I can sort of understand records mimicing the sound of instruments, but voices are so unique, how did we ever figure out the exact carving of a piece of vinyl that when you drag a needle across it, you’ll get the same sound as x or y person’s voice exactly?
In: Other
Just to expand a little…As stated by others, the sound makes the carving. Sound is caused by motioning waves of air. These pressure changes would (originally) move a needle in turn causing the indents into the medium, wax or vinyl.
The original recording devices were a rudimentary microphone and cylinder creator rolled into one. You sang into the end of a giant gramophone which funnelled down into a small thin out-pipe (to amplify the air pressure) next to the needle that would push the grooves into the material. Eventually the process was recreated electronically, but the principle is the same. Grooves move the needle, the needle creates the impulse, the speaker turns the impulse into an identical pattern of air waves.
Additional:
Microphones and your ears work similarly in that the air motion vibrates a piece of film/skin that gets translated into electrical impulses as opposed to punching dents into vinyl.
Playback (as described above) is the opposite.
You can actually see this when you look at the woofer (the larger circle) of your speakers when playing something bassy. Because it is creating longer waves of air, the woofer movement is more noticeable to the naked eye.
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