Question about how analog audio recording works


Hello!

My wife and I are high and having a discussion about how sound is recorded on records. I have an, I think, more than average understand of how sound and recording/playback works so I was trying to explain how grooves on the record represent sound waves.

What we don't understand is how polyphony is physically represented. So I can see how a single sine can easily be represented on a record. But when you're talking several sounds at once, some on the same pitch some now, dozens of timbres happening all at once, how do we differentiate those sounds on a physical medium like vinyl, or how do we represent it digitally? Is it literally nothing more than 1s and 0s? That'd be sick

Anyway, I hope this makes sense. Thanks!

maynovent

Showing 1 response by scott22

Science rules !! Just conceptualize the various process involved   from  capturing the music to making the disc (cd and vinyl) to playback thru a system. Here is the very first recording ever made from France"Au clair de la lune" 1861.www.firstsounds.org/sounds/Scott-Feaster-No-36.mp3 

The march of science.