Category Sound

Mixing console is a device that used for mixing and changing the volume, and dynamics of audio signals. The sources of these signals could be many- microphones used by singers, or mics picking up the beats from drums.

The device is known by different names like audio mixer, audio console, or mixer.

There are numerous applications for which a mixing console is used. For instance, it is commonly used in recording studios, public address systems, sound reinforcement systems, musical concerts, broadcasting, television, and film post-production.

Let’s look at a few of its applications in detail. When two singers are singing, say a duet, a mixing console combines signals from the two microphones into an amplifier that drives one set of speakers. Then, during a live performance, the signals from the mixer go directly to an amplifier plugged into speaker cabinets.

Almost all bands use a mixer to combine musical instruments and vocals. This mix can then be amplified through a public address system.

Radio broadcasts too use it in order to select audio from different sources like CD players, and in-studio live bands. 

          The telephone is a communication tool that has become an integral part of human life since its invention in 1876.

          Technically, it is a device that transmits voices over a distance, using a wire or radio. The transmission is made possible by converting sound signals to electric signals.

          There are many reasons why the device is important to us. The first and foremost reason is that it enables communication without the hassle of travelling far.

             It is perhaps the cheapest mode of communication that facilitates talking to a person abroad at a relatively fair price. Hence, the device has played a major role in better socialization and interaction among people.

            Although it was originally meant for voice communication, telephones have evolved over the years. From wired phones emerged mobile phones that could be used anywhere.

             The telephone that we see around today was certainly not the first model developed for communication. Prior to its invention, many people had attempted to make different types of phones. However, Graham Bell’s telephone, invented in 1876 was the most successful.

             Most of the earliest models were mechanical acoustic devices that transmitted speech over a distance greater than that of normal speech.

             One important discovery during the 17th century was by Robert Hooke. He made an acoustic string phone in 1667. By the 19th century, various types of telegraphs were developed. It was after improvements of the electrical telegraph that the telephone emerged.

             There were many people who worked on this invention. However, it was Alexander Graham Bell, who won the patent for the device. 

          Sound recording and reproduction refers to the inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects.

          The inscription could be electrical, mechanical, electronic or digital in nature. The earliest method of music reproduction was done through mechanical systems.

          Today, there are two main classes of sound recording technology – analogue recording and digital recording.

               Acoustic analogue recording is done with the help of a microphone diaphragm that can detect and sense the changes in atmospheric pressure caused by acoustic sound waves. It then records the waves as a mechanical representation on a medium such as a phonograph record.

              In digital recordings, analogue signals picked by a microphone are converted to a digital form by a process called digitization.

              The first all-digitally-recorded popular music album, Ry Cooder’s ‘Bop till You Drop’ was released in 1979. 

            The phonautograph was perhaps the first device in history that could record sounds. It was patented by French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville in 1857.

            Phonautograms or phonautograph recordings made in 1857 were the earliest known recordings of the human voice. They consisted of sheets of paper with sound-wave-modulated white lines created by a vibrating stylus that cut through a coating of soot as the paper passed under it. That means the recordings were visual representations of the sound.

           The earliest known recording of intelligible spoken words is the phonautogram containing the opening lines of Torquato Tasso’s pastoral drama ‘Aminta’. It is believed to have been recorded in April or May, 1860.

           Luckily, a few recordings have been recovered over the past few years. The phonautogram of Au Clair de la Lune, a French folk song made in 1860 was played as sound for the first time in 2008.