FEATURE:
Music Technology Breakthroughs
PHOTO CREDIT: @farber/Unsplash
Music Technology Breakthroughs, I am focusing on an invention that sort of predates a lot of the technology I have already covered. It is impossible to cover the complete history and development of the microphone but, as it is so pivotal and instrumental when it comes to music, I had to discuss it. I know that microphone technology was being used in other devices and areas before it came to music. In terms of some history, Rode looked at the microphone’s beginnings:
“You could argue that the original microphones came from Alexander Graeme Bell, inventor of the telephone. The very first device of this type actually used vibrations from a voice to make a needle rattle in water. The changing liquid would affect an electrical current, which could be transmitted to a receiver on the other end of a line. Indeed, Bell was able to make a phone call work over existing telegraph lines in his demonstrations!
Next came Emil Berliner, another famous inventor in the audio recording industry. A German man, Berliner is said to have created the world's first carbon button microphone (1876), a superior audio recording device than Bell's water-based model. This microphone involved applying vibrations from an electroconductive diaphragm to a packet of carbon granules, which could be picked up by an electrical output signal.
This proved highly successful, leading to Bell purchasing it for his later telephone models (still pre-1900s).
And then came sound recording
Early sound recording devices had no digital parts, and wouldn't for decades.
Thomas Edison first theorised the possibility that we could record sound after wondering how to create a more efficient transmitting device than the telegraph. According to Adam Kennedy of Penn State University, in 1877, Edison connected the needle of a telegraph device to the diaphragm of a telephone and spoke into it. As expected, the needle responded to the vibrations of his voice and recorded a pattern on paper. However, this produced no sound when listened back to.
So he devised a second device, made out of a tinfoil cylinder. The needle carved the sound into the tin, creating an imprint of him saying the nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. Though low-quality, it worked. Sound recording was born.
The next time you are listening back to a dialogue track on your computer, just think: not too long ago you would have needed a tinfoil cylinder!”.
It is amazing to consider how the microphone has evolved since its early use and how widespread it is now – not just for musicians but in so many areas of our lives. Many of us have laptops with built-in microphones; many have been using microphones for Zoom calls and podcasts. The technology has definitely advanced to the point where pretty much anyone can record sound clearly and professionally in their own homes – something that people could not have imagined or believed centuries ago!
PHOTO CREDIT: @kellysikkema/Unsplash
I am going to end by quoting from an article that outlines several ways the microphone has changed the music industry. In terms of its development, this fascinating article takes us through the years and the various microphone breakthroughs and models:
“Condenser Microphones - In 1916, Edward Christopher “EC” Wente of Bell Laboratories introduced the first condenser microphone. Although this device was developed as an instrument to measure sound intensity, the basic design would lead to the development of condenser microphones suitable for sound recording.
The development of the vacuum tube was the next evolutionary step for microphones. Although Frederick Guthrie discovered thermionic emission in 1873, it was Thomas Edison's discovery in 1883 of the phenomenon that became known as the Edison effect that led to further development of the vacuum tube. John Ambrose Fleming used the diode tube to detect radio signals in the early twentieth century. In 1906 Lee De Forest came up with the Audion, which was also developed as a radio detector. However, it was his development of the triode tube that essentially became the first electronic amplifier.
The condenser microphone had a relatively weak output. It was the development of the electronic amplifier that made this design practical. The condenser microphone consisted of two parallel plates, each with an electrical charge. Sound vibrations move the front plate, while the rear plate remains fixed, which slightly alters the capacitance between the plates, causing a change in current flow in the electrical circuit to which it is connected. This signal is then electronically amplified to a usable level. Early designs used thick steel plates to provide stiffness to raise the resonant frequency above the audio range. This design produced a frequency response up to about 6 kHz, well above the carbon microphones of the time, which reach only 3 kHz. However, when thin aluminum was stretched over a round frame to produce the front plate, the response increased to 15 kHz.
PHOTO CREDIT: @birukmak/Unsplash
Georg Neumann and Co. was founded in Germany in 1928 and became world-famous for its microphones. It designed and produced the first commercial condenser microphone, the CMV3, which, because of its shape, was nicknamed “the bottle.” Its capsule, designated as M1, was hand-made with the front plate now made of gold-plated PVC. These microphones now had a frequency response from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. In 1932, Neumann produced the CMV3A, which provided for interchangeable heads, with a new capsule designated the M7, with a double-membrane design. The cancellation of sound reaching the rear of the capsule produced a cardioid pattern, becoming the first cardioid microphone.
During World War II, Neumann's factory in Berlin was damaged by Allied bombing, forcing him to moved the company to the town of Gefell in eastern Germany. After the war, Georg Neumann reestablished his company in one of the Allied sectors of Berlin In 1948, it introduced the U47, which was distributed by Telefunken and carried a Telefunken badge. The U47, nicknamed the “Telly,” was the first condenser microphone with a switchable-pattern. A switch allowed for changing between cardioid and omni-directional patterns. It used the M7 capsule and an amplifier using Telefunken's VF-14 tube. The VF-14 was a pre-World War II metal-clad pentode configured as a triode. Although the VF-14 had a filament designed to work at 55 volts, Neumann used only 36 volts to extend the tube life and for quieter operation.10 Because these microphones had a presence with unprecedented detail, they soon became the most in-demand microphones in studios all over the world. It has been said that Frank Sinatra wouldn't sing without his “Telly.”
Wireless Microphones - The next development was the wireless microphone. Eliminating tangled cable strewn all over a stage is a nice goal, but for some situations, such as performers singing while skating at an ice show, it almost necessary. That is why figure skater and flight engineer Reg Moores put together a wireless microphone that he used during the 1949 production of Aladdin on Ice at the Sports Stadium Brighton in the UK. With the microphone and transmitter attached to his costume, it performed flawlessly. However, because he was using an illegal frequency, the producers of the show decided to not to continue using the device.
The first commercial wireless microphone system for performers was the Vagabond 88, introduced by the Shure Brothers in 1953.15 Using a microphone with a low-frequency transmitter with five subminiature vacuum tubes powered by two hearing aid batteries, it transmitted to a copper wire that was placed on the floor or suspended from the ceiling. It was quite expensive and was used primarily by live shows in Las Vegas.16 Shure did not re-enter the wireless microphone market until 1990.
In 1958, the German company Lab W (now Sennheiser) introduced a wireless microphone system called the Mikroport that was marketed by Telefunken. It consisted of a pocket-sized moving coil microphone with a transmitter operating at 37 MHz with a range of 300 feet.
The first patented wireless microphone system was granted in 1964 to Raymond A. Litke, an American electrical engineer with Educational Media Resources and San Jose State College. Vega Electronics Corporation began manufacturing the system in 1959. It offered the choice of a hand-held or lavalier style microphone with a 7-ounce cigar-shaped transmitter. It was first used by the broadcast media when the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) used it at the 1960 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. For the first time television reporters could roam freely on the floor of the conventions and interview participants.
The wireless microphone continued to be improved, increasing fidelity and improving resistance to interference. While wireless microphones are rarely used in the recording studio, today they have become ubiquitous on television broadcasts of musical performances and are frequently seen at live performances”.
PHOTO CREDIT: @denisolvr/Unsplash
I will wrap up soon but, in this fifteenth edition, I think that microphone is possibly one of the most important technological breakthroughs in music! We take it for granted now but, decades ago, the technology was relatively simple. Now, with wireless microphones and such incredible sound quality, maybe we take it for granted. In the final article that I want to bring in, they explain ways in which a microphone aides and enhances sound and live performance:
“Without outside amplification, the loudest musician wins every time. But when you introduce microphones into the mix, every individual instrument can be heard as the composer intended. So you can have brass instruments playing at fortissimo, and woodwinds and strings playing mezzopiano, but the final decision as to the volume is up to the sound engineer running the music recording equipment.
Likewise, in a live setting, a quiet singer or instrumentalist can still be heard in the back row with proper amplification. Microphones can be strategically placed around a stage to pick up any whisper or important sounds, so the audience can hear them regardless of where they are seated.
With a live performance, a performer can relax and focus on quality over quantity, so to speak. In addition to the value of amplifying the output, microphones can be used in conjunction with music recording equipment to provide a wide variety of aftereffects.
Overdubbing, for example, can be beneficial for a solo artist who plays multiple instruments or sings different parts on a track. With the right music recording equipment, the artist can set up for the backing vocals, instrumentation, and then focus on lead vocals and one instrument during a live performance — or put it all together for a music video, like this YouTube artist.
Sampling requires a microphone for it to be of any sort of use at all. The difference between a cover and a sample lies with who is doing the performing. An artist who wishes to sample another needs the original recording, otherwise he or she will be covering the work instead of just sampling the original artist. With a microphone used in conjunction with the rest of the music recording equipment for the original recording, the sample can be overlaid with the new artist’s and processed through another microphone”.
I will wrap up there, only to say that the microphone has transformed and expanded (in terms of the range of choices) through time. It is a simple yet wonderful invention and breakthrough that fascinates me. It is this point that I will…
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