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Universal Recording echo chamber / artificial reverb

CTL-E-0624 · Technology · 1947–1947

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

In 1947, Bill Putnam used the Civic Opera Building bathroom as an echo chamber on the Harmonicats' 'Peg o' My Heart' — described as the first artistic use of artificial reverb on a popular record, though accounts vary. The technique's success (a No.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from MUSIC-001; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-MUSIC-001:music-001-node-079; source research type(s): technology. Description completed 2026-10-03 from the source research record (claims) during the KG completion pass.

Sources

Record CTL-E-0624 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 2 sources · CTL research: MUSIC-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

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Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Universal Recording echo chamber / artificial reverb (CTL-E-0624),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0624/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Universal Recording echo chamber / artificial reverb (CTL-E-0624).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0624/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Universal Recording echo chamber / artificial reverb (CTL-E-0624) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0624/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Universal Recording echo chamber / artificial reverb (CTL-E-0624).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0624/

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From the Archive

The archive in pictures

Black Chicago’s musical record, kept frame by frame. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Chicago Blues All-Stars performing live at Buddy Guy’s Legends, Chicago
Chicago Blues All-Stars performing live at Buddy Guy’s Legends, ChicagoPhoto: BluesAllstars, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Chuck Berry, publicity photo, 1957
Chuck Berry, publicity photo, 1957Photo: Universal Attractions (publicity photo), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In a booth at a South Side tavern, Chicago, 1941
In a booth at a South Side tavern, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

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