Édouard-Léon Scott De MartinvilleAu Clair De La Lune

Label:

Not On Label (Édouard-Léon Scott De Martinville Self-released) – N°5

Format:

Cylinder , Phonautogram

Country:

Released:

Genre:

Children's

Style:

Experimental

Tracklist

1 Au Clair De La Lune 0:20

Credits

  • Engineer [Uncredited]Édouard-Léon Scott De Martinville
  • Vocals [Uncredited]Édouard-Léon Scott De Martinville
  • Written-By [Uncredited]Traditional

Notes

This is the earliest intelligible recording of the human voice: a historic 20-second version of a French folk song "Au clair de la lune" made on April 9, 1860, 17 years before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.

Scott de Martinville patented his own invention (n°31470) under the name "phonautographie" on March 25, 1857. A document called "Principes de Phonautographie", comprising the scientific principles of the phonautograph, was sent under sealed letter to Académie des Sciences on January 26, 1857 as an evidence of the invention.

Conceived as a stenographic device, the phonautograph recorded sound through a horn that focused the sound waves onto a membrane to which a wild boar's bristle was attached, causing the bristle to move and enabling it to inscribe the sound onto a lamp-blackened glass plate, later replaced by a lamp-blackened paper mounted on a drum or cylinder.

This device was not meant to, and could not play back recorded sound. It simply traced a visual representation of the sound waves that hit the bristle. It was not until 2008 that researchers were able to re-create the sound waves that would have been used to trace the pattern in the soot. It is presumed that the voice on the recording is that of its creator.

Other Versions (2)

View All
Title (Format) Label Cat# Country Year
Recently Edited
Au Clair De La Lune (7", 45 RPM, Single Sided, Etched, Limited Edition) Parlortone PT-1001 US 2009
New Submission
Au Clair De La Lune (File, FLAC, Reissue) Dust-to-Digital none US 2009

Reviews

  • themonkeemobile's avatar
    themonkeemobile
    this is a certified french banger!!! turn this shit up!!!
    • carsondagamer's avatar
      carsondagamer
      Oldest song ever

      The 21 people that own this literally has an entire historic museum.
      • SunRecordFan1952's avatar
        To the 21 people that have this, sure, you all have a singular piece of paper that is currently housed in a museum.
        • c_55's avatar
          c_55
          Ngl, the 1860 vs 2009 version is a huge difference, digital mastered crap.
          • TorsoFace's avatar
            TorsoFace
            I'm sure that 20 people have this piece of tin foil
            • CharliePattern's avatar
              CharliePattern
              This is a very nice package but I much prefer his earlier stuff before he got signed. Having said that, there's a demo of this knocking about that sounds better and rawer than the over-produced version on offer here. Disappointing.
              • dilleberge's avatar
                dilleberge
                Music from the 60s is just so good! They don't make 'em like this anymore.
                • bens_fractals's avatar
                  bens_fractals
                  To the mfs who said they own this:
                  Yeah, sure you do.
                  • manyrecords2hands's avatar
                    this is a certified hood classic *audio jungle trademark sample*
                    • StonerStanley's avatar
                      StonerStanley
                      If there's an afterlife, I guess De Martinville must see these cheeky commenters from above, typing their reviews, and go: "Well, hardy har har"

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                      • Have:23
                      • Want:385
                      • Avg Rating:4.4 / 5
                      • Ratings:57
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