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A duck, a rooster and a mutton are the passengers of the first hot-air balloon ride in history. Three animals traveling for 12 minutes through the open air was proof that air traveling was possible for humans, too. This moment was the beginning of the big chapter of human aeronautics.
Jesus of Nazareth was born between 4 and 7 before Christ. He was born in a simple family and became one of the most famous saints in history. His halo had a very unique sound, only known to very few people in history.
This is how it all began. Humanity's first fire. This is an acoustic reconstruction that can be roughly traced back to the year 600.000 before christ in South Africa.
Hideoyoshi Takamura (1934 - 2020) was a Japanese sound engineer who developed microphones that looked exactly like flowers and were able to transform acoustic signals into mineral compositions that would sediment in the soil underneath. Over the course of many years the recorded sounds would be played back through flowers growing on the same soil by minerals being transported into their leaves where they would evaporate in the form of hydrogen molecules.
Cleopatra and Antonius had a throbbing romance. Neither of them became very old. Life back then was intense. Today we can get an idea of how they might have made their while worth 30 years before Christ.
White noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density.
Such a signal is relatively easy to produce digitally, but analog it meant a great challenge. Today, white noise generators help us to fall asleep, to calm us down and overcome our fears. Today we want to thank the unknown inventor of this machine.
Johannes Kepler was born 400 years before the first crewed space flight. For his observations he had to stay on earth. What he couldn't see with his eyes, he had to simulate. In a small hut in Austria, he carved planet models from wood. To understand the laws of gravity and attraction he must have rolled his balls quite a lot of times. This audio document seems to have captured a particularly inspiring moment in his research.
Laika was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth. The newest reconstruction of sound artifacts found in the orbit proves that "Laika", which is Russian for "Barker", was actually a very quiet dog. The stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space on 3 November 1957. She never came back. What really happened to her can only be interpreted from what we hear in this document of earliest space exploration.
Abraham Lincoln went to Dayton, Ohio (USA) to give a historical speech. We know what he said, but we don't know (yet) how he sounded. But what we know, very precisely, is what it sounded when he put down his teacup.
Leonardo da Vinci envisioned a machine that could lift off the ground by means of a helical rotor. The rapid spinning of the wooden rotor, combined with the creaking and whirring of its components under stress, might have produced a continuous, oscillating hum. This hum indeed seems out of place in the 15th century, evoking an almost otherworldly, electronic quality that would have been difficult to explain at the time.
Nicola Tesla's induction motor produced a sound that was surprisingly soothing. Despite being a powerful machine, the motor emitted a consistent, low-frequency hum that many found unexpectedly calming. This sound arose from the smooth, continuous rotation of the rotor within the magnetic field, creating a steady, rhythmic oscillation.
After the failed siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Empire, Viennese bakers celebrated by creating a pastry in the shape of a crescent moon, the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. This pastry became especially popular among French partisans and later became known as the croissant. Nowadays, it is little known that the croissant once symbolized the victory over the Ottomans.
As Julius Caesar stood in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the coastal breeze carrying the scent of the sea, the evening bells began to toll. The ancient town, bathed in the golden hues of the setting sun, resonated with the deep, melodious chimes. For a moment, the great Roman general was transported beyond the cares of empire and conquest, captivated by the simple, timeless beauty of the bells' song. This serene soundscape left an indelible mark on his soul.
As the majestic vessel glided through the air, its massive diesel engines produced a low, throbbing sound that's reminiscent of the robust growl of a V8 engine. To those on the ground, the approaching Hindenburg announced itself with this unmistakable sound, a blend of power and elegance that underscored the awe-inspiring sight of the world's largest aircraft moving serenely across the sky.
Although slightly distorted by time, we can hear the foundation of all today’s languages. The vowels are presented in a up and downwards gliding aria, intersected by consonant like guttural sounds. The similarity to bird chants made us wonder if the human species hasn’t picked up language from the birds, trying to imitate or mock them. This also brings us to a theory that speaking birds like parrots had already been speaking what we call now human language. If this was true, technically our language would have to be called: parrotish.
At the funeral of the Egyptian Empress Cleopatra, a strange and otherworldly song filled the air. This eerie composition, said to have been inspired by whispers from the gods themselves, was played on instruments crafted from rare and ancient materials. Occasionally, a chorus of voices, high and wailing, would rise and fall, chanting in a forgotten tongue that seemed to pierce the veil between the living and the dead.
The ineligible sound recording of a Soviet captain during the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis captures a moment fraught with tension and urgency. Despite the poor quality, the essence of the message is clear: a critical decision is being made, one that could alter the course of history. The captain's acknowledgment of the order is firm yet somber, a reluctant pivot away from confrontation as the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war.
Pterodactylus was a giant flying dinosaur. It had wings formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibres and externally by keratinous ridges. Pterodactylus was a generalist carnivore that probably fed on a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates. We are not sure whether the low precision of this document is due to the long time span of the event or because of the Pterodactylus choking on an invertebrate.
A flute made of the bones of a griffon vulture was one of the first instruments of the homo sapiens. There could have been drums yet and maybe already a music culture.
RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner operated by the White Star Line that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making the sinking at the time one of the deadliest of a single ship and the deadliest peacetime sinking of a superliner or cruise ship to date. With much public attention in the aftermath the disaster has since been the material of many artistic works and a founding material of the disaster film genre.