have transducers that could convert sound waves into electrical signals and vice versa. Microphones and speakers. The carbon microphone is the first thing that came along. Microphones are still widely used to this day, although we now have several different varieties including crystal mics, moving coil, ribbon and capacitor. They all do basically the same thing - convert sound waves to electricity.
As we know, the telephone transmits audio signals over long distances. One of the limitations was that the signal strength of the transducer itself was not powerful enough to be very useful. Amplification devices were employed to boost the signal strength to a useable level. Many different types of amplification devices are still in use to this day for similar reasons. Marshall, for example.
At some point, somebody realized that there had to be a way of measuring the level of signal present in any such device. As we're talking about audio levels, a similar measure of voltage which corresponds directly to audio levels would have been very handy. Someone figured out a system of measuring sound levels with a unit of measure known as a Bel, so named after Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. This unit of measure was rejected because it was too large. Smaller increments of sound measure would need to be employed. Ultimately what we ended up with was the decibel (dB) which is one tenth of a Bel. Decibels are still a widely used unit of sound measurement. Another way to measure sound levels is by the 1/10 scale, or even the 1/11 scale. Note the reference to Marshall amps above. Marshall amplifiers are very popular of course because they go to 11. It's "one louder".
So knowing this and given nothing more than a microphone (sound wave to electricity transducer) an amplifier (Marshall, for example) and a speaker cabinet (most commonly using speakers designed very much like moving coil microphones), we can take sound waves, convert them into electricity, amplify the signal, and convert the electricity back into sound waves. In order to do this, we need to be able to connect all the devices with wire cables to carry the electrical signals. In order to avoid having to deal with the messy business of using screw connectors for the wires, or soldering tools, a handy way of coupling and decoupling the necessary cables is to use a type of quick connector known as a phone plug. Phone plugs were originally used in telephone stations by people known as operators so's your telephone call could get to the right destination. Phone plugs are still widely used to this day by a number of devices including but not limited to Marshall amplifiers.
Recording is the process of storing the electricity, or rather the specified electrical values that ended up being the result of the originating sound wave. Wax cylinder, magnetic tape, vinyl and digital audio are all popular and historic storage media. A telephone answering machine is an example of a recording device.
Sequencers have played an important role in music recording since the days of vaudeville and the advent of the player piano. The player piano is one of the early examples of a machine that employs Numeric Control, or NC. A scroll of paper with holes punched in it would represent the individual notes to be performed on the piano, thus greatly reducing the overall need for musicians in the field of musical performance. Personal computers, earbuds, iPod docking stations and cell phones all rely on Numerical Control for their manufacture, which is still very much like vaudeville in many respects. Sequencers don't necessarily rely on the technology of the telephone specifically in order to do their thing, but tech support and booking agents alike still rely on the telephone very much.
