As long as there have been humans, there has been music. But until the late 1800s, the only way to experience music was to hear it live, performed within earshot. All that began to change when Parisian Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville captured a snippet of the French folk song “Au Clair de la Lune” on an invention he dubbed the “phonautograph,” which scratched representations of sound waves onto paper covered in soot produced by an oil-burning lamp, in 1860. Scott never intended the recordings to be played back — he envisioned his recordings as visual tracings, not something to be listened to. So the first music captured wasn’t the first sound ever played back, an 1877 achievement credited to Thomas Edison on a device he called the “phonograph.”

How times have changed. Phonographs were followed by gramophones, and recorded albums (which were made of glass) became all the rage among those who could afford them. Radio followed, and American Lee de Forest made history in 1907 by transmitting music — Eugenia Farrar’s “I Love You Truly” — from his lab, marking the first instance of music sent over the airwaves.

The 1950s were the golden age of both radio and recording, with big studios and mom-and-pop shops getting in on the craze. Colorado was no exception, and enthusiast Craig Swank has a great collection of ads from early studios here. Up near Nederland, the soundtrack of the 70s was virtually defined by the legendary recording studio Caribou Ranch, which captured performances by the Beach Boys, Elton John, Billy Joel, and more.

Caribou Ranch

And while Denver isn’t Memphis or Motown, it still boasts a lively collection of recording studios which provide services to both local and national artists. Here are just a few:

Grammy-nominated Side 3 Studios has recorded and produced hundreds of artists, including Faith Hill, Enrique Iglesias, Justin Bieber, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Ed Sheeran, Travis Barker, and Post Malone.

Side 3 Studios

On East Colfax, CCM Recording Studios has been helping artists make music for more than 25 years. South Cherokee is home to The Lab, where eight engineers assist musicians from around the country.

Acoustically almost-perfect Red Rocks has hosted bands whose live recordings from the iconic amphitheatre have become legendary, including albums from U2’s “Under a Blood Red Sky,” the Grateful Dead’s “Red Rocks 7.8.78” and hometown heroes Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats’ “Live at Red Rocks.”

The Lumineers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, James Taylor and Lyle Lovitt have produced, written and recorded at Westminster’s Colorado Sound, which has been in business since 1977 and also operates a mobile studio.

Local nonprofit Youth on Record’s Open Lab offers free access to recording sessions, music production, and musical instrument lessons for individuals aged 14 to 18.

And for non-teens who still dream of going platinum, our own Denver Public Library has recording studios in numerous branches where musicians can try their hands (and voices) at becoming the next big thing.