First Recording Device:

Phonautograph:

Invented in 1857, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville invented the phonautograph, the first device to record sound. it used a membrane (which vibrated in response to sound.) attached to a pen, which traced a line roughly corresponding to the sounds waveform onto a roll of paper. although  able to record sound, this machine was unable to immediately play back the recording. however   in one experiment it was recorded onto a metal plate which was then able to be played back. 


Issues with this technology:


Photography, was still in its infancy, improvements to this inventions were required in order to make it as a sound recording and reproduction medium. 

Dynamic/Condensor microphones:

Dynamic microphones:


The dynamic microphone, extremely versatile and great for general purpose use. They feature a very simple design that works by a single coil that is attached to the diaphragm, when sound waves hit the diaphragm it moves the coil forward and backwards past the magnet, it creates a current in the coil which is channelled from the microphone along wires.


(As shown above.)


Common uses for the dynamic microphone/ examples:


Almost every microphone, in live sound is a dynamic mic and in the studio instrument mics are usually dynamic mics. (for example the sm57 or the AKG d112.) These microphones are usually used on the such instruments as the kick drum/ snare drum. But for a high hat a condenser mic is usually used. 


A Dynamic microphone is often preferred in a live setting because they are robust and do not require external power. Mics such as the sm58 are the most common mic used for vocals in a live setting however their poor high frequency response makes them lacking in the studio. (this is why in the studio you would usually find a condenser as they have a much wider frequency response.)


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Condenser Microphones:

A condensor requires an external power such as a battery or phantom power from a mixing console. The audio signal is stronger than the signal of that from a dynamic. Condensers tend to be more sensitive and more responsive than dynamic mics, however they are not ideal for high volume work as their sensitivity makes them prone to distort and clip.


How condensers work:


A capacitor has two plates with a voltage between. in the condenser mic, one of these plates is made of very light material and act as the diaphragm. the diaphragm vibrates when struck by sound waves, changing the distance between the two plates and therefore changing the capacitance. specifically, when the plates are closer together, capacitance increases and a charge current occurs. when the plates are further apart the capacitance decreases and a discharge current occurs.
    
A voltage is required across the capacitor for this to work. This voltage is supplied either by a battery in the mic or by external phantom power.


Common uses: 

Condenser mics are commonly used in the studio environment, for vocals and high frequencies. condenser mics are useful in a studio environment because they are very sensitive and in a studio you are not aiming for volume, but to get the best sound possible. 

Audio timeline!

History of the microphone!

1878- David Edward Hughes: First invented the carbon microphone. (this microphone was developed over the years up until the 1920's)

Carbon is a resistor, meaning it conducts electricity, but not very well. A current runs from one plate through the carbon to the other plate. The carbon molecules normally resist it somewhat, lowering the power flow. When a sound wave pushes down on the top plate, however, it squeezes the carbon molecules more tightly between the two plates. This increases their conductivity, creating more electric current. As the plate moves up and down with the sound wave, the current increases and decreases, creating an electric wave in the shape of the sound wave.


1920's-1942. with the invention of radio, new broadcasting microphones were invented. Drs. Walter H Schottky and Erwin Gerlach co invented ribbon loudspeaker technology, while Dr Harry F Olson began development of ribbon microphones. these mic's  set a new standard in frequency response. (a type of dynamic mic.)


1964- James West and Gerhard Sessler create the electroacoustic transducer, an electret microphone. (a type of condenser.) the electret mic offers greater reliability, higher precision and lower cost. 


1970's- Dynamic and Condenser microphones were developed and have have formed into what we use today.

Remix culture: 2

Dave Smith: The creator of MIDI.

Dave smith is a Audio engineer and guitarist, who's groundbreaking technology led to the creation of the 'prophet 5' and is commonly referred to as the father of MIDI. 

In 1981 Smith started developing the idea of MIDI. He presented a paper outlining the idea of a Universal Synthesiser Interface (USI) to the Audio Engineering Society in 1981 after meetings with Tom Oberheim and Roland's Ikutaro Kakehashi. The plan was to create a standard communications protocol between electronic instruments and equipment from different manufacturers around the world. The result was MIDI. MIDI was first publicly demonstrated at the Winter NAMM Show in 1983, when a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 was successfully connected to a Roland Jupiter-6. In 1987 he was named a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) for his continuing work in the area of music synthesis.

After Sequential, Smith was President of DSD, Inc, a Research and Development Division of Yamaha, where he worked on physical modeling synthesis and software synthesiser concepts. In May 1989 he started the Korg R&D group in California, which went on to produce the innovative and commercially successful Wavestation synthesizer and other technology.

Needless to say anyone that remixes music or uses sampling in society today has used/ uses or at the very least used MIDI, it is a format that revolutionised electronic music. 

( if you wish to read about MIDI, i posted earlier about it heres a link: http://3spada.blogspot.com/2011/08/midi-platform-that-survived.html and http://3spada.blogspot.com/2011/08/moar-midi-p.html )

Remix culture:

With the recent trend in music of remixing a song to suit it to your desired audience, generally speaking this is seen in electronic music where vocal samples and sections of music are used and mixed together to create a new piece of music. Now as musicians that have grown up with this so called remix culture we don't really look into its origins and the people that really kicked off this trend.

'King Tubby' (January 28, 1941 – February 6, 1989)


A Jamaican born, electronics/ sound engineer, primarily known for his work in Dub music, His innovative studio work, saw him elevate the role of the mixing engineer, he would prove to be influential across many genres of popular music. He is often cited as the inventor of the concept of the remix, and so may be seen as a direct antecedent of much dance and electronic music production.


Tubby began as an owner of an electronics store where he built amplifiers for large local sound systems, and from this formed his own sound systems. Tubby began working as a disc cutter for producer Duke Reid in 1968. Reid, one of the major figures in early Jamaican music, he ran Treasure Isle studios. He was invited to produce instrumental versions of songs for MCs. Tubby initially worked to remove the vocal tracks with the sliders on Reid's mixing desk, but soon discovered that the various instrumental tracks could be accentuated, reworked and emphasised through the settings on the mixer and primitive early effects units. eventually Tubby began creating new pieces of music by shifting emphasis on certain instruments dropping tracks in and out and adding various effects.


His production work in Dub music is what makes Tubby one of the kings on remix, his knowledge of electronics allowed him to create his own studio with his own equipment where he built effects into his mixer allowing him to literally play it and drop samples in and out. Tubby was able to use his custom-built studio to take this technique into new areas, often transforming a hit song to the point where it was almost unrecognizable from its original. 


King Tubby was shot and killed on February 6, 1989 by an unknown group of people outside his home in Duhaney Park, Kingston upon returning from a session at his Waterhouse studio. It is thought that the murder was probably an attempt at robbery. 


For his work in Dub music and studio's and his innovative thinking King Tubby is worthy of praise and recognition and anyone producing music today should definitely go back to the roots of remixing and listen to Dub music and read up on King Tubby.

VIDEO POST .... MY ROOM (not complete.)

Hey guys sorry i've been pre- occupied getting my shit together doing assignments and what not so heres my first video blog post :P!!

Also sorry about the flipped video macs cameras seem to reverse everything ??? lol wut i know right.