In digital recording, an

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

video signal Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) ...

is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in

air pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The Standard atmosphere (unit), standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , whi ...

for audio, or chroma and

luminance Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls wit ...

values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage device. To play back a digital recording, the numbers are retrieved and converted back into their original analog audio or video forms so that they can be heard or seen. In a properly matched

analog-to-digital converter In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a Digital signal (signal processing), digi ...

(ADC) and

digital-to-analog converter In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC, D/A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a system that converts a digital signal into an analog signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse function. DACs are commonly used in musi ...

(DAC) pair, the analog signal is accurately reconstructed, within the constraints of the

Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem The Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem is an essential principle for digital signal processing linking the frequency range of a signal and the sample rate required to avoid a type of distortion called aliasing. The theorem states that the sample r ...

, which dictates the

sampling rate In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous-time signal to a discrete-time signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of "samples". A sample is a value of the signal at a point in time and/or s ...

and

quantization error Quantization, in mathematics and digital signal processing, is the process of mapping input values from a large set (often a continuous set) to output values in a (countable) smaller set, often with a finite number of elements. Rounding and ...

dependent on the

or video bit depth. Because the signal is stored digitally, assuming proper

error detection and correction In information theory and coding theory with applications in computer science and telecommunications, error detection and correction (EDAC) or error control are techniques that enable reliable delivery of digital data over unreliable communi ...

, the recording is not degraded by copying, storage or interference.

Timeline

*October 3, 1938: British telephone engineer Alec Harley Reeves files at the French Patent Office the first patent describing the technique known today as

pulse-code modulation Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amplitud ...

(PCM). On November 22, 1939, Reeves files also in the US. It was first proposed as a

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is ...

technology. *1943:

Bell Telephone Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

develops the first PCM-based digital scrambled speech transmission system,

SIGSALY SIGSALY (also known as the X System, Project X, Ciphony I, and the Green Hornet) was a secure voice, secure speech system used in World War II for the highest-level Allies of World War II, Allied communications. It pioneered a number of digital co ...

, in response to German interception of military telephone traffic 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 ...

. The twelve transmission points were retired after the war. *June 1950:

Differential pulse-code modulation Differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) is a signal encoder that uses the baseline of pulse-code modulation (PCM) but adds some functionalities based on the prediction of the samples of the signal. The input can be an analog signal or a Digital ...

(DPCM) developed by C. Chapin Cutler at Bell Labs. *1957: Max Mathews of Bell Labs recorded the first computer-generated music, a 17-second piece called "The Silver Scale" composed by his co-worker Newman Guttman. *1967: The first commercial PCM encoder (

monaural Monaural sound or monophonic sound (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce so ...

) was developed by

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

's research facilities in Japan. The 30 kHz 12-bit device used a

compander In telecommunications and signal processing, companding (occasionally called compansion) is a method of mitigating the detrimental effects of a channel with limited dynamic range. The name is a portmanteau of the words compressing and expandi ...

(similar to DBX Noise Reduction) to extend the dynamic range, and stored the signals on a

video tape recorder A video tape recorder (VTR) is a tape recorder designed to record and playback video and audio signal, audio material from magnetic tape. The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape. ...

. *1969: NHK expands the PCM encoder's capabilities to two-channel

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

and 32 kHz 13-bit resolution. *1969: The

charge-coupled device A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...

, the first image sensor used in digital imaging, invented by Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith at Bell Labs, based on

MOS capacitor upright=1.3, Two power MOSFETs in amperes">A in the ''on'' state, dissipating up to about 100 watt">W and controlling a load of over 2000 W. A matchstick is pictured for scale. In electronics, the metal–oxide–semiconductor field- ...

technology. *1970: James Russell patents the first digital-to-optical recording and playback system, which would later lead to the

Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

. *January 1971: Using NHK's experimental PCM recording system, Dr. Takeaki Anazawa, an engineer at

Denon is a Japanese electronics company dealing with audio equipment. The Denon brand came from a merger of Denki Onkyo (not to be confused with the other Onkyo) and others in 1939. It originally started as Nippon Chikuonki Shoukai in 1910 by Freder ...

, records the world's first commercial digital recordings, ''The World Of Stomu Yamash'ta 1 & 2'' by Stomu Yamash'ta (January 11, 1971) and ''Something'' by Steve Marcus & Jiro Inagaki (January 25, 1971). Both had to be recorded live, without edits. Marcus is released first (on LP, in February 1972), making it the first released digital recording. On January 27 Yamash'ta records ''Metempsychosis'' in the Nippon Columbia studio, Tokyo, with percussion and a brass section. *1972: Using lessons learned from the NHK encoder,

unveils a desk-sized 8-channel PCM encoder, the DN-023R, which uses 47.25 kHz 13-bit PCM resolution and 4-head open reel broadcast

. The first recording with this new system is the Smetana Quartet performing

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's ''String Quartets K.458 and K.421'', recorded in Tokyo April 24–26 and released that October. At least six other Denon-recorded digital

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

s are released in October, including jazz, classical and traditional Japanese music. *1973: Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM) developed by P. Cummiskey, Nikil Jayant and James L. Flanagan at Bell Labs. *December 2–3, 1974: The Paillard Chamber Orchestra records the first digital recording outside Japan, 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 ...

Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It ...

, using Denon's newly developed second-generation compact DN-023RA.

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

's " The Musical Offering" (BWV 1079) is released on LP May 1975. *December 12–19, 1974: Helmuth Rilling records three

organ works inside the Gedächtniskirche,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany using the DN-023RA. Between 1974 and 1977 over 250 PCM recordings are made by Denon, the majority recorded in Japan. *May 1975:

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

professor Thomas Stockham develops a PCM digital audio recorder of his own design, using computer tape drives as the storage system. He founds the company Soundstream to offer it commercially. Between 1977 and 1980 a total of eighteen 4-channel 50 kHz 16-bit units were manufactured, of which seven were sold at about US$150,000 () each. Over 200 recordings were made on his equipment, almost as many as the Denon PCM. *1976: The prototype Soundstream 37.5 kHz, 16-bit, 2-channel recorder is used to record the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

performing Virgil Thomson's opera '' The Mother of Us All'' for

New World Records New World Records is a record label that was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to celebrate America's bicentennial (1976) by producing a 100-LP anthology, with American music from many genres.multi-track recorder, and the analog recording is deemed superior and thus used for the LP release. The backup digital tape was presented at the October 1976 AES Convention in New York, but never commercially released. *January 1977: Denon develops a smaller fully-portable PCM recording system, the DN-034R. Like the DN-023R and DN-023RA it records 8 channels at 47.25 kHz on a 2-inch video tape recorder (VTR) running at 38.1 cm/s, but it uses 14-bits "with emphasis, making it equivalent to 15.5 bits," yielding 89 dB

signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to noise power, often expressed in deci ...

. It also allowed for

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio Music track, tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto o ...

for the first time with the use of a second VTR, crucial for professional recording. *September 1977: Sony introduces the PCM-1 Audio Unit ($4400 street price ) (44.056 kHz, 14-bit), the first consumer PCM encoder. It required the use of a home video tape recorder for storage. *November 4–7, 1977: 3M demonstrates a prototype 2-channel 50.4 kHz 16-bit digital recorder running on 1-inch tape at at the New York AES Convention. As no true 16-bit converters were available, it combined separate 12-bit and 8-bit converters to create 16-bit performance. *November 28, 1977: Denon brings their DN-034R to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's Sound Ideas Studios and records

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

's ''On Green Dolphin Street'', making it America's first digitally-recorded commercial album. The following two days, November 29–30, Frank Foster records '' Manhattan Fever'' which is released April 1978. Five other jazz albums are recorded with the DN-034R in New York before it returns to Japan in December. *February 1978: Soundstream's first commercial release, ''

Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll ( ; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. Carroll was the recipient of numerous nominations and awards for her stage and screen performances, incl ...

With the

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

Orchestra Under The Direction Of Mercer Ellington – A Tribute To

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

'', is recorded. *March 1978: Sony introduces the professional-grade PCM-1600 at a list price of US$40,000 () used with an external

U-matic U-matic, also known as -inch Type E Helical Scan or SMPTE E, is an analog recording videocassette format developed by Sony. First shown as a prototype in October 1969 and introduced commercially in September 1971, it was among the earliest vi ...

tape drive, making digital recording commercially available to recording studios for the first time. PCM-1610 and PCM-1630 follow. *April 4–5, 1978:

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long assoc ...

uses Soundstream's PCM system to record Frederick Fennell and his Cleveland Symphonic Winds playing

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

's ''Suites for Military Band'' and

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's ''

Music for the Royal Fireworks The ''Music for the Royal Fireworks'' ( HWV 351) is a suite in D major for wind instruments composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. The ...

.'' When released on LP this became the first US-recorded digital classical release. *June 2, 1978: Sound 80 studios in Minneapolis records the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra performing

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

's ''

Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is an American ballet created by the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Aaron Copland, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet music for Gra ...

''. This session is set up as a direct-to-disc recording, with the prototype 3M 50.4 kHz digital recorder running in the background. There is some disagreement, but it appears the resulting LP record (Sound80 Records S80-DLR-101) was taken from the digital backup tapes rather than the direct-to-disc acetate. In 1984 the session is re-released on

by ProArte. This recording was nominated for three

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s, winning " Best Chamber Music Performance" (1980), making it the first digital recording to win a Grammy. *Early June 1978: Sound 80 records '' Flim and the BB's'' debut self-titled album as another

direct to disc recording Direct-to-disc recording refers to sound recording methods that bypass the use of magnetic tape recording and record audio directly onto analog disc masters. Professional analog sound recording Most sound recordings for gramophone records, recor ...

again with the experimental 3M recorder in the background. Again the acetate is deemed not as good as the digital backup, so the digital master is used for the LP record (Sound80 Records S80-DLR-102). This makes it the first U.S. non-classical digital release. Within 6 months the hand-built ("very bulky and finicky") 3M digital recorder is disassembled, rendering the non-standard master tape unplayable. Therefore, no

release is possible. The compact disc release of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, which used the same machine, is unexplained. *March 8, 1979: The first prototype

player is demonstrated by

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 ...

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Prototype CDs played on the unit were a pressing of

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

's '' Le quattro stagioni'' played by Vittorio Negri and the Kammerorchester Berlin (Philips 9500 100, recorded analog 1976), and

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's ''String Quartet No. 31''(?). A third prototype disc, on Archiv Produktion is pictured but the details are not legible. The text indicates it might be

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

's ''

Unfinished Symphony An unfinished symphony is a fragment of a symphony that is left incomplete. The reason as of why and the state of the sketches themselves can vary considerably. The death of the composer is the most common cause for a symphony to be left unfi ...

''. Herbert von Karajan and the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

's recording of

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

's '' Eine Alpensinfonie'' is also mentioned as a contender for earliest test pressing of a CD, but it was not recorded until December 1–3, 1980. *July 11, 1979: The first U.S.-recorded digitally-recorded LP of

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

(with vocals), '' Bop Till You Drop'' by guitarist Ry Cooder, was released by Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

on a 32-track digital machine built by the 3M corporation. *August 27, 1979:

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

's '' E=MC²'' is released, the first electronic live-to-digital LP recorded on Soundstream PCM. *September 4, 1979: Scoring begins for Star Trek The Motion Picture soundtrack, recorded to multitrack analog, mastered to digital stereo tape for LP release to coincide with film debut December 6, 1979. *October 12, 1979:

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

's ''

Tusk Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine tooth, canine teeth, as with Narwhal, narwhals, chevrotains, musk deer, water deer, muntjac, pigs, ...

'' is released on LP. It, and ''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

'', December 8, 1980, were mastered on the Soundstream PCM from analog multi-tracks. *October 30, 1979:

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

releases his

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

, '' Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"'' recorded onto

video tapes using a Sony PCM-1600 digital adapter, and assembled into album form with a digital editing controller. *December 1, 1979: The Grammy Award-winning self-titled '' Christopher Cross'' album is released. Cross' album becomes the first digitally recorded album to chart (recorded on the 3M system) in the United States, eventually winning 5 Grammys. Digital recording is now mainstream. *1980: The Red Book standard (44.1 kHz, 16-bit) is established for

Compact Disc Digital Audio Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the '' Red Book'' technical specifications, which is why t ...

. *1980:

Mitsubishi Electric is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1921 as a spin-off from the electrical machinery manufacturing d ...

introduces the X-80 ProDigi open reel 1/4" tape 50.4 kHz 16-bit digital recorder ($5000 ). Only 200 are sold worldwide. *1980: Soundstream merges with Digital Recording Corporation, becoming DRC/Soundstream, to develop and market 50 kHz PCM recording to an optical card. This is subsequently eclipsed by the rise of the 44.1 kHz

and the company is out of business after 1983. *1981: Sony releases the PCM-F1 Digital Audio Processor ($1900 ) (44.056 kHz, 16-bit) and matching SL-2000

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

VCR ($700 ) as a complete affordable portable (with optional batteries) home digital recording system *1981: Technics releases the SV-P100 digital audio recorder suitable for both professional (digital mastering) and consumer (home use) recording. It used PCM 14-bit recording on a VHS format cassette tape, resulting in an up to 3 hours programme of 2-channel stereo recording. *1982: Sony releases the PCM-501ES PCM adaptor (44.1 kHz, 16-bit) ($895 list price) which is used with an external VHS or

video recorder. *August 17, 1982:

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean and American pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque music, baroque to 20th-century classical music, 20th-century composers, especially B ...

's March 1979 analog recording of Frederic Chopin waltzes (Philips 400 025) becomes the first classical Compact Disc ever commercially manufactured. It is made by the Philips plant in Langenhagen, Hanover Region

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Arrau himself was invited to press the button to start the manufacture. This CD was not actually released until 1983 so it presumably ran into manufacturing problems like the ABBA release (below). *August 17, 1982: The first popular Compact Disc ever manufactured,

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

's 1981 album '' The Visitors'' (selected because it was "mostly digitally recorded") is produced at the same plant. However, due to production problems with it the third version didn't actually hit stores until March 1983. *September 5, 1982:

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

releases his fourth studio album (titled ''Security'' in North America and ''Peter Gabriel IV'' elsewhere). When released on CD in October 1984 it becomes the first full-digital DDD release. It was recorded on

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

's Mobile One digital studio and mixed to a Sony PCM-1610. *October 1, 1982: The first

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

players are marketed by Sony (CDP-101, $900 ) and Philips (CD-100, $700 ). *October 1, 1982:

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

's analog-recorded '' 52nd Street'' becomes the first CD to hit the market in Japan, beating out ABBA's '' The Visitors'' and Claudio Arrau's Chopin Waltzes. Forty-nine other CDs are released in Japan on the same day including Toto's '' Turn Back'',

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

's '' Wish You Were Here'' and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's '' Off the Wall''. *October 1982: New England Digital offers the Sample-to-Disk

hard disk recorder A hard disk recorder (HDR) is a system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to reel-to-reel audio tape recording and video tape recorders, and provide ...

option on the

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the ea ...

, the first commercial

hard disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

recording system. *November 26–28, 1982: Flim & the BB's record their second studio album, ''Tricycle''. Released in early 1983, it becomes the first non-classical fully digital CD to be released. (Later given a SPARS code of DD). *March 2, 1983: CD players and 16 CDs from CBS Records are introduced in the United States. *September 1984:

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

's '' Born in the U.S.A.'' becomes the first US-manufactured CD to be released. *12 November 1984: American singer

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's second studio album '' Like a Virgin'' is released. It became the first digitally-recorded album that topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. *13 May 1985: English rock band

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

' fifth studio album '' Brothers in Arms'' is released. It became the best-selling digitally-recorded album of the 80s, and the first album whose CDs' sales outsold LPs'. *1987: Sony develops

Digital Audio Tape Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a Compact Cassette, using 3.81 mm / 0.15" (commonly referred to as 4 mm) magnetic t ...

. *1989: Test broadcasts for NICAM stereo digital audio for broadcast TV began in the UK. *1990:

Digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. This should not be confused with In ...

begins in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, using the

L-Band The L band is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) designation for the range of Frequency, frequencies in the radio spectrum from 1 to 2 gigahertz (GHz). This is at the top end of the ultra high frequency (UHF) band, at t ...

. *1991: Alesis Digital Audio Tape (

ADAT Alesis Digital Audio Tape, commonly referred to as ADAT, is a magnetic tape format used for the Sound recording and reproduction, recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs, and the basis of a serie ...

) is a tape format used for simultaneously recording eight tracks of

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...

at once, onto Super VHS magnetic tape – a format similar to that used by consumer VCRs. The product was announced in January 1991 at the

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

. The first ADAT recorders shipped over a year later in February or March 1992. *1993: Random Access Digital Audio Recorder (

RADAR Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

) is the first single box device used for simultaneously recording 24 tracks of

at once, onto hard disk drives. The product, manufactured by Creation Technologies was announced in October 1993 at the AES convention in New York. The first RADAR recorders shipped in August 1994. *1996:

DVD player A DVD player is a machine that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to ...

s begin selling in Japan. *1999:

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

's " Livin' la Vida Loca" becomes the first No. 1 single to be recorded, edited, and mixed fully within a

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...

. Produced by Charles Dye and Desmond Child using

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

Process

Recording # The analog signal is transmitted from the

input device In computing, an input device is a piece of equipment used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system, such as a computer or information appliance. Examples of input devices include keyboards, computer mice, scanne ...

to an

(ADC). # The ADC converts this signal by repeatedly measuring the momentary level of the analog (audio) wave and then assigning a binary number with a given quantity of bits (word length) to each measurement point. The longer the word length the more precise the representation of the original audio wave level. # The frequency at which the ADC measures the level of the analog wave is called the

sample rate In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous-time signal to a discrete-time signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of "samples". A sample is a value of the signal at a point in time and/or ...

or sampling rate. The higher the sampling rate the higher the upper audio frequency of the digitized audio signal. # The ADC outputs a sequence of digital audio samples that make up a continuous stream of 0s and 1s. # These binary numbers are stored on recording media such as

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

, a

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

optical drive In computing, an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive, disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some driv ...

or in solid state memory. Playback # The sequence of numbers is transmitted from storage into a

(DAC) # The DAC converts the numbers back to an analog signal by sticking together the level information stored in each digital sample, thus rebuilding the original analog waveform. # This signal is amplified and transmitted to the

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...

Recording of bits

Techniques to record to commercial media

For

digital cassettes Digital audio cassette formats introduced to the professional audio and consumer markets: *Digital Audio Tape (or DAT) is the most well-known, and had some success as an audio storage format among professionals and "prosumers" before the prices o ...

, the tape head moves as well as the tape, typically in a

helical scan Helical scan is a method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape, used in open-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drives. With this technique, magnetic tape he ...

configuration, in order to maintain a high enough speed to keep the bits at a manageable size. For

optical disc recording technologies Optical disc authoring requires a number of different optical disc recorder technologies working in tandem, from the optical disc media to the firmware to the control electronics of the optical disc drive. Types of recordable optical disc ...

such as

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...

, a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

is used to alter the optical properties of the dye layer of the medium. A weaker laser is used to read these patterns.

Performance parameters

Word size

The number of bits used to represent an audio signal directly affects the resulting

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

in a recording.

Sample rate

As stated by the

, to prevent

aliasing In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing is a phenomenon that a reconstructed signal from samples of the original signal contains low frequency components that are not present in the original one. This is caused when, in the ori ...

, the audio signal must be sampled at a rate at least twice that of the highest frequency component in the signal. For music-quality audio, 44.1 and 48 kHz sampling rates are the most common. Master recording may be done at a higher sampling rate (i.e. 88.2, 96, 176.4 or 192 kHz). High-resolution PCM recordings have been released on

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The ...

(also known as DVD-A), DualDisc (utilizing the DVD-Audio layer), or

High Fidelity Pure Audio High Fidelity Pure Audio, occasionally abbreviated as HFPA, is a marketing initiative, spearheaded by Sony Music and Universal Music Group, for audio-only Blu-ray optical discs. Launched in 2013 as a potential successor to the compact disc (CD) ...

on Blu-ray. In addition, it is possible to release a high-resolution recording as either an uncompressed WAV or lossless compressed

FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...

file (usually at 24 bits) without down-converting it. There remains controversy about whether higher sampling rates provide any verifiable benefit to the consumer product. When a

(the CD Red Book standard is 44.1 kHz 16 bit) is to be made from a high-res recording, the recording must be down-converted to 44.1 kHz. This is done as part of the mastering process. Beginning in the 1980s, music that was recorded, mixed or mastered digitally was often labeled using the SPARS code to describe which processes were analog and which were digital. Since digital recording has become near-ubiquitous the SPARS codes are now rarely used.

Error rectification

One of the advantages of digital recording over analog recording is its resistance to errors. Once the signal is in the digital format, it is not subject to generation loss from copying. Instead of the gradual degradation experienced with analog media, digital media is subject to a cliff effect.

Examples of digital recording devices

Camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-sw ...

Data logger A data logger (also datalogger or data recorder) is an electronic device that records data over time or about location either with a built-in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they a ...

Dictation machine A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record Speech communication, speech for playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorder. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark of the ...

Digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR), also referred to as a personal video recorder (PVR) particularly in Canadian and British English, is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SS ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digital Recording Sound Video Sound recording

Timeline

Process

Recording of bits

Techniques to record to commercial media

Performance parameters

Word size

Sample rate

Error rectification

Examples of digital recording devices

See also

Notes

References