Kay Sona-Graph (1)

Date of production: probably 1960s

This photograph shows the sound spectrograph produced by the Kay Electric Company. The acoustics department of the Technische Universität Berlin acquired a Kay Sona-Graph, possibly the one seen in the picture or a comparable model, in 1963 as part of Prof. Fritz Winckel’s project “Structural Connections between Speech and Music” (“Strukturzusammenhänge von Sprache und Musik”).

This photograph was taken by Nikita Braguinski at the Audio Communication Group, Technische Universität Berlin, in May 2018. The case of the device is shown in the accompanying video.

Frank Gertich, Julia Gerlach, Golo Föllmer (eds.): Musik..., verwandelt. Das Elektronische Studio der TU Berlin 1953–1995. Hofheim am Taunus: Wolke, 1996: 96–98.

Joeri Bruyninckx: Listening in the Field. Recording and the Science of Birdsong. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2018: 125 ff.

Mara Mills: “Deaf Jam. From Inscription to Reproduction to Information.” Social Text 28/1 (102), Spring 2010.