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André Marie Bernard Charlin (20 March 1903 – 28 November 1983) was a French audio engineer and entrepreneur. He was a prolific inventor and filed many patents for radio amplifiers, movie sound recording equipment, and music recording. He founded and operated companies to make his equipment and to make the recordings.


Early years (1903–30)

Charlin was born on 20 March 1903, in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. He was the second of four children of Georges Charlin (1869–1915) and Louise Rogonot (1879–1930). At age 13, he was a talented flutist. His father died that year and his uncle Edmond Ragonot, an electrical engineer, took an interest in the boy and helped him build his first radio receiver. Towards the end of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
(1914–18) he built an amplifier, and in 1922 he filed his first patent for an electro-dynamic speaker diaphragm embedded in a screen. He sold the rights to this invention to the Compagnie Francaise Thomson-Houston in 1927. He completed his military service in 1926. That year he was granted patents for a push-pull electrostatic loudspeaker and for a variable reluctance pick-up system. He started a small business making radios and loudspeakers. Charlin married Madeleine Blanchard (1907–2006) on 7 October 1926. In the years that followed, Charlin was granted many patents for improvements to amplifiers.


Movie equipment (1930–49)

Charlin became involved in cinematography at a time when sound was starting to be added to motion pictures, and began to build equipment for synchronous sound playback. At first this used 33 rpm records. The first "talkies" appeared in 1931, and Charlin began working on ways to improve sound quality through better recording technology. He founded a recording studio in 1933 that produced the sound tracks for many prewar movies, including in 1934 a stereo sound track for
Abel Gance Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J'ac ...
's 1927 silent movie ''
Napoléon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of mi ...
''. He moved into techniques for film projection with a 1935 patent for "Cyclope" focussing and a 1938 patent for "Actua Colour" to project colour films which was used in over 1,000 movie theatres by 1948. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he turned to making dynamos to power the lamps of bicycles. In 1949, Charlin stopped producing cinema equipment and sold all his related patents to
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
of the Netherlands. In the early 1950s, Radio-Cinema, a subsidiary of the
Compagnie générale de la télégraphie sans fil The Compagnie générale de la télégraphie sans fil (CSF: General Wireless Telegraphy Company) was a French company founded in 1918 during a reorganization and expansion of the Société française radio-électrique (SFR), which became a subsidi ...
, acquired Charlin' company.


Records (1949–83)

Charlin returned to recording music. In 1949, Charlin produced the first European microgroove vinyl record, '' L'Apothéose de Lully'' by
François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque music, Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musi ...
, conducted by
Roger Désormière Roger Désormière () (13 September 1898 – 25 October 1963) was a French conducting, conductor. He was an enthusiastic champion of contemporary composers, but also conducted performances of early eighteenth century French music. Life and career ...
. Charlin developed a recording head in 1954 and a technique for stereo recording in 1958. He recorded many world famous artists, including twelve microgroove recordings of the famous Portuguese conductor Pedro de Freitas Branco. Most of the recordings were made at the
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...
in Paris with an orchestra assembled for the purpose. Two of them received the
Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), ...
. In 1955, he recorded Pierre Cochereau playing Bach fugues on the organ of
Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...
. Charlin mistook Cochereau's
mordent In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played with ''a single'' rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trills, they can be chromatically modified by a small flat, sharp or natural accidental. The ...
s as wrong notes, and repeatedly stopped him. Perhaps as a result Cochereau played much more slowly than normal, and the recording was savagely attacked by the critics. Charlin briefly collaborated with Michel Garcin in developing
Erato Records Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Erato Disques S.A. by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Bo ...
, then after breaking with his partner in 1962 created his Centre d'Enregistrement des Champs Elysees (CECE) label with Carl de Nys. In 1963 and 1964, Charlin patented the ''Tete Charlin'', a dummy head for commercial stereophonic records with two high-quality microphones from the Schoeps company. The term "dummy head" refers to the device's vague resemblance to a human head. During his career, Charlin filed at least 80 patents and received 118 Grand Prix du Disque. Charlin died in Paris on 28 November 1983.


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* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlin, André Marie Bernard 1903 births 1983 deaths Scientists from Paris French audio engineers