Recorded Sound

12^th Street Rag Thomas Edison Recording

The fact that the music sounded scratchy was the easiest thing to notice about the recording. It seems to be occurring in rhythm. There is possibly a specific place where the needle is not fully balanced and it may be digging into the recording medium. Even though the music was like a show tune the recording made it sound like a children’s toy. This being the case, it is understandable that mostly tunes used for entertainment were recorded using this machine. The higher pitches are easier to hear therefore producing “happy” music. Another thing to note is that the higher pitched instruments are easiest to hear (e.g. xylophone, piano). The low-pitched sounds are hidden in music, possibly muffled out by the static in the sound.

This form of recording was much more crude than the methods people have devised to record song. Modern recordings have very little static if any that could be noticed by the human ear. This has happened for the best because now no instrument is really left out of the recording such as the low-pitched sounds in the older recording.