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America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound
In 1877 Thomas Edison dreamed that one day there would be a talking machine in every home, but even his legendary vision could not have foreseen the way that recorded sound would pervade modern life. From the first thin sheet of tinfoil that was manipulated into retaining sound to the home recordings of rappers in the 1980s and the high-tech studios of the 1990s, this book examines the important technical developments of acoustic, electric, and digital sound reproduction while outlining the cultural impact of recorded music and movies. This second edition highlights the digital revolution of sound recording. First Edition Hb (1995) 0-521-47544-9 First Edition Pb (1995) 0-521-47556-2
474 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 6, 2012
BEE IN A JAR
A few years ago they discovered the oldest recording of a human voice ever. Here's a two-for-one youtube clip about that, it's only 1 minute 11 seconds. In this clip you hear posh BBC newsreader Charlotte Green introducing the recording, then they play it. While it's playing some BBC producer whispers to Charlotte that it sounds like a bee trapped in a jar. Then Charlotte proceeds with an item about the death of Abbie Mann, screenwriter. But she can't get the bee in the jar out of her mind...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKBWsy...
Well, I thought it was quite funny. Anyway - about this actual book. Hmm. I'm really not sure who this book is for. I thought I was buying something completely different - a history of recorded music in America maybe! The title does hint about that. As I write this I have just noticed that an ant is crawling around near my foot. He's a long lonely way from the back door or the front door (in ant terms that is) so he must be really wishing he's got antnav installed, which clearly, he hasn't. Andre Millard - well, he's not quite like this ant, but if I explain that he tries in 400 pages to encompass the whole technological history of recording devices from the cylinder to the ipod and downloading, PLUS the entire development of the complex of businesses surrounding recorded sound (record companies, radio, tv, movies, jukeboxes, format wars), PLUS the development of the music itself (from minstrel songs to rap and as many points between as he can think of), PLUS the sociology of all these changes (the flappers, the punks, all those subcultures) then you can see that it's not a wholly unfair antanalogy. Antlike he waves his antennae furiously, bumps into something like Count Basie, twirls round and heads off into disco, tape splicing and glue sniffing, bangs into Fred Astaire and he's off again - it's only the stolid unexcited frankly dull prose which keeps this book from busting into five different books and running off squeaking and gibbering. Which would be most unantlike. I think this one goes straight to the charity shop and the ant goes straight to the back garden. But I can't see my ant anymore. He's probably behind me discovering Stockhausen. Or Adam Ant.
A few years ago they discovered the oldest recording of a human voice ever. Here's a two-for-one youtube clip about that, it's only 1 minute 11 seconds. In this clip you hear posh BBC newsreader Charlotte Green introducing the recording, then they play it. While it's playing some BBC producer whispers to Charlotte that it sounds like a bee trapped in a jar. Then Charlotte proceeds with an item about the death of Abbie Mann, screenwriter. But she can't get the bee in the jar out of her mind...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKBWsy...
Well, I thought it was quite funny. Anyway - about this actual book. Hmm. I'm really not sure who this book is for. I thought I was buying something completely different - a history of recorded music in America maybe! The title does hint about that. As I write this I have just noticed that an ant is crawling around near my foot. He's a long lonely way from the back door or the front door (in ant terms that is) so he must be really wishing he's got antnav installed, which clearly, he hasn't. Andre Millard - well, he's not quite like this ant, but if I explain that he tries in 400 pages to encompass the whole technological history of recording devices from the cylinder to the ipod and downloading, PLUS the entire development of the complex of businesses surrounding recorded sound (record companies, radio, tv, movies, jukeboxes, format wars), PLUS the development of the music itself (from minstrel songs to rap and as many points between as he can think of), PLUS the sociology of all these changes (the flappers, the punks, all those subcultures) then you can see that it's not a wholly unfair antanalogy. Antlike he waves his antennae furiously, bumps into something like Count Basie, twirls round and heads off into disco, tape splicing and glue sniffing, bangs into Fred Astaire and he's off again - it's only the stolid unexcited frankly dull prose which keeps this book from busting into five different books and running off squeaking and gibbering. Which would be most unantlike. I think this one goes straight to the charity shop and the ant goes straight to the back garden. But I can't see my ant anymore. He's probably behind me discovering Stockhausen. Or Adam Ant.
March 16, 2007
This is the single best history of recording. Not perfect, because the writing gets a little dull at times, but very good nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews