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Posted by: Bryan Cornell
At some point time around the year 2008 the last physical audio format, the cd, seems to have nearly winked out of existence. Its replacement? An army of wispy, intangible files including mp3, .aiff, wave, ogg vorbis, flac and many others. Of course, many of these formats produce very high-quality audio, and I can now pack a collection of …
Posted in: Early Recording Industry, Recorded Sound
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
Last night the Library of Congress honored veteran songwriter and performer Billy Joel with its coveted Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The Library of Congress awards the prize annually to a composer or performer whose lifetime contributions exemplify the standard of excellence associated with George and Ira Gershwin. It’s not entirely coincidental that the Library has also just uploaded a revealing interview with Joel …
Posted in: Recorded Sound
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
The following post is by David Sager, Processing Technician in the Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress. This post is in commemoration of the 84th anniversary of Buddy Bolden’s death and the never-ending discussion of his legendary lost cylinder recording. Charles “Buddy” Bolden, 1877-1931, often referred to as the “first man of jazz,” holds an …
Posted in: Early Recording Industry, Jukebox, Recorded Sound, Uncategorized
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
This week’s recorded sound update is a guest post by Jan McKee, Reference Librarian, Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress. Mark Twain was known to have made recordings on three occasions; unfortunately none of them are known to have survived. The earliest recording was made by Thomas Edison in 1888. In 1891, the author himself …
Posted in: Early Recording Industry, Recorded Sound
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
What follows is a guest post by Carla Arton and Harrison Behl, processing technicians in the Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress In May 2013, the staff-led Packard Campus Institute (PCI) hosted a presentation on the National Jukebox by Gene DeAnna, Head of the Recorded Sound Section at the Library of Congress. In his presentation, Gene showcases …
Posted in: Early Recording Industry, Jukebox, Recorded Sound, Uncategorized
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
This is a guest post by Janet McKee, Recorded Sound Reference Librarian in the Library’s Recorded Sound Section. Repeatedly over the years a recording purporting to be the voice of Walt Whitman has surfaced. Sadly, it has long been the opinion of the reference staff at the Library of Congress that the recording, like …
Posted in: Early Recording Industry, Recorded Sound, Uncategorized
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
Earlier this month we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key’s writing the “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1814. For much of our nation’s history since then, “The Star Spangled Banner” was not officially designated as the national anthem, but shared its position with a handful of other popular patriotic songs. In fact, as reported …
Posted in: National Recording Registry, Uncategorized
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
Kachank? That’s the sound that signals summer’s end as returning students slam locker doors while swarming high school corridors, yelling, jostling and creating general chaos. Nevertheless, in the windy, rainy and icy days ahead, the Library of Congress National Jukebox can provide you many songs that evoke summers past and prepare you to face the coming school (or …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Bryan Cornell
The following is a guest post by Matt Barton, Recorded Sound Curator, National Audio-Visual Conservation Center This Monday marked the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of World War I. Songs relating to World War I are very well documented in the Library’s National Jukebox, which provides over 10,000 78-rpm discs recorded in the 1920s and before. For …
Posted in: Early Recording Industry, Jukebox, Recorded Sound