Timeline
A Brief History of Field and Environmental Sound Recording
1857
Invention of the Phonautograph
1877
Edison Demonstrates Phonograph
1881
Clément Ader Demonstrates Binaural Sound
1887
Edison Creates New Phonograph Which Uses Wax-Based Cylinders
1887
Emile Berliner Patents Gramophone
1889
Ludwig Koch Makes First Bird Song Recording
1890
Compagnie du Théâtrophonelater Commercializes Binaural Sound
1890
Jesse Fewkes Makes First Anthropological Field Recordings
1890
Alice Cunningham Fletcher Records Omaha Indian Music
1894-95
Edison & W.K.L. Wickson Make First Talking Movie Using Kinetophone
1900
Carl Stumpf Initiates the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv
1907
John Lomax Begins Collecting and Recording Cowboy Songs
1907
Frances Densmore Begins Recording American Indian Music for the Smithsonian
1922
Major General George Owen Squier Founds Wired Radio Inc.
1924
Cellist Beatrice Harrison performs BBC on-air duet with a nightingale
1928
Arthur Allen & Peter Paul Kellogg Record Bird Sounds Using the Movietone
1930
German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann premieres “Wochenende”
1932
W. Bartlett Jones Secures Patent For Stereophonic Recording
1934
BBC Radio Program Lawrence Gilliam’s ‘Opping ‘Oliday Uses Field (Non-Studio) Recording
1940
Albert Brand releases American Bird Songs LP
1942
AEG Magnetophon Patents Stereo Recorder in Germany
1942
Helmut Kruger Makes First Stereo Tape Recordings
1944
BBC Begins Using EMI “Midget” Portable Tape Recorder
1944
Halim El-Dabh premieres early work of musique concrète
1945
Tony Schwartz Buys His First Recorder, Runs on Battery Power
1948
Ampex Corporation Introduces Tape Recorders
1948
Columbia Introduces the “Long Playing” (LP) Record
1948
Moses Asch Founds Folkways Records, NYC
1949
RCA Victor Introduces the 45 RPM Disc & Record Changer
1951
Peter Paul Kellogg Develops First Portable Recorder in the U.S.
1951
Stefan Kudelski Develops the Portable Nagra I Recorder in Switzerland
1952
Emory Cook Makes First Commercial Stereo Records
1952
Uher Electronics Company Founded in Germany
1952
Folkways Releases Releases Early Hydrophone Recordings
1954
Cook Records Releases Voice of the Sea
1954
Folkways releases Tony Schwartz’ New York 19
1955
Ampex Develops First Multitrack Recording Facility
1955
William W. H. Gunn Releases A Day in Algonquin Park
1957
Westrex Develops Phonograph Cartridges that Play Two Grooves as Separate Tracks
1957
“Cook Labs” Releases V-Groove Stereo Recordings
1958
Folkways Releases Sounds of North American Frogs
1958
Stefan Kudelski Introduces Nagra III Battery-Operated Recorder
1958
Jean-Claude Roché Releases Oiseaux-En-Camargue 10”
1958
Else Marie Pade composes Symphonie Magnetophonique
1958
Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram found the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
1959
S. Wahlström Makes Earliest Stereo Recordings of Birds
1960
Jim Fassett Creates Symphony of the Birds
1960-62
B. N. Veprintsev Begins Releasing Voices of Birds in Nature Series
1961
Uher Releases Portable Report 4000
1963
Walter De Maria Releases Cricket Music
1963
Philips Introduces Compact Cassette Tape Format
1965
Multitrack Location Recording Debut, The Rolling Stones’ Got LIVE If You Want It!
1967
Glenn Gould Releases The Idea of North
1968
Walter de Maria Releases Ocean Music
1969
Irv Teibel Releases environments 1
1969
R. Murray Schafer Establishes the World Soundscape Project
1969
The British Library Establishes Wildlife Sounds Collection
1970
Biologist Roger Payne Releases Songs of the Humpback Whale
1970
Luc Ferrari Releases Presque rien No.1 – le lever du jour au bord de la…
1970
Beaver & Krause release In A Wild Sanctuary
1970
Harry Bertoia Releases First of His “Sonambient” Recordings
1971
Stefan Kudelski Releases His First Portable Stereo Recorder
1972
Wendy Carlos releases Sonic Seasonings
1972
Knud Viktor releases Images and Ambiences
1974
The World Soundscape Project Releases Soundscapes of Canada
1975
German Electronics Company Neumann Patents the KU80
1977
R. Murray Schafer Publishes The Tuning of the World
1978
Brian Eno Releases Ambient 1: Music for Airports
1979
First Digitally Recorded Album, Ry Cooder’s Bop till You Drop, Is Released
1981
Dan Gibson Begins Solitudes LP Series
1985
Walter Tilgner Releases Waldkonzert
1992
Nagra D, a Self-Contained Battery-Operated Field Recorder, Is Introduced
1992
Radio Birdsong begins broadcasting a soundscape loop
1995
Nagra Introduces First “Solid-State” Audio Recorder
1996
U.S. Issues a Patent For the MP3
1998
Francisco Lopez Releases La Selva
2003
Chris Watson Releases Weather Report, Includes Sounds of Icelandic Ice Floe
2011
Matthew Herbert releases One Pig, made of samples of a pig’s life “from birth to…
2012
Peter Cusack releases Sounds from Dangerous Places
2015
David Rothenberg and Mike Deal compile whale song best-of
2016
The Fondation Cartier presents Bernie Krause’s The Great Animal Orchestra
2016
Jana Winderen releases hydrophone recordings of Zooplankton and Phytoplankton
2018
RMIT exhibits Super Field environmental sound installation
2018
Numero Group and Syntonic Research release the environments app
Latest Posts
Irv Teibel (1938-2010) was an audio polymath, ambient and new age music pioneer and the founder of Syntonic Research, Inc., the record label responsible for the influential environments series (1969-1979). These records were the first publicly available psychoacoustic recordings and helped ignite a flurry of interest in environmental sound. This website provides a curated collection of Teibel’s released and unreleased sound, photographic, and design output—for the first time, in one location—along with details of upcoming projects related to his work and life.