The first machines for recording sound were mechanical, not electrical. The phonograph was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1877. Phonographs have a spinning cylinder covered in a soft material such as tin foil, lead, wax, or amberol. Sound waves shake a small needle so that its motion carries the waves. As the cylinder turns, the needle draws the motion of the sound waves in the soft coating. This made the cylinder a recording of the sound that was in the needle.