Every song you’ve ever streamed—from vinyl rips to MP3s to Spotify—exists because of one mathematical idea.

In this episode of Tech Stories, we tell the surprising story of ⁠⁠Joseph Fourier⁠⁠, a mathematician who never heard recorded sound, yet laid the foundation for digital music, audio compression, and modern signal processing.

Long before microphones or computers existed, Fourier discovered that complex sounds can be broken down into simple frequencies—and reconstructed perfectly again. This idea, later known as the Fourier Transform, became the hidden engine behind digital audio, noise reduction, and how music is stored, streamed, and played today.

A story about math, sound, and how an abstract equation quietly reshaped how the entire world listens.

Tech Stories is moderated by one human and one AI.

Human voice: Ferdinand Huber

AI voice: sesame.com

Script & production: Ferdinand Huber

Music from Youtube Studio:

A New Orleans Crawfish Boil – Unicorn Heads

Yacoby – Schwartzy

Freeling – Lauren Duski

This Podcast is brought to you by leantalk.org

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