anthropologists, folkloristsandethnomusicologists
to lugcumbersomerecordingdevicesaround the
country tochronicleAmerica’svanishingculture.
Thegoodnews:Theysucceeded, capturing
forposterityeverything fromNewEnglandoral
historiesandsingingTexascowboys tospeechesby
political luminariesandsongsandstoriesuttered in
now-vanishedNativeAmerican languages.
Thebadnews:Therecordingmediumshaven’t
agedwell.Assuch, fatehaseffectivelygaggedmil-
lionsofone-of-a-kindrecordings thatare too fragile
toplay, saysBillVeillette, executivedirectorof the
NortheastDocumentConservationCenter,which
helpsmuseumsand librariespreserverare items.
EnterHaber, courtesyofarealharmonic-
convergencemoment in2000.Whilestuck in
traffic,Haberhappened tohearaNationalPublic
Radio interviewwithMickeyHart, inwhich the
formerGratefulDeaddrummerandardentethno-
musicologistwas talkingabout theneed topreserve
old, fragilerecordings. “Iwassuddenlystruckbyan
idea:What ifwecouldproduceaverydetailedmap
of thesurface,using thesameoptical technologywe
use tophotographatomicparticles?”Haberrecalls.
“Maybe there’dbeenough information toplay it
backwithout touching it.”
After tinkering forseveralyears,Haberand
colleagueDr.EarlCornelldevelopedIRENE, an
acronym forImage,Reconstruct,Erase,Noise,Etc.
(It’salsoanod to thefirst full songIRENEdigitized
fromashellacdisc, “Goodnight, Irene,”recorded in
1950byTheWeavers.)
Today,fiveIRENEunitsarepainstakinglydigi-
tizingarichspectrumofAmericanhistory. “Until
IRENE,our incrediblyrarecollectionofexperimen-
tal recordingswasmute,”saysCarleneStephens,
acuratorat theNationalMuseumofAmerican
History inWashington,D.C. “Wedon’tevenknow
what’sonmanyof them. IRENE isshedding lighton
theverybeginningofan important technology; that
wonderfulmomentwhen they [recordingpioneers]
looked intoadarkholeandsomethingemerged into
the light.”
“Itgivesusaunique lens throughwhich toview
history,”addsPeterAlyea, adigital-conversionspe-
cialistat theLibraryofCongress. “Audioprovidesa
particular insight thatothermethodsofdocumenta-
tion justcan’tcapture.”
It’seasy to imagine thatonlyacademiceggheads
wouldcareabout these long-lostrecordings.Guess
again:When theNationalMuseummadepublic the
onlyknownrecordingofBell’svoice, captured inhis
renownedVoltaLaboratory in1885, “itwentwild
on theInternet,”Stephenssays. “We’vecreatedan
appetite thatwecouldn’thavepredicted.”
During thoserecordings,Bell intones, “Hearmy
voice,”unaware thatnoonewould formore thana
century.Now, thanks toHaber,wecan.
TECH
Togive a voice to
century-old recordings
that are too fragile
toplay,CarlHaber
repurposedoptical
technologyoriginally
used toobserve colliding
subatomicparticles.
Inessence, IRENE
takes incrediblydetailed
digital images that
cap-
ture theexactposition
ofgrooves
, inscribed in
discs and cylinders, at
everypoint along their
path. “If you looked at
them, you’d seehighly
magnifiedgrooves that
undulate like a river,
and thoseundulations
represent the sound,”
Haber explains. Special
software then
converts
thephotos intomath-
ematical sequences
that canbe “played” as
digital audio
.
“The first soundwe
heardwas one second
of aLesPaul guitar riff,”
saysHaber. “It was one
of thosemomentswhen
your heart sort of jumps
aheadof your brain. It
was euphoric.”
IRENE caneven
digitizebusted cylinders.
Remarkably enough,
curators and archivists
often savedbroken
pieces, perhaps figuring
a technological savior
wouldeventually come
along. “Andnowwe
have the technology to
putHumptyDumpty
back together again—
essentially stitch [him]
together with IRENE
software,” saysBill
Veillette.
For his part,Haber
remainsmodest about
his contribution. “To
theextent that we can
help the communityof
archivists and curators
digitallypreserve these
collections
andmake
themmore accessible,”
he says, “that’swhat gets
meexcited.”
IRENE
ENDSA
CENTURYOF
SILENCE
82
APRIL2016
AMERICANWAY
“AUDIOPROVIDESAPARTICULAR
INSIGHTTHATOTHER
METHODSOFDOCUMENTATION
JUSTCAN’TCAPTURE.”
