[olePigeon]

This cool story on NY Times talks about a French typesetter & apparently inventor, Édouard-Léon Scott, who recorded sounds 20 years before Edison's phonograph

"For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words 'Mary had a little lamb' on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades."

Pretty darn cool.

[SSharon]

I heard the clip on the radio this morning. It was a bit creepy to be honest.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

[analogika]

Very, very, very cool.

[- - e r i k - -]

Freaking Awesome. Direct MP3 link:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/audiosrc/arts/1860v2.mp3

[MM-o4]

man, dood should learn how to use a microphone

[Railroader]

It's probably been sampled into some creepy death metal or techno music as we speak.

[villalobos]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

It's probably been sampled into some creepy death metal or techno music as we speak.

It is a child song, althoug the lyrics are a little depressing so it might fit.

Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot.
Prête-moi ta plume, pour écrire un mot

Ma chandelle est morte, je n'ai plus de feu.
Ouvre-moi ta porte, pour l'amour de Dieu.

[Railroader]

It's not that it's a child's song, it is the sound of it.

[turtle777]

Ha.

One more proof that Edison stole the fire light from the Gods French.

-t

[::maroma::]

Originally Posted by villalobos 

It is a child song, althoug the lyrics are a little depressing so it might fit.

Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot.
Prête-moi ta plume, pour écrire un mot

Ma chandelle est morte, je n'ai plus de feu.
Ouvre-moi ta porte, pour l'amour de Dieu.

Here's what Dashboard's Translator came back with:

With the my friend Pierrot, moonlight.
Lend to me your feather, to write a word

My candle died, I do not have more fire.
Open to me your gate, for the love of God.

[CharlesS]

It looks like this machine only wrote down a representation of the sound wave onto paper, but couldn't play anything back. They managed to make the linked recording by scanning it in and working with a computer to convert the image on the paper back into sound - something that would not have been possible with 19th century technology. I don't think this takes anything away from Edison's accomplishment, although it is interesting.

Oh, and I'd translate the song as:

In the moonlight, my friend Pierrot,
Lend me your pen, so I can write a word.

My candle has gone out, I have no more light.
Open your door to me, for the love of God.

[villalobos]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

It looks like this machine only wrote down a representation of the sound wave onto paper, but couldn't play anything back. They managed to make the linked recording by scanning it in and working with a computer to convert the image on the paper back into sound - something that would not have been possible with 19th century technology. I don't think this takes anything away from Edison's accomplishment, although it is interesting.

Oh, and I'd translate the song as:

In the moonlight, my friend Pierrot,
Lend me your pen, so I can write a word.

My candle has gone out, I have no more light.
Open your door to me, for the love of God.

good translation!

[CharlesS]

Well, better than "With the my friend Pierrot, moonlight", anyway.

[Eriamjh]

This invention allowed us to hear what a crappy media paper is. It sounds like they didn't try to do any processing to filter out the background noise, etc. I hope they do.

By the way, Wikipedia says the translation is:

French
Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot
Prête-moi ta plume, pour écrire un mot.
Ma chandelle est morte, je n'ai plus de feu.
Ouvre-moi ta porte, pour l'amour de Dieu.
Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit
Je n'ai pas de plume, je suis dans mon lit.
Va chez la voisine, je crois qu'elle y est
Car dans sa cuisine, on bat le briquet.
Au clair de la lune, l'aimable Lubin
Frappe chez la brune, elle répond soudain
"Qui frappe de la sorte ? ", il dit à son tour
"Ouvrez votre porte pour le Dieu d'Amour"
Au clair de la lune, on n'y voit qu'un peu
On chercha la plume, on chercha du feu
En cherchant d'la sorte je n'sais c'qu'on trouva
Mais je sais qu'la porte sur eux se ferma.
English
Under the moonlight, My friend Pierrot
Lend me your pen, So I could write a word
My candle is out, I've no more light
Open your door for me, For God's sake.
Under the moonlight, Pierrot replied,
I've no pen, I'm in my bed.
Go next door, I believe they're in,
For in the kitchen, Someone lit a match.
Under the moonlight, Nice Lubin
Knocks at the brunette's door, She suddenly replies
"Who's knocking this way", He says in his turn
"Open your door, for the God of Love."
Under the moonlight, Little can be seen
The pen was looked for, Fire was looked for
Searching this way, I don't know what was found
But I do know that the door, On them was shut down.