Big Ben 1890 (London)

[mrbrandon71]

Doesn't sound bad at all...and considering the age and limited technology availalbe at the time of this recording it is phenomenal quality! The critics on here are short sighted and dim at best :-) THANK YOU for uploading this :-)

[Caballum]

@MsKOHIBARIL 涼しい！それはこの恐ろしい甲高いノイズを持っているとして私の­学校の鐘は、少しゴミです！(Cool! My school bell is a bit rubbish, as it has this horrible screeching noise!)

[Leadfang]

Your a lucky fellow indeed to have such a fine cylinder, for the sake of quality, as you probably well know, try to refrain from playing it to often.

[alanpassos22]

maximo ja ai estive,foi o melhor lugar que ja conheçi na minha vida,Londres te amo !

VERY GOOD

[pennyf9]

wow! Thats cool! almost 120 years old and still sounds perfect..... well, a little messed up, but still sounding great!

[yoskehaz]

woowww its actually wonderfull

[engelbertschoormans]

This was 3 years for the making of the big bell!

[victorbrunswick]

@engelbertschoormans Big Ben was made by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry who also made the Liberty Bell.

[cyclepod1]

Isn[t it a bit out of tune?

[northforge]

@cyclepod1

So could you tell me how one tunes wax?

[hartnell114]

@northforge because of the medium (/material) it was recorded onto, much as a record is plastic, it was a type of wax now more often used in sweets such as smarties to give them their shiney quality, carnubera wax

[hartnell114]

@cyclepod1 it was recorded 120 years ago on a boat on the thames, to be honest the sound of big ben is out of tune, so just how much worse it can get i dont know...

[aspergershawn]

beautiful - thanks so much

[uslines]

Fascinating! As a Sherlock Holmes devotee, I could just imagine Dr. Watson and he on their way to the scene of a murder most foul.

Thanks for posting.

[shaun3701]

this was just 2 years after the Ripper murders in London... so strange to hear a recording from that time.

[Georgiahulse]

That was so weird to hear - especially when he said "July the 16th, Eighteen-Hundred and Ninety."

To think how many years ago that was, and what was going on in the world.

[hartnell114]

it does sound pretty strange!

it sounds just the same today haha, have you ever been?

[Georgiahulse]

I'm sure it does! I've only ever been to London a couple of times, and every time I've passed the clock tower, it's always been at a time like 2 minutes past the our meaning I'd have to wait ages to hear it :( lol

[hartnell114]

haha,it goes off every 15 minutes! i forgot about that the other day,scared the poop outa me haha,i did get it on camera but the computer wont let me upload it =/

[TPIR2008]

It creeps me out

[classicDomeyre79]

Na I am sure its a digital clock radio up then now with a old sony dictafone on loop with a megafone and the queen has a remote for it to change the times when we go between bst and gmt

[hartnell114]

maybe on futurama or doctor who lo,but last time i checked,it was the same! :d

[classicDomeyre79]

thats a wonky bell they need to get that looked at /joke

[hartnell114]

recording speeds back then were a slight variable,plus,imagine what mould can so to a scratch in the same crap on the outside of a smartie!

[classicDomeyre79]

bust be big bens batteries running low then!

[hartnell114]

lol,its not digital ;)

[classicDomeyre79]

I thought they had to replace the bell systems in 1999 with circuit boards and a recording with a megafone to make big ben the bell not the tower yk2 compliant

[hartnell114]

lmao noooooooo :D its all clockwork! itd have to be one hell of a hotor to get that hammer up to strike the main bell let alone the others!

[Eglytia17]

nesvaik :D

[hartnell114]

thousands of videos on youtube, billions of photographs being taken every year, hundereds of thousands of different music files, im trying to wonder where it can really go from here on!

[MVillani1985]

I've heard this before, but not sure where. Pretty good sound quality for the "expirimental era" of the 1880s where yellow parrafine was still used. I know it's from 1890, but I consider 1890 part of the 1880s.

[hartnell114]

yeah theres always a run-in period!

i sometimes wonder how those foil recordings would have sounded today had they survived, im betting terrible though lol, interestingly enough, try to get a recording of this today with less noise!!

[MVillani1985]

The only way they would have survived is if they were only played a few times. The average lifespan of a tinfoil cylinder was 16 plays, either the impressions wore down or the tinfoil ripped. If they do find any, they should make one copy recording onto something else so that everyone can hear the sound, and one only, and then put the tinfoil cylinder on display. The only recording from that era to survive was a lead cylinder from 1878 of an expirimental talking clock.

[hartnell114]

oh i heard that, virtually inaudiable!

[MVillani1985]

Mostly, but from 0:22 to 0:33 of that record, you can clearly hear Lambert calling out hours.

[hartnell114]

certainly! have you heard the recording of supposedly oscar wilde? there is some controvasy but i myself cannot decide weather or not it is him!

[MVillani1985]

I may or may not have heard it, but it would definately be interesting to listen to. Does the voice in the recording match descriptions of his voice?

[hartnell114]

aparently it is extremely similar, its said his son upon first hearing it said it was him, but when he heard it a second time he said he is unsure, is on youtube as oscar wilde reads from goaul or something similar,it it were it would be the only recording of his voice! supprisingly there isnt any film as far as i know of either!

[RogCBrand]

That is so neat! To think we're hearing something from the 1800s! I've always thought what a shame it is that we can't hear the voices of people like George Washington, Napoleon, Horatio Nelson or back even further to someone like Leonardo DaVinci!

[hartnell114]

ah theyd all be inaudiable anyway! itd all be too slurry,they were either high or drunk, i think davinci would want to record it backwards!

[RogCBrand]

LOL!!!

[hartnell114]

it isnt as tall as youd think :(

[MVillani1985]

Looks like it's at least as tall as a five story building.

[hartnell114]

yeah it is about that! but in photos it always looks much bigger!

[MVillani1985]

That's still pretty tall for a clock, though. I had it pictured about the same height as a downtown Woolworth's.

[moomay11649]

Wow ~ Big Ben is so cool. I'd like to see it in person some day.

Moomay