The garage is just a humble worker bee in most of our lives, but this storage, work, play, and sometimes living area has also been an innovation space. Whatever industry you look at, there’s likely to be some roots buried deep in someone’s garage. One of the most notable would be the music industry. 

So many musicians have started out in a garage, one of the few spaces where a young band can practice. Not only have musicians from multiple genres gotten their start in a garage, but even some of the tools made to make music better have been invented in a garage. Without garages, and garage doors that functioned properly, we might be without some of our favorite music today. If you need a garage door repair, installation, or section replacement, then contact Coast 2 Coast Garage Door from Broward to Palm Beach. 

Music History Built in a Garage

We could probably go on for days about all the bands that have come out of garages, but before the music could be created to the standards that it’s reached today, someone had to create the tools to do it. Thanks to some lovers of sound and technology, music has made great strides with doors opened by garages.

Broadcasting From His Garage

All the bands in the world that were started in a garage probably feel like they owe nothing to anybody, and that’s fair enough, but without certain garage pioneers, they wouldn’t have any way to get their music out. Without broadcasting ability, all the new sounds that have been created in garages over the years would likely have stayed there. Luckily for the garage bands of the world, someone came along before them to make sure they had a platform.

This someone was electrical engineer Frank Conrad, who built the first predecessor to our modern radio stations in 1920. A music lover himself, Conrad started familiarizing himself with radio waves and technology for the purposes of playing music over the airways for his friends. Luckily for Conrad, one of the only people broadcasting at the time, Westinghouse saw the potential value in what he was doing and took Conrad on to create the first commercial broadcasting over the radio.

While music wasn’t the radio station’s first priority — they used the 1920 election results to show broadcasting’s use-value — it quickly became one of the radio’s biggest assets. By 1927 the Federal Radio Commission, the first iteration of the Federal Communications Commission, had to be created to regulate all the music, news, and entertainment made possible by an invention that came out of a garage. Conrad may have done his own repairs, but a well-lit garage at the time required a well-functioning garage door. Without it, who knows if the great bands, stylistic changes, or other innovations in music would have ever made it to the general public.

Making Music Better

One of the next steps in making music what it is today came from a computer company in the late 1930s. That’s right, a music innovation made by a computer company, all the way back in 1938. As mentioned in a previous blog post, computer giant Hewlett-Packard got its start in a garage, but their first invention was more related to the radio technology of today than it is the computers.

In 1938, Hewlett-Packard got its first big break from another company that started in a garage. This was the year that HP sold their audio oscillator to the Walt Disney Company who used them in the production of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia.” The oscillator came with the lowest sound distortion to date and became the backbone of much of the technology used for audio distortion today. Without their well functioning garage and garage door, who knows if the new roommates would have started a company that’s impacted music and the world in such an intricate way.

Keep the Music Rolling With a Well Maintained Garage Door

If you’re passionate about playing music or being able to work in your garage, then you should ensure that you have regular maintenance and repairs as needed when it comes to your garage door, its tracks, wheels, opener, or any sections of the door. From Broward to Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, we’ve got you covered. Contact us if you need help, and come back next month for a blog on one of music’s biggest innovators.