Audio Timeline

By: Cullen Schoen

1857

• Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville invented the phonautograph, the first device that could record sound waves as they passed through the air.

1876

• Alexander G. Bell patented the telephone - the first electrical device for audible transmission.

1877

• Thomas Edison became the first person to ever record and play back the human voice.

1878

• The first music is put on record.

1881

• Clement Ader produced a stereo affect when listeners outside the hall monitor adjacent telephone lines linked to stage mikes at the Paris Opera.

1888

• Emile Berliner filed and patented a talking machine which also recorded and played back sound.

1898

• Valdemar Poulsen patents his "Telegraphone," recording magnetically on steel wire.

1906

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

1912

• First radio broadcast of a college football game.

1919

• The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is founded.

1921

• The first commercial AM radio broadcast is made.

1924

• Zenith develops the first portable radio.

1930

• Advances in electronics allowed the first commercially successful wire recorders to be introduced as dictating machines and telephone recorders in Europe and North America.

1932

• The first cardioid ribbon microphone is patented by Dr. Harry F. Olson.

1936

• The Tefifon was somewhat ahead of it's time in that it used an endless vinyl belt housed in a cassette that recorded the tracks in a serpentine fashion.

1940

• Walt Disney's "Fantasia" is released, with eight-track stereophonic sound.

1943

• Altec develops their Model 604 coaxial loudspeaker.

1958

• RCA developed an audio cartridge system known simply as the Sound Tape Cartridge.

1959

• NAB cart tape format was designed for use by radio broadcasters to play commercials, bumpers and announcements.

1960

• Sony Corporation sells the first direct-view portable television.

1965

• Pre-recorded audio cassettes were first available.

1976

• Dr. Stockham of Sound stream makes the first 16-bit digital recording in the U.S.

1983

• Fiber-optic cable is used for long-distance digital audio transmission.

Cites

• http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/audio.history.timeline.html

• http://www.audioaffair.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/audiohistory.jpg

• http://www.videointerchange.com/audio_history.htm

• http://amplioaudio.blogspot.com/2007/05/short-history-of-audiovideo-technology.html

• http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/radiohistory.html

• http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/music/srdates.htm