This was the grand re-opening of the ENHS Thomas A. Edison National Historic Site. A demonstration on the museum grounds of an acoustic recording onto a brown wax cylinder and then played back. ~ OCTOBER 10, 2009
@@raynemichelle2996 I mean, you can't exactly expect "Hi-Fi" out of an old cylinder record. Keep in mind, Tomas Edison only got the patent for his lightbulb in 1878, 10 years after the hardware on display here had first been invented. You must admit though, It sounds a lot better being fresh off the recording lathe than if it were a real cylinder record from the time period. Case & Point, here's a recording on brown wax from the 1890's; notice the improved fidelity in comparison. th-cam.com/video/c0dJc7kP4pM/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TimGracyk
We were present at this demonstration when they reopened the Edison laboratories after renovations. Since the demo was outside, it was necessary to use a microphone, amplifier, and speakers to amplify the playback of the cylinder recording. By the way, the recording was remarkably clear and very impressive, giving a good idea of the quality of Edison's technology in the late 1880s and beyond.
as a kid I would of found this incredibly boring to stand thier and watch this and never understand why my parents like vinyl records etc but now I find it incredibly fascinating. clever how a series of grooves can reproduce music so perfectly.
Melt about 2 cups beef tallow, Mix in 2 teaspoons of powdered graphite, While stirring pour in your water caustic lye solution (like making soap). take a toilet paper cardboard dip it twice into the solution before it saponifies, let it harden, shape it to size make a plaster mold so it fits the mandrel. shape and shave the cylinder and voila you have a blank cylinder for recording
@emily5968 . It worked. However I forgot one important step all my blanks separated the glycerols over time. One has to do Trans esterification of the filtered tallow to get the glycerols out of the tallow. And right now I don't live in a location that's feasible to do this. My friend in a small town south of me is super busy now. If I ever get a chance to get a good ventilated shop I will do the process over again. And I will put up a private video. There's a few more processes after the finished product. Also I'm not going to devulge in the extra secret ingredients I use. That method was just basic. I have 2 5 gallon pails of rezin from a certain tree that grows in abundance here that needs to be processed ( the secret ingredient) that I add to the Trans esterifided finished product afterwards.
No electricity required! I've recorded on wax cylinder. Edison's acoustic phonograph made possible the thousands of recordings that are now over a century old. These records (cylinders) are amazing audio time capsules that enable us to hear musicians and singers from the late 1800's to the 1920's. Long live Edison.
Incorrect. Phonographs and gramophones from this era were mechanically powered by wind-able spring motors much like a mechanical watch or clock. The user must wind up the phonograph using the crank handle on the side of the unit before playing a cylinder or disc. The rare exception was Edison's Dictaphone cylinder recorder used for office dictation and were powered by electrical motors for convenience. See a spring motor rebuild at watch?v=kCI4k-XBpS4
+blitzv10 Yes. But it's been around non-stop for well over 100 years. "Hipsters" are just now finding it out... yes, they'll ruin it in some way as they always do, but at least they're starting to appreciate it. ("Hipsters" ruin record collecting and other long-term technologies and artistic mediums by changing the terminology and misunderstanding various facts, then replacing the original, accurate, information with their error-poisoned misunderstandings.)
@rweerakkody4565 Exactly, yes. This was their "grand re-opening" weekend after renovations that kept the museum closed for nearly 6 years. He didn't necessarily impersonate Edison, just was a look-alike walking around the grounds.
Excellent! I need to get to this museum with my kids. I visited it many years ago when I was a kid. I bought a wonderful Edison transitional Model B phonograph from a guy named Tim! It is a beautiful piece of machinery!
The guy playing Edison is an actor by the name of patrick garner, you might remember him as Chad's dad from the Mad Real World sketch on Chappelle's Show.
If I am not mistaken, the original rendition was in the key of C and the final one seems to be in C + 30 cents, i.e., only a minor pitch shift. I didn’t note if there was a tempo shift but if it was there, it was pretty likely minor. But the recording did manage to make the guitar sound a bit like a mandolin and ig somewhat altered the singer’s timbre as well. Goes to show you that different harmonics are "caught" to different extents on the wax. Still overall, an unimaginable and near-magical feat.
Hello from Cuba!!! This is so amazing!!! I wish I could find one of those cylinder phonographs here in my country... So far only vinyl and shellac records!!! I will keep looking... Great demonstration! Thanks!
@Phonophan79 a bystander hired to act as Edsion. wow thats a long time: 6 years to renovate a museum. well thats nice to welcome the opening of a worthful museum by surprising the public with pre-sound recording (amidst the modern sound recording techniques). thanks for uploading this.
He's eight about the metallic soap compound. NEVER try and clean even a sturdier post 1902 black wax cylinder under the tap. It will fall apart in your hands. I know :((
i remember visiting edison’s lab in the ford museum and greenfield village. the brought out a phonograph and did a recording of “ mary had a little lamb.” when it played back… i was blown away. i had shivers. it was so cool. i could hear the woman’s voice. in that cylinder. no electronics. so. FREAKING. COOL! my little nerd brain exploded. i imagine that’s how people of that day felt when the heard RECORDED SOUND!!!!!!!! 🤯🤯
Very interesting demonstration. I don't understand why they would use a microphone when playing it back. Couldn't they have just used a machine with a bigger horn? Sure makes sense to me!
Impressive! This was a huge breakthrough during its time. Before this invention no human or living thing was able to hear recorded and reproduced sound of any type.
Well, this cylinder turned out remarkably easy to listen to & understand. A little needle scratch due to the imperfections of a wax (resin) cylinder, but remarkably clear and crisp. The spoken intro was pre-1909ish as the spoken announcement was dispensed with in that 1909. Had cylinder records maintained their popularity past 1929, we might have had electrically recorded cylinders with microphones instead of horns.
Yes - that's him and he's a major force in the "Phonograph world " in the UK - sadly in severe decline. He makes all sorts of Wax Cylinders - including Concert ones
In fact it sounds like 1920s. But the impressive thing is how this piece of primitive technology of late 1800s still works. And so, how it sounded when new (taking in count the actual old records are pretty damaged, like play a wasted vynil)
Discs were recorded electrically starting in 1925-'26, as I remember, so didn't any of the cylinders in their last 3 years of life also get recorded that way too? And I presume that cylinder players had long since become electrically operated by then as well, with speakers, as disc players had.
A very good recoding, a guitar is particularly difficult to record acoustically. Yes the blanks are an aluminum soap, with some wax to keep them from being hygroscopic.
Before 1909 an announcer would bellow the title of the piece followed by that of the manufacturer. Then the music and singing would start. I say BELLOW because sound decays and he had to record audible speech for 5-10 cylinders -at a time, before dubbing and pantograph mass production got going. I've heard remarkably clear & clean cylinders and I've heard ones that were hardly more than surface roar. Listen to "Dixie" played by Issler's orchestra here.
It's a soft bristle brush to brush off the shaved off wax. The recorder carves the groove, so wax goes flying off and onto the cylinder. That's why he's blowing on the cylinder while its recording, so that the shaved wax doesnt build up
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California at Santa Barbara enables you to download mp3s of historic wax cylinder recordings: cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/
If you enjoy this, also go and search for "Recording the Bat City Six" by Semper Phonograph Company. It's a studio band comprised of members of East Side Dandies and Thrift Set Orchestra here in Austin, TX. Recorded in my living room, sounds authentic!
I wonder if it is possible to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reconstruct a hifi recording out of old wax roll recordings by feeding it recordings like in this video with a hifi and a wax recording of the same music event. By giving it lots of examples it may be able to clear all the noise/ticks and synthesize the missing information in the wax recording to elevate it to a hifi version.
If you're interested, Sound On Sound Magazine's youtube channel has a great video on recording on 1950s equipment. "Recording in a 1950s Recording Studio".
This is a fascinating thing to watch and hear - after listening to a great many cylinders and discs over the years. Every time that new cylinder is played, its surface is unfortunately being worn down by the needle that's being dragged over it, so it will gradually lose more and more of its sound.
@ORUPRANKSTAZ All true. But in their case, it's a bit more than that. Previous inquiries about reissuing this material onto CD were answered with concerns about whether such projects would sell. That comment came from an organization specializing in American history and whose outlet shop's only musical offerings are CDs containing re-recorded versions of overplayed early rock and roll hits.
So that's how music in 2009 was made. Crazy to think how far we've come
Lmao
Ikr
We ARE the future!!
Have we really advanced? The boom, boom, boom that passes as music belongs in the stoneage.
🤣
It's nice to hear what a fresh cut sounded like... without 100 years of age on it. It's better fidelity than one would expect.
Precisely what I was thinking-it’s the next best thing to actually being in the Edison studio in the early 1900s. The level of clarity shocked me too.
like ya cut g
Which makes me think how many of these (what last at least) of these cylinders sounded so good back in the day 🥺
It still sounds old times tho
@@raynemichelle2996 I mean, you can't exactly expect "Hi-Fi" out of an old cylinder record. Keep in mind, Tomas Edison only got the patent for his lightbulb in 1878, 10 years after the hardware on display here had first been invented. You must admit though, It sounds a lot better being fresh off the recording lathe than if it were a real cylinder record from the time period. Case & Point, here's a recording on brown wax from the 1890's; notice the improved fidelity in comparison. th-cam.com/video/c0dJc7kP4pM/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TimGracyk
I would love to see cylinder recordings of hardcore punk rock.
rEdf196 there is a cylinder recording of electric music! I don't have a link so you'll have to google it :P
like I've been trying to tell people the old is the new
that's exactly what I always think when I see this stuff.
in stereo :D
If you go on Rob Scallon’s channel, soon he’ll post a metal song recorded on wax
We were present at this demonstration when they reopened the Edison laboratories after renovations. Since the demo was outside, it was necessary to use a microphone, amplifier, and speakers to amplify the playback of the cylinder recording. By the way, the recording was remarkably clear and very impressive, giving a good idea of the quality of Edison's technology in the late 1880s and beyond.
Hot Tuna sang a good version if this song.
No electricity needed, just energy of the soundwaves doing the work. Marvelous.
as a kid I would of found this incredibly boring to stand thier and watch this and never understand why my parents like vinyl records etc but now I find it incredibly fascinating. clever how a series of grooves can reproduce music so perfectly.
Lots of audiophiles prefer vinyl to CDs/MP3s.
@KING VICTROLA I don't have any channel info that I'm aware of
A cookie for the guy in the audience at 8:45 that says: "it sounds like an old recording"... *facepalm*
fat Americans...
Patrick Allen I literally saw this comment right as he said it
I'm Negan okay then
Patrick Allen More like a neck
I wonder how a new song would sound, when recorded on to wax like this!
Melt about 2 cups beef tallow, Mix in 2 teaspoons of powdered graphite, While stirring pour in your water caustic lye solution (like making soap). take a toilet paper cardboard dip it twice into the solution before it saponifies, let it harden, shape it to size make a plaster mold so it fits the mandrel. shape and shave the cylinder and voila you have a blank cylinder for recording
@emily5968 . It worked. However I forgot one important step all my blanks separated the glycerols over time. One has to do Trans esterification of the filtered tallow to get the glycerols out of the tallow. And right now I don't live in a location that's feasible to do this. My friend in a small town south of me is super busy now. If I ever get a chance to get a good ventilated shop I will do the process over again. And I will put up a private video. There's a few more processes after the finished product. Also I'm not going to devulge in the extra secret ingredients I use. That method was just basic. I have 2 5 gallon pails of rezin from a certain tree that grows in abundance here that needs to be processed ( the secret ingredient) that I add to the Trans esterifided finished product afterwards.
I always wondered why recorded/popular songs got locked into a 3 and a half minute length. Thanks Edison.
No electricity required! I've recorded on wax cylinder. Edison's acoustic phonograph made possible the thousands of recordings that are now over a century old. These records (cylinders) are amazing audio time capsules that enable us to hear musicians and singers from the late 1800's to the 1920's. Long live Edison.
?
I think the only thing that needs electricity is the spinning.
Incorrect. Phonographs and gramophones from this era were mechanically powered by wind-able spring motors much like a mechanical watch or clock. The user must wind up the phonograph using the crank handle on the side of the unit before playing a cylinder or disc. The rare exception was Edison's Dictaphone cylinder recorder used for office dictation and were powered by electrical motors for convenience. See a spring motor rebuild at watch?v=kCI4k-XBpS4
Edison is a thief.
Who's gonna be the one to tell him Edison is dead?
is this a new level of hipster i haven't heard about
+blitzv10 Yes. But it's been around non-stop for well over 100 years. "Hipsters" are just now finding it out... yes, they'll ruin it in some way as they always do, but at least they're starting to appreciate it. ("Hipsters" ruin record collecting and other long-term technologies and artistic mediums by changing the terminology and misunderstanding various facts, then replacing the original, accurate, information with their error-poisoned misunderstandings.)
However, real hippies.. actually like stuff and appreciate how it is..and try to learn the real deal of whatever it is..
ArtifactAttic I agree
Edison was a "hipster"? Who knew.
@Discrimination is not a right, Butt hurt pretentious liberal asswipe hipster detected.
Amazingly simple but effective technology. Really puts it in to perspective.
I love the warble - such a classic sound.
Cool to hear how it really sounded followed by the recording.
That guy on the guitar. He's amazing.
What blows my mind is how loud it is. Purely mechanical!
I'm happy to see Dwight got a job as a park ranger. He's always loved nature.
@rweerakkody4565 Exactly, yes. This was their "grand re-opening" weekend after renovations that kept the museum closed for nearly 6 years. He didn't necessarily impersonate Edison, just was a look-alike walking around the grounds.
100% mechanical recording ! Truly Masterpiece !
Excellent! I need to get to this museum with my kids. I visited it many years ago when I was a kid.
I bought a wonderful Edison transitional Model B phonograph from a guy named Tim! It is a beautiful piece of machinery!
The guy playing Edison is an actor by the name of patrick garner, you might remember him as Chad's dad from the Mad Real World sketch on Chappelle's Show.
Lmao he's the one that gets stabbed
Horns don't get all that much bigger... and being outdoors on a windy day in front of an audience are all factors for using a microphone.
If I am not mistaken, the original rendition was in the key of C and the final one seems to be in C + 30 cents, i.e., only a minor pitch shift. I didn’t note if there was a tempo shift but if it was there, it was pretty likely minor. But the recording did manage to make the guitar sound a bit like a mandolin and ig somewhat altered the singer’s timbre as well. Goes to show you that different harmonics are "caught" to different extents on the wax. Still overall, an unimaginable and near-magical feat.
It's analog, so a chance in pitch is accompanied with an equivalent change in tempo.
@@joseislanio8910Aha
Early records of all types had so much flutter
that I can't imagine listening to them very long without experiencing severe fatigue.
lol imagine a quartz locked direct drive cylinder machine, i wonder what that would sound like
@@kodinamsinh1267
Someone did, years ago. Look up "Archeophone".
Dwight Shrute in the wild
Hello from Cuba!!! This is so amazing!!! I wish I could find one of those cylinder phonographs here in my country... So far only vinyl and shellac records!!! I will keep looking... Great demonstration! Thanks!
VERY GOOOOD FOR ORIGINAL SOUND HISTORY NO DIGITAL
That black cone sure has some moves...
and i thought 4-track was retro...
@Phonophan79 a bystander hired to act as Edsion. wow thats a long time: 6 years to renovate a museum. well thats nice to welcome the opening of a worthful museum by surprising the public with pre-sound recording (amidst the modern sound recording techniques). thanks for uploading this.
The recording quality for dialogue is exceptional.
This whole video is amazing.
Que delicia ver y escuchar como traen de vuelta a la vida estos tesoros! GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR CON TODOS NOSOTROS!
Very cool video, great entertainment. I was surprised at how good the recording came out. Great quality for a 100 year old talking machine.
He's eight about the metallic soap compound. NEVER try and clean even a sturdier post 1902 black wax cylinder under the tap. It will fall apart in your hands. I know :((
i remember visiting edison’s lab in the ford museum and greenfield village.
the brought out a phonograph and did a recording of “ mary had a little lamb.”
when it played back…
i was blown away.
i had shivers.
it was so cool. i could hear the woman’s voice. in that cylinder.
no electronics.
so.
FREAKING.
COOL!
my little nerd brain exploded.
i imagine that’s how people of that day felt when the heard
RECORDED SOUND!!!!!!!!
🤯🤯
Wonderful demonstration! Thank you for posting!
Cool video, the people talking constantly in the background during the demonstration are pretty annoying.
+seppomuppit no respect to edison :)
What a great demonstration - thanks!
Very interesting demonstration.
I don't understand why they would use a microphone when playing it back. Couldn't they have just used a machine with a bigger horn? Sure makes sense to me!
The bigger the horn the higher the pressure on the cylinder, which will cause wear on the cylinder extremely quickly and destroy the grooves.
This video: Some park ranger helps Elton John record some ragtime song onto a toilet paper roll.
simply awesome
Only 1880s kids will remember.
720p in 2009 that is ahead of its time.
I always find it strange when I see such a clear image in TH-cam video before 2010.
Impressive! This was a huge breakthrough during its time. Before this invention no human or living thing was able to hear recorded and reproduced sound of any type.
Well, this cylinder turned out remarkably easy to listen to & understand. A little needle scratch due to the imperfections of a wax (resin) cylinder, but remarkably clear and crisp.
The spoken intro was pre-1909ish as the spoken announcement was dispensed with in that 1909.
Had cylinder records maintained their popularity past 1929, we might have had electrically recorded cylinders with microphones instead of horns.
Perfectly clear
Yes - that's him and he's a major force in the "Phonograph world " in the UK - sadly in severe decline.
He makes all sorts of Wax Cylinders - including Concert ones
This is amazing! thank you for that! incredibly interesting!
Excellent video of Phonograph, i do teach media technologies. So this is very helpful to understand cylinder recorder and player. Thanks for sharing.
In fact it sounds like 1920s. But the impressive thing is how this piece of primitive technology of late 1800s still works. And so, how it sounded when new (taking in count the actual old records are pretty damaged, like play a wasted vynil)
That recording would last longer than any mobile phone
excellent demonstration, thank you!
Amazing history lesson. Thank you for sharing!!!
Discs were recorded electrically starting in 1925-'26, as I remember, so didn't any of the cylinders in their last 3 years of life also get recorded that way too? And I presume that cylinder players had long since become electrically operated by then as well, with speakers, as disc players had.
The "Collector" from England mentioned is Mr Paul Morris of Exeter.
What's really crazy, is that recording, uploading and watching this on youtube, is just a different way to do pretty much the same thing.
And thus the one moment-in-time is preserved for ever-and-all-time!
. : .
A very good recoding, a guitar is particularly difficult to record acoustically. Yes the blanks are an aluminum soap, with some wax to keep them from being hygroscopic.
Before 1909 an announcer would bellow the title of the piece followed by that of the manufacturer. Then the music and singing would start.
I say BELLOW because sound decays and he had to record audible speech for 5-10 cylinders -at a time, before dubbing and pantograph mass production got going.
I've heard remarkably clear & clean cylinders and I've heard ones that were hardly more than surface roar. Listen to "Dixie" played by Issler's orchestra here.
6:00 Whats that? I mean what is he using for the brushing of wax cylinder ?
It's a soft bristle brush to brush off the shaved off wax. The recorder carves the groove, so wax goes flying off and onto the cylinder. That's why he's blowing on the cylinder while its recording, so that the shaved wax doesnt build up
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California at Santa Barbara enables you to download mp3s of historic wax cylinder recordings: cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/
This is awesome!
Awesome video!
This is awesome
So darn cool! Thanks for sharing.
Very nice song, I must say.
a classic video! I watch it a lot! I love it!
Is the needle for engraving the groove on cylinder and for play is the same - or it's different types/shape?
great demo, see how it was done and sounded 100 years ago
If you enjoy this, also go and search for "Recording the Bat City Six" by Semper Phonograph Company. It's a studio band comprised of members of East Side Dandies and Thrift Set Orchestra here in Austin, TX. Recorded in my living room, sounds authentic!
Dwight? Is that you?
Lol 😂
who was the gentleman in the white wig and the formal dress? was he an edison mascott / impersonator?
What is the machine used to cut the record?
Recording lathe
I wonder if it is possible to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reconstruct a hifi recording out of old wax roll recordings by feeding it recordings like in this video with a hifi and a wax recording of the same music event. By giving it lots of examples it may be able to clear all the noise/ticks and synthesize the missing information in the wax recording to elevate it to a hifi version.
my grandfather used to get those ads,, buy 6 wax cylinders and get another for only 1 penny
I love these photographs, I find them as great monarchs of the past (including the first light bulb).
Huh?
audio technology has sure come a long way since these infancy days of recording
Incredibly facinating
Someone ought to make a Netflix series on the gramophone. I mean like a docu-drama. 🥺
Amazing
SO cool. Can't beat "hands on" -anything. Wondering if they dropped the cylinder into an ice bath might it help with crisper playback??
3:39 It sound like he was singing a ni**** is a ni**** at first 😂
Guess I'm not the only one, lol
This is SO amazing!!
great experiment！
great reproduction！
What type of audio file that the wax saved the recording? Is it mp3? Flac? 🤔
Recording acoustics, 👊👊👊👊👊✋✋🐮🎧📠🎬📠💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻💻
Excelente trabajo hacen ustedes, al dar a conocer a las nuevas generaciones las maravillosas creaciones de la mente humana!
Congratulaciones.
Do you have the equipment to recreate 50s recordings?
If you're interested, Sound On Sound Magazine's youtube channel has a great video on recording on 1950s equipment. "Recording in a 1950s Recording Studio".
Honestly wax cylinders don’t sound all that bad, it’s when the age of them makes them sound awful
He sounds like the real old time people.
I would like to Double up the number of Wax Cylinders in the Edisson Museum so kindly suggest a suitable working platform
Thanks for you
Check out the guitar--looks like a National Res-o-Phonic from the late 1920s.
How many times can you replay the soap before it deteriorates too much?
Isn’t the Edison character the actor from the Chapelle Show? Father from the Real World Hoboken skit?!
"Sounds like an old recording"
*no shit sherlock*
That playback horn is dancing while playing!
This is a fascinating thing to watch and hear - after listening to a great many cylinders and discs over the years.
Every time that new cylinder is played, its surface is unfortunately being worn down by the needle that's being dragged over it, so it will gradually lose more and more of its sound.
@ORUPRANKSTAZ All true. But in their case, it's a bit more than that. Previous inquiries about reissuing this material onto CD were answered with concerns about whether such projects would sell. That comment came from an organization specializing in American history and whose outlet shop's only musical offerings are CDs containing re-recorded versions of overplayed early rock and roll hits.