You are here

World’s Earliest Known Audio Recording

Researchers have found what very well could be the first known audio recording, a 10 clip of “Au clair de la lune” made on April 9th, 1860 by French inventor douard-Leon Scott de Martinville on a device called the phonautograph. The phonautograph records sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by soot from an oil lamp. This recording precedes Thomas Edison’s first known recording by 17 years. Firstsounds.com has links to the recording in mp3 format, plus other phonautograph recordings.

Read More