Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

17 PROJECTION PORTS from one room to next are nice but not necessary for good recording. Picture is cover. BETWEEN SHOWS the projection side looks like this, with small vases blocking ports. Projector, recorder rest on cabinet for a screening. MAKING THE MOST OF TAPE An English amateur outlines his system for split-second recording of sounds on tape D. M. NEALE NOW that magnetic sound on film is fairly launched, we tape enthusiasts must be on our mettle. I foresee a rivalry between stripe and tape paralleling that between 16mm. and 8. For, good though it is, I doubt that stripe will ever oust tape completely. There always will be folks who start with silent projectors. And there always will be folks with tape recorders. So there should always be folks who want to combine these two effectively. Once the synchronization problem is licked, tape offers several advantages over stripe. (Admittedly, it is more cumbersome to handle. But then, you won't be reading Movie Makers if you are not prepared to take some trouble with your films.) In recording on stripe, for example, you have to be careful about projector noise. You must speak fairly close to the microphone and keep the volume turned down. Of course, good sound projectors run fairly quietly and are provided with blimps. Nevertheless, they make more noise than almost any tape recorder because they contain reciprocating parts. On tape, you can record sound without running the projector at the same time. In fact, if your projector is an old and noisy silent machine, you will have little alternative. For few of us have facilities for projecting from one room to another. And, though I have, I find TELLTAIE ON TAPE marks the beginning and end of each recording, as pilot commentary is replaced bit by bit with planned audio. it a clumsy way of doing things during recording sessions. I added tape sound to one film in this manner, and then sat down to think out a better way. There were, it seemed to me, two major sources of time error affecting any attempt at synchrony between a projected film and its accompanying tape. First, it was probably impossible to prepare a cue sheet of film scenes and sounds — a seeming necessity, if one is to avoid projection noise during the recording — which would be accurate within less than one half a second's tolerance. Not a great error, taken singly; but a real trial as it accumulates. Second, even the most accurate cue sheet (and the resultant tape recording made from it) will be subject to mis-synchrony unless it is teamed to the projector by some system which takes care of tape stretching and slippage. The new Revere Synchro-Tape {see Improved Synchrony with Magnetic Tape, August, 1952 — Ed.) comprised such a system. But here in England (where I write you from) it still was not widely available. Thus, the essential requirements for my recording routine became the following: (1) The timing on the tape must come straight from the projected picture. Cue sheets are not accurate enough. (2) However, the sound must be recorded without the projector running, since this is the surest way of excluding projector noise. If the combination of these two requirements impresses you as antithetical, let me explain further . . . To body forth my recording system, I must first cite to you a representative, and rather demanding, sequence I recently scored. Running from scene 101 through scene 108, the sequence is a parallel-action series between a racing car and a train approaching the highway intersection. The entire assembly lasts only 14 seconds, and the eight scenes are cross-cut with increasing brevity from 3 seconds in length, through 2, 1%, 1 and ^2 seconds. An exacting job, indeed, for the tape recordist — and one in which a worded cut sheet would be almost useless. Here is how I got round the difficulties involved. First of all, I ran through the film [Continued on page 25]