Earliest Recording Unearthed

Move over, Thomas Edison, it’s time for Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville to get the credit for the earliest known audio recording.

According to the New York Times, a 10-second recording of a woman singing “Au Clair De La Lune” was discovered earlier this month, and researchers are certain that it was created on April 9, 1860, 17 years before Edison’s infamous “Mary Had a Little Lamb” recording.

What was merely squiggles on paper turned out to be a phonautogram, which was a recording created on a 19th century phonautograph. The phonautograph, invented by Scott, could transcribe sound into a visual medium, but was not made to sufficiently play back any sort of audio. Scott, a Parisian inventor, was fully convinced that Edison had received recognition that was rightfully his own.

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California used a mix of optical imaging and modern technology to extract sound from patterns etched on the soot-blackened paper 150 years ago, and with that, the rag-like 9 by 25 inch rectangle gave way to the clearest, cleanest audio waves conceivably possible for such a time period.

Before this momentous occasion, scientists were only able to make phonautogram’s “squawk,” but this one was special. In the recording, a hissing, popping background gives way to a woman’s eerie rendition of the lyrics “Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit” in a hauntingly short and creepy fashion.

Some Central Connecticut students provided their thoughts on the recording, which were rather mixed reactions.

“It reminded me of a class I took while going to school in Chicago for two years,” said junior Nick Garofolo. “We analyzed recordings and had to figure out what they were recorded with while learning the history of recording.”

“Sounds really rough... haven’t these people ever heard of digital?” quipped junior Phillip Causey, while others, like freshman Nicole Verderame, were naturally curious. “This is really interesting, especially knowing that it was waiting in storage somewhere just to be discovered,” she said. “It makes me want to know who the person was that was recorded.”

On a broader social front, the audio clip has continued to get national recognition. Charlotte Greene, a BBC newsreader, dissolved into a fit of giggles after playing the recording over the airwaves. She attempted to continue business as usual, but could not do so after a studio member remarked that it sounded like “bees buzzing in a jar,” according to BBC News.

Discoveries such as the April 9, 1860 phonautogram ignite cravings for history that are insurmountable, and should be spoken of to children and young adults alike. It is a driving force that will propel students into a world of education that they will not want to leave, and will most likely inform and teach others of what they learn.

But seriously, in all the years of knowing what is produced from a coal oil lamp or what lines the inside of a chimney, who would have realized that by simply putting that and a piece of paper together, that a voice could be recorded? It is a marvel, and a mystery, and thanks to Scott, it will now be researched.