Listen to the oldest known recording of a human voice | BBC Global

Thomas Edison is often credited with being the first person to record sound.
But it was in fact a Frenchman named Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville who invented sound recording via his phonautograph in 1857 - 20 years before Edison invented his phonograph.
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[@Shootingstarcomics]

No auto tune back then, just raw talent.

[@marty4933]

🤣!

[@Rhifan01]

😅😂

[@erikkibler3466]

😂

[@akaCol1987]

Simon Cowell would have been so proud if he was alive back then!

[@LinkRocks]

LOL well done.

[@kerimbozkurt3301]

Please someone remind the young audience that cassette player is not the ancient recording device from 1860s.

[@Munakas-wq3gp]

Also, you don't press record to playback.

[@Richard_Ashton]

@@Munakas-wq3gp Yes, he's just recorded over it.

[@silverstar4289]

Ha,

[@julianneheindorf5757]

🤣

[@RPGreg2600]

​@@Richard_Ashton lol. I think the cassette player was just stock footage 🤔

[@coastofkonkan]

All the way from recording audio on a metal sheet to now streaming it on the internet throughout the world. What an astonishing feat of humanity.

[@arthurvanparijs6121]

And it all happened in less than 200 years. Crazy how fast technology progresses!

[@leinster22]

Now if humanity would only desist from violence and wars maybe we would have even greater feats

[@QuarrellaDeVil]

I remember watching the early photos and whatever else from the New Horizons visit to Pluto on my phone, amazed that, as a kid, this was some cold rock in waytheheckout, and there I was, watching it not on the small black and white screen in my childhood home but a much smaller screen with higher resolution, just a few decades later.

[@marcmarparran7753]

​@@leinster22 ⬅️ Found the communist!

[@zamar2158]

Europeans were good with curiosity and making workable applications of their concepts. You guys are aliens, with those alien brains lol.

[@suzylux]

Incredible. A long dead voice being exhumed after almost 170 years.

[@-kattya-]

Uh, it sounds eerie and magical😊

[@lilybond6485]

@suzylux: Little did he know that human beings, over the entire plane in the future, could listen to him sing that song. It wouldn’t even have been conceivable to him that would even be a possibility.

[@jacobrivers5728]

Who said he was dead? Don’t go jumping to conclusions.

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

@@jacobrivers5728Settle down, Dracula.

[@geigertec5921]

An archeologist found an ancient clay pot from several thousands years BC. It had a pattern on it that had been made with a stick. The grooves made on the pot contained analog information from vibrations transcribed into the clay. He put a laser to the pot and turned it and was able to replay the sound from inside the ancient pottery shop. It didn't sound like much, but it's from the time before the Roman Empire, not bad.

[@williamlarochelle6833]

The first play was better than the second.

[@robandrews4815]

That's what I thought too!! Couldn't understand the second. At all.

[@brianxyz]

@@robandrews4815 Second one sounded like a ghost.

[@Asterra2]

I mean... shrug? If you played it back at 4x speed it would sound even better. Obviously halving the speed is going to halve the represented frequencies and make it sound more muffled. If the guy had ever envisioned that his recordings would be used for more than simply studying waveforms on paper, perhaps he would have finetuned it to pick up higher frequencies better, but we got what we got.

[@Cjnw]

​@@brianxyzI paid just $23, you've been bamboozled!!!

[@Lexluthor2024]

The first goth song ever.

[@PLuMUK54]

I was expecting, "Your call is very important to us. You are currently number 29 in the queue. Please wait 170 years for the next operative."

[@evanstar84]

I was expecting “we’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.”

[@PTANV-x2g]

*buggy

[@PilotDamian]

😂

[@brettbuck7362]

Oh, you are a Comcast customer, too?

[@DarthKater311]

Hahahhaa

[@petergibson2318]

It sounds like a wasp trapped inside a jam jar desperately trying to get out.

[@AliAthar-rm2pm]

hahahahaa hahahaha you made my day

[@slacktoryrecords4193]

Yeah. People who throw around the term “lo-fi” today to mean “sparse arrangement” have NO IDEA what lo-fi really means, and they need to listen to this ass recording and get educated.

[@BAztid]

Singing potato.

[@bradmetcalf5333]

Thats exactly what 1860 France was like. Stuck in a jar

[@justme6655]

😂

[@haileymoore3428]

this never fails to bring tears to my eyes - can you imagine? of all of the powerful voices of the 1860s - all of the politicians and generals and celebrities - the one voice that has been saved from that time isn't the voice of someone powerful. It's the voice of an ordinary man singing claire de la lune. The first recording we have and it''s a song.

[@nathueil1]

😢

[@user-uz8sn1qv8y]

makes me wonder about 'aliens' locating that gold record we sent to space......and hundreds of years from now, them finally sitting up all night to hear "i cant get no......satisfaction''''''' 🤣

[@alexanderdubmertens]

We must salute that individual. He was a pioneer of karaoke 🎤

[@themissingsock2437]

My replies are double posting I think, IDK. But yeah, imagine that, he had no idea he was going to live on, long after he passed. It truly is remarkable and made me tear up as well.

[@lutello3012]

And now we can play it back. [pushes record]

[@vincentvega5686]

thats what happens when you ask a gen z to make a vid about old tech lol

[@easylee]

Hahahah this is too right

[@e32b61]

“That was the last surviving copy.”

[@GentlemanLife-Beyotch]

Just go back and dele. . .

[@butterblood]

I don’t hear anything. Oh my bad, I accidentally recorded over it.

[@MemphiStig]

Their A&R man said, "I don't hear a single." The future was wide open.

[@vailpcs4040]

The sky was the limit.

[@rescuegirl]

Into the great wide-open.

[@LordKlektar]

Under them skies of blue

[@rescuegirl]

A rebel without a clue

[@QuarrellaDeVil]

"Experts believe they can make out another voice, saying something about 'more cowbell'".

[@herzogsbuick]

...i don't think you have to be over 30 to realize that the the guy presses record on the cassette deck at the end, and in fact you would hear nothing.

[@Patrick3183]

😂

[@RavenMobile]

Usually hitting play and record was for dual cassette decks in order to record from one tape to the other. I dunno what play + record would do on a single tape recorder.

[@herzogsbuick]

@@RavenMobile it would record. on that model most likely from a built-in microphone, though it probably had RCA in as well as an external 1/8" microphone jack

[@marc37921]

I did hear nothing so this theory checks out

[@indigohammer5732]

The syncing with the tuning fork is very clever

[@cryptocuz5705]

That's also what caught my ear. I instantly thought damn that's good.

[@brinta2868]

I thought it was a bit daft to play another sound while recording, and I don't quite how they did that without interference. They could have used a purely mechanical device (like a clock) to draw on the paper at certain intervals.

[@KSMvidcast]

That was very forward thinking, and suggests there was in fact an expectation that future generations would attempt to play back this recording.

[@FurlogTheGiant]

you dont press record on a tape recorder to play

[@mrcydonia]

He's recording over the precious tape! Somebody stop him!!

[@Mumblix]

Thank you! I thought I was going nuts.

[@kuldas9299]

Also a tape recorder was in no way used in this process.

[@rob-time]

Anyone who knows how to use one of those old tape recorders understands that TWO buttons are required for record, not one. The Play button AND the Record Button.

[@Tausug101]

I dont think that's the ACTUAL TAPE that records the audio being played. Maybe its just one of those stock videos to show its playing. The one we are hearing is the recorded from that old machine

[@mrs.g.9816]

To hear a 167 year old voice was eerie - like listening to a ghost. I find it amazing!

[@martinkinsella6484]

Sounds like an angry bee.

[@terrancekayton007]

Man. I wish I was that encouraged to explore a topic enough to realize an unknown fact of a matter. Bravo to these people.

[@oneoflokis]

🙂💯👍

[@VeraxMusic]

I think you'll eventually do it someday

[@fidelcatsro6948]

my cat says Sure you can! never give up!

[@cidweinberg]

Fascinating. Standing in my kitchen eating dinner in San Francisco, California 7/16/2024. Listening

[@user-qe1qt7pk8m]

You should buy a chair.

[@r2d2rxr]

Bay Area!

[@fidelcatsro6948]

hope it was carnivore

[@user-qe1qt7pk8m]

@@fidelcatsro6948 He said San Fran... vegan

[@brianarbenz1329]

Play it backward and see if you can hear, "Paul is dead!"

[@timhollis3390]

Predictive programming

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

What in the world are you talking about?

[@timhollis3390]

@anti-ethniccleansing465 you never heard of the Beatles Paul is dead conspiracy?

[@CNSTAdventures]

@@timhollis3390😂😂

[@sd906238]

I buried Paul.

[@charlesolver303]

@3:12 - someone accidentally pushes the "RECORD" button and erases the tape...

[@sforza209]

Freakin amateurs

[@007Julie]

That’s what I thought, he’s recording over whatever they recorded

[@TesserId]

That was so obvious I knew someone would comment on that.

[@QuarrellaDeVil]

They could use that bit if they do something about the Watergate tapes.

[@MomMom4Cubs]

​@@QuarrellaDeVilI think we're past that.

[@calabrais]

Why was I expecting the voice to say "We've been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty"

[@cintsscha5899]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@davidthedeaf]

Because you are sleepy GenZzz

[@Colorado_Native]

Good question. The recording is 170 years old. Perhaps it would be, ""We've been trying to reach you about your horse and buggy's extended warranty."

[@sgrant39]

OMG

[@jillschaefer1360]

💀

[@samuelburleigh1895]

This should be no 1 in the charts.

[@raisa_cherry33]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Lexyvil]

Summary: Édouard-Léon Scott recorded the vibrations caused by his voice in 1860 by having those vibrations vibrate a needle so it could write onto a rotating cylindrical surface. There was no way to play back what was on the cylinder, so thanks to this guy in the interview, Patrick Feaster, in 2008 he managed to decode and read from it, resulting in hearing the recorded sound from 1860 for the first time. That's amazing tech, and what is even crazier is knowing it has not yet been 200 years since that discovery. Stories like these really baffle me in how far technology has gone since the industrial revolution.

[@lilybond6485]

@Lexyvil: Can’t help but think that something else has been at play here. I don’t believe human beings developed this technology on their own merits. I’m not sure what.

[@lilybond6485]

@Lexyvil: Thanks for summarizing that.

[@erikkibler3466]

Yeah,they were recording the new slowed down version on a tape recorder.they weren’t using that tape recorder for playback

[@memathews]

Important Addendum: Scott used the stable frequency of a tuning fork recorded in a track alongside the voice track to remove variations in the hand-cranked speed of the recording. This may be the first known application of frequency clocking, which is used today in all digital applications.

[@Yamsek]

Technically they were not trying to record a voice, they were just trying to ‘see it’ mapped out as the device drew the vibrations for visual representation. It’s remarkable this guy even thought to reverse the process and try to play it!

[@theboombapkingdom8628]

That's incredible! As a recording engineer and music producer I have seen the evolution of audio technology in the past 30 years but to think it all started here makes me understand and marvel at how far the technology has come. Thanks for making this piece.

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

It is wild as one can hear the "big bowl" sound that the chamber he crafted introduced into the "output transducer". That would qualify as the first audio transducer, in fact. A transducer is a device which converts one form of energy into another. In this case sinusoidal auditory vibrations against a flat membrane "drum head" which then 'transduces' into linear mechanical motion set up to cause a 'stylus' to engrave the vibrations onto a linear 'tape', appearing again to match the sinusoidal signature of the original stimulus. Now we do it with electrons, just like Antonio Meucci did.

[@celltech161]

Brought to you by the same technology used at drive through windows across the US.

[@Plflybit]

People ’feel’ a voice. It’s vibratory. Hearing aids went from hon-looking funnels to digital. They weren’t capturing noise, they were capturing vibrations on a grand scale. Bravo.

[@JustWowNick]

Somehow that second version of the recording is harder to understand.

[@slacktoryrecords4193]

Yeah, the speed-corrected one sounds like straight ass compared to the double-speed.

[@ER-uy7ct]

Yes!

[@RICKONORATO]

That is truly astounding. Like listening to the voice of a ghost

[@leaedt7614]

You can even hear him rolling the r's when he says 'Pierrot'.

[@Zerpersande]

3:14 Just pushed ‘Record’ There goes THAT historic recording.

[@IAMBENNYBLANCO.]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@georgecovetskie6717]

That guy was just 1 step short of creating the 1st record and/or phone. Genius anyway. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[@christianwheeler5920]

Gave me chills. Wow.

[@binghobson7122]

I remember hearing this some while ago on a Radio 4 programme. The presenter couldn’t stop herself laughing about it sounding like a bee trapped in a jam jar.

[@HowardLeVert]

Indeed - Charlotte Green in 2008.

[@AdrianHertz]

I was hoping the voice will say "Never gonna give you up"

[@mcsi-exercises]

😂

[@fidelcatsro6948]

rick astley was only a molecule swimming in a bladder back then

[@GeneRauXxX]

I think BBC should really learn improving memory techniques, if you look at the title.

[@user-vp1sc7tt4m]

How many of the commenters here actually got that we may have been been "Listening to the oldest known recording of a human voice" ??

[@frankjamesbonarrigo7162]

Got what? Been been?

[@Jeff-66]

Still better than most modern music.

[@SpiderxPunk]

Most modern music won't last 50 years, let alone 170

[@TonysMusic1974]

​@@SpiderxPunkthe best music of every generation lasts for centuries. 99% gets lost.

[@weirdnomad8868]

Truth

[@MagicToenail]

@@SpiderxPunkPlenty of music from 50 years ago has survived. As for 170 years ago, 99.995% has not survived

[@asloii_1749]

@MagicToenail and it’s getting worse by the day. It really sucks

[@tselengbotlhole750]

The background music is absolutely unnecessary. It is annoying

[@cdl0]

Agreed: it is pointless, intrusive, and annoying.

[@ericschmid]

Ah now I can't unheard it!

[@gergoturan4033]

It is unnecessary but I don't find it annoying

[@lutello3012]

FAR better than the dogshit on TikTok.

[@jhonwask]

That happens in so many videos and television commercials. I'd rather have dead silence in between spoken word.

[@bwhog]

Now they need to digitally enhance that recording to reveal the undistorted voice.

[@Asterra2]

If you'd ever heard the earliest versions of this recording, you'd already know that they did _considerable_ cleanup on the recording for this video. The original has crackle and pops like the most damaged audio you ever heard from film.

[@BenvolioCapulet9]

Autotune. “Lorde ya ya ya sittin on a Wednesday”

[@ZEROGRAVITY80]

​@@BenvolioCapulet9"Ya Ya Ya, I am Lorde, Ya Ya Ya"

[@peterfconley]

Well, those are the two scariest sounds I’ve ever heard..

[@MichaelTavel]

'Recognizable' is a very generous description of that recording

[@lilybond6485]

Little did that guy know that people in the future, all over the planet, could listen to him sing that song, on a small device they could hold in their hand. It would not even have been conceivable to him that would even be a possibility. What is it now - that we cannot even conceive of that will be an everyday thing 100 years from now ?

[@Black.Sabbath]

The mark of the beast

[@evanshannon]

@@Black.Sabbathlol wut

[@Nirrrina]

It's breathtaking to wonder just what will be available & it's scary too. I just hope it's mainly wonderful stuff rather than scary things.

[@AALavdas]

This is a wonderful story, which I have followed for years. But I have a question: what's the point of the clip with the cheapo cassete player in the end? Are we supposedly hearing the voice through this thing? And, if we are, why is the hand pressing the RECORD button?!? Just "play" would suffice...

[@funnynews6718]

It was probably used as a prop for the video or the clip was taken from another video. Not the best choice.

[@realryder2626]

'Stock footage' filler

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

They should have used a sped up video of a big drip of tar detaching from a big viscometer and falling.

[@cenedraleaheldra5275]

How is you title about memory, any thing to do with recording the voice…

[@yugandali]

Maybe they made a mistake and fixed it, because the title I see, one day after you, is Listen to the oldest known recording of a human voice.

[@petergibson2318]

A recording is a memory.

[@Lexyvil]

Seems like they fixed the title.

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

Wow! And that was around 50 years before the advent of the automobile!

[@bart-v]

From the time when BBC was still a quality label.

[@user-pw3if8jh4z]

I missed the voice of my late grand grandma born in 1897 n passed on in 1993

[@leemelone6482]

So that’s what Ozzy 🤘sounded like in the early dayz

[@TinLeadHammer]

Combing, wrong focus, low resolution, horrible oversharpening, reels and cassettes to illustrate a 19th-century audio, playback is illustrated by pressing record button? What a mess.

[@jhonwask]

I thought I was the only one to notice.

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

As someone with bad OCD, you are my kind of nitpicker.

[@user-il8qp7px5f]

Given that the tape recorder indicates it has “One Button Record” I’d assume that given the fact the Play button is already pressed the Record button is functioning as a Pause switch. Although I certainly don’t understand why they would introduce another layer of noise by recording the voice to a cheap tape recorder and replaying the song on it.

[@Marig_The_Mage]

@@user-il8qp7px5f It'll be free royalty free stock footage

[@realryder2626]

What's your opinion on politics? I bet you don't miss much

[@markmalasics3413]

It doesn't sound any different that a typical Taylor Swift recording.

[@Alisoncruisssssse]

Ha?

[@simonsimon325]

In a weird way it worked. It reminded me of Charlotte Green's fits of laughter while reading the news after hearing this recording. So it sort of exercised my memory.

[@bozolito108]

“Uh yeah it’s gonna be a no for me dog”

[@wesleysanders8570]

Interesting short video- but its not about memory?

[@PerspectiveEngineer]

Memorex!

[@The-KP]

What are you saying

[@Lexyvil]

Seems like they fixed the title.

[@danielryan4520]

Can’t believe we got 1876 “Clair de la Lune” before GTA VI 😔

[@memathews]

But which was in development longer?😂

[@wintermoonomen]

Absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing this piece of history.

[@jpvq31]

This is beyond amazing. Edouard-Leon must be so proud.

[@donpeters9849]

Dude explained it beautifully.

[@DropBox-jx6yr]

03:13 You’re welcome.

[@yunush]

How fascinating.. and you can feel all the excitement, glee and joy in Dr Patrick’s voice as he is describing the discovery.. what a smart team of researchers

[@rlaporte43]

that's eerie

[@almezini1997]

I forgot what this video was about by the end.

[@zm12123]

I would probably get that checked out; something is seriously wrong with your brain. Maybe early onset dementia?

[@chiarosuburekeni9325]

@@zm12123brain rot is real. These mfs have attention spans shorter than fruit flies 💀💀

[@BAztid]

It built to the singing potato.

[@JhonNye96]

Go see a doctor

[@michman2]

While interesting, this is akin to someone writing a book in ink that can't be seen or read. Edison knew that to be useful, the sound has to come back out and be recognizable.

[@SteveI-fg5qt]

This reminds me of an old Mythbusters episode where they tested the idea that sounds may have been recorded as vibrations on ancient pottery being made. It didnt work but a tantalizing idea.

[@Paraaronoid]

Mind BLOWN, thank you.

[@MiHiFiDi]

I'm listening to someone dead since 1850+? I need to hear the whole audio

[@TheBirdFlu666]

That's what I wanted too!

[@frankjamesbonarrigo7162]

That was it I think

[@modernarcheology2868]

I read that Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville visited the white house and demonstrated this device to Abraham Lincoln. This means that the potential exist for there to be a sound wave diagram of Abraham Lincoln's voice. Wouldn't that be something to hear?

[@AdrianHertz]

I was hoping the voice will say "is free real state"

[@wetleyrocks3092]

I'm watching this 164 years later on a 4K screen, and listening to it via 9.2.4

[@memofromessex]

There's a recording of a Prussian noble who was born in the 18th century.

[@jeffj2495]

Interesting to hear BUT no reel to reel, and no cassette, and NO OTHER magnetic tapes were used. Just some BS in this presentation. Heck, why not show a CD or DVD while they were at it.

[@memathews]

Or a wire recorder?

[@samtallen0]

The distortion and low volume recording adds to its haunting quality

[@hewgrebe4771]

Amazing to hear a man from so long ago, singing a good song.

[@slacktoryrecords4193]

I’m confused as to why that tape recorder in the last shot needed to have its ‘Record’ button pressed if all it was doing was playing back the cassette… ?

[@greyeyed123]

They accidentally recorded over it. Damn.

[@randygreen007]

Stock photo/video.

[@andrewst9797]

👎 for the background music.

[@claudiabTV]

Wowow... awesome post! "Sound collector" - GOLD💰💰💰

[@mikel4797]

Great to hear this as i only had a poor bootleg copy.

[@stephenkz498]

Many things are often attributed to Edison of which he was not the first.

[@sgrant39]

They played it back in 2023. Edison did it about 150 years ago.

[@gabbleratchet1890]

164 years for people to hear that he was singing flat.

[@OGVideographer]

“We’re calling about your extended warranty”

Since the first time I knew about this, in my childhood, this piece of recording gave me goosebumps even before hearing it for the first time. I had to wait for the internet to be a thing to search for it. It's one of very few things in the world that is difficult for me to listen.

[@y2an]

So, Edison didn’t invent the phonograph? 😂 Half right. His had playback.

[@danielburger1775]

And still not the first...

[@Harderanger]

Fascinating. And still higher quality than 2024 phone calls 🙃

[@Wikusvandemerwe-ny4fk]

Glad to see casettes are still being used!

[@SuperCupofcoffee]

“We’ve been trying to contact you about your car’s extended warranty”

[@somecuriosities]

Looks like someone made a woopsie with the video titles and what got uploaded

[@moonbeam7702]

All I really heard was several vibrations rather than a man’s voice

[@ladybirdlee3058]

Yes. It doesn't sound like a voice when played slowly.

[@allzeenamesaretaken]

“We’ve been trying to reach you about your wagon’s extended warranty”

[@kashigata]

Wow! I adore this. Now I need a photo of the singer. Talk about a voice from the grave. I feel really emotional 🥲.

[@Shahnanagans]

How does this relate to memory? Has quality control been lost everywhere?

[@pippetdog]

Mistitled but very fascinating.

[@TehDawg]

"When played back, is still understandable" Not one single person on this planet could understand a single word of that if you played it to someone who never knew the tune.

[@shaggydawg5419]

"Hello, we are calling to offer you an extended car warranty..."

[@gefloigle]

So…recorded on a potato.

[@kwd3109]

How ironic that the modern audio in this video ìs almost worse than the 1850s recording with the low voice of the presenter making it hard to hear him and the unnecessary and distracting music in the background.

[@JonnoPlays]

The first version sounded better though

[@fod2011]

The end of the video have me the 'You're recording over it!' Fear

[@teckwailee819]

Looks like the BBC is capable of clickbait as well

[@y2an]

Try AI to remove the noise.

[@rickys6770]

"We've been trying to contact you about your vehicle's extended warranty"

[@userbosco]

Fascinating, for sure. Just put that song on my Spotify.