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Timeline

A Brief History of Field and Environmental Sound Recording

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1881

Clément Ader Demonstrates Binaural Sound
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1887

Edison Creates New Phonograph Which Uses Wax-Based Cylinders
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1887

Emile Berliner Patents Gramophone
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1889

Ludwig Koch Makes First Bird Song Recording
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1890

Compagnie du Théâtrophonelater Commercializes Binaural Sound
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1890

Jesse Fewkes Makes First Anthropological Field Recordings
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1890

Alice Cunningham Fletcher Records Omaha Indian Music
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1894-95

Edison & W.K.L. Wickson Make First Talking Movie Using Kinetophone
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1900

Carl Stumpf Initiates the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv
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1907

John Lomax Begins Collecting and Recording Cowboy Songs
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1907

Frances Densmore Begins Recording American Indian Music for the Smithsonian
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1922

Major General George Owen Squier Founds Wired Radio Inc.
Cellist Beatrice Harrison at her home in Oxted, Surrey, in June 1929
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1924

Cellist Beatrice Harrison performs BBC on-air duet with a nightingale
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1928

Arthur Allen & Peter Paul Kellogg Record Bird Sounds Using the Movietone
walter-ruttmann-wochenende-1930
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1930

German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann premieres “Wochenende”
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1932

W. Bartlett Jones Secures Patent For Stereophonic Recording
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1934

BBC Radio Program Lawrence Gilliam’s ‘Opping ‘Oliday Uses Field (Non-Studio) Recording
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1940

Albert Brand releases American Bird Songs LP
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1942

AEG Magnetophon Patents Stereo Recorder in Germany
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1942

Helmut Kruger Makes First Stereo Tape Recordings
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1944

BBC Begins Using EMI “Midget” Portable Tape Recorder
halim-el-dabh-1944-wire-recorder
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1944

Halim El-Dabh premieres early work of musique concrète
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1945

Tony Schwartz Buys His First Recorder, Runs on Battery Power
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1948

Ampex Corporation Introduces Tape Recorders
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1948

Columbia Introduces the “Long Playing” (LP) Record
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1948

Moses Asch Founds Folkways Records, NYC
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1949

RCA Victor Introduces the 45 RPM Disc & Record Changer
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1951

Peter Paul Kellogg Develops First Portable Recorder in the U.S.
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1951

Stefan Kudelski Develops the Portable Nagra I Recorder in Switzerland
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1952

Emory Cook Makes First Commercial Stereo Records
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1952

Uher Electronics Company Founded in Germany
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1952

Folkways Releases Releases Early Hydrophone Recordings
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1954

Cook Records Releases Voice of the Sea
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1954

Folkways releases Tony Schwartz’ New York 19
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1955

Ampex Develops First Multitrack Recording Facility
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1955

William W. H. Gunn Releases A Day in Algonquin Park
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1957

Westrex Develops Phonograph Cartridges that Play Two Grooves as Separate Tracks
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1957

“Cook Labs” Releases V-Groove Stereo Recordings
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1958

Folkways Releases Sounds of North American Frogs
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1958

Stefan Kudelski Introduces Nagra III Battery-Operated Recorder
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1958

Jean-Claude Roché Releases Oiseaux-En-Camargue 10”
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1958

Else Marie Pade composes Symphonie Magnetophonique
bbc-radiophonic-workshop-1958
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1958

Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram found the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
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1959

S. Wahlström Makes Earliest Stereo Recordings of Birds
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1960

Jim Fassett Creates Symphony of the Birds
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1960-62

B. N. Veprintsev Begins Releasing Voices of Birds in Nature Series
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1961

Uher Releases Portable Report 4000
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1963

Walter De Maria Releases Cricket Music
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1963

Philips Introduces Compact Cassette Tape Format
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1965

Multitrack Location Recording Debut, The Rolling Stones’ Got LIVE If You Want It!
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1967

Glenn Gould Releases The Idea of North
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1968

Walter de Maria Releases Ocean Music
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1969

Irv Teibel Releases environments 1
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1969

R. Murray Schafer Establishes the World Soundscape Project
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1969

The British Library Establishes Wildlife Sounds Collection
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1970

Biologist Roger Payne Releases Songs of the Humpback Whale
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1970

Luc Ferrari Releases Presque rien No.1 – le lever du jour au bord de la…
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1970

Beaver & Krause release In A Wild Sanctuary
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1970

Harry Bertoia Releases First of His “Sonambient” Recordings
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1971

Stefan Kudelski Releases His First Portable Stereo Recorder
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1972

Wendy Carlos releases Sonic Seasonings
1972-knud-viktor
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1972

Knud Viktor releases Images and Ambiences
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1974

The World Soundscape Project Releases Soundscapes of Canada
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1975

German Electronics Company Neumann Patents the KU80
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1977

R. Murray Schafer Publishes The Tuning of the World
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1978

Brian Eno Releases Ambient 1: Music for Airports
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1979

First Digitally Recorded Album, Ry Cooder’s Bop till You Drop, Is Released
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1981

Dan Gibson Begins Solitudes LP Series
1985 - Tilgner_Waldkonzert
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1985

Walter Tilgner Releases Waldkonzert
1992 - Nagra D
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1992

Nagra D, a Self-Contained Battery-Operated Field Recorder, Is Introduced
birdsong-radio-uk-1992
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1992

Radio Birdsong begins broadcasting a soundscape loop
1995 - Nagra_ARES-C
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1995

Nagra Introduces First “Solid-State” Audio Recorder
1998 - Lopez_La Selva
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1998

Francisco Lopez Releases La Selva
2003 - Chris Watson_Weather Report
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2003

Chris Watson Releases Weather Report, Includes Sounds of Icelandic Ice Floe
one-pig-matthew-herbert-2011
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2011

Matthew Herbert releases One Pig, made of samples of a pig’s life “from birth to…
sounds-from-dangerous-places-peter-cusack-2012
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2012

Peter Cusack releases Sounds from Dangerous Places
new-songs-of-the-humback-whale-david-rothenberg-mike-deal
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2015

David Rothenberg and Mike Deal compile whale song best-of
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2016

The Fondation Cartier presents Bernie Krause’s The Great Animal Orchestra
jana-winderen-the-wanderer-2016
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2016

Jana Winderen releases hydrophone recordings of Zooplankton and Phytoplankton
super field RMIT
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2018

RMIT exhibits Super Field environmental sound installation
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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.

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