Edison Wax Cylinder

240 views · Published 14 September 2012 · 1:30 · Indexed 22 September 2026

Channel: Queensland Museum · 2012 · Science & Technology

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Discovery Centre
Queensland Museum
http://www,qm.qld.gov.au

The song you are now listening to was recorded onto wax cylinder.

It was sung by Frank Croxton, a bass-baritone vocalist who recorded music in the early 20th century.

Much  of the early 20th century is known as the acoustic recording era.

Early acoustic recordings were poor in quality as they were made entirely from sound being collected by a horn.

Although their quality was poor, it was their irregular infrequent tonal feature that made acoustic recordings instantly recognizable.

It is this unique tonal quality that people admire when they play old records.

Today, advanced technology, in particular the microphone, allows for the best quality sound to be recorded.

This type of recording is known as electrical recording and is what music artists use today to record songs.

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