Projection engineering (Sept 1929-Nov 1930)

Projection Engineering, May, 1930 Page 13 course involved considerable delay in getting the department under way, but believes there will be compensations later. Since both of these companies are successfully producing sound pictures, the conclusion apparently is that a sound department, like most other enterprises, may be run on different theories, as long as there is some internal consistency in the carrying out of whatever scheme is selected, and certain general prerequisites of organization are not neglected. We may now consider in some detail the organization of a sound department and the functions of the various employees, shown in the more or less typical schematic arrangement of Fig. 1. This is intended to apply to a lot which confines itself to recording on film, using mobile equipment which may be moved physically from one stage to another, so that all the apparatus is on or near the stage or location. This is in contradistinction to the system whereby the main amplifiers and the recording machines are centrally located and connected electrically to various pickup points, movement from stage to stage, where required, being accomplished electrically. (See Fig. 2). Both systems are in extensive use and each presents certain advantages, but the organization of the sound department is somewhat affected by the choice of one or the other method. Personality Counts Another reservation with regard to the organization charts to be discussed is that any such scheme is a product of development, personalities, economic factors, and company policy, as much as a logical arrangement of men and functions. The greatest enemy of healthy business organization is the man who makes a fetish out of an organization diagram. Those who have learned this by experience will readily understand that any such scheme is subject to numerous modifications in practice. Starting at the apex of Fig. 1, we have a Director of Sound, who may also be known by some such title as Chief Recording Engineer. He is essentially a department executive, in a position as much administrative as technical. His responsibilities cover such functions as recording ; installation, test, and maintenance of equipment ; laboratory control in so far as sound track is involved ; a certain amount of apparatus development work, the extent varying with different studios ; and frequently projection. In one company the same technical executive directs both the camera and sound departments. The advantages of such a unification may bring about its wider application, unless it should prove too difficult to find men willing and able to tackle the problems of both picture and sound recording. Must Merit Confidence Generally the sound director is an engineer by origin, but the successful handling of his job calls for many qualities not always acquired in the course of an engineering career. He cannot judge the ultimate value of his product unless he has a critical appreciation of quality in speech and music. He must be able to translate technical verbiage into concise English, since most of his contacts are with other technical branches or with non-technical executives. At the same time he should be familiar with the nomenclature and at least the fundamentals of technique in the branches of the business allied with his : photography, cutting, etc. He should have a wide acquaintance among the technical men in his field, so that he will be in a position to add to his staff the best men the market affords at the price he can pay. He must meet the indispensable administrative requirement of being a good judge of human nature and meriting the confidence of his men. There is only one way to acquire and retain that confidence, which is the foundation of organization morale : Layout of Recording Booth or Truck consists of a First Recordist' and two Assistant Recordists, one of whom is on the stage while the other operates the recording machine proper. Fig. 3 shows the usual layout of the equipment and the positions of the personnel. The microphones are shown on the stage, whence the voice currents travel to the amplifier in a booth or sound truck, then to the recording machine immediately adjacent. If the machine is objectionably noisy, the booth may contain a partition separating the recorder proper from the amplifier and its associated monitoring speaker. The first recordist, who is in charge of the unit, is stationed in the room with the amplifier, the gain of which he adjusts himself. He also mixes the output of the microphones when several are used, and he has final responsibility for the placing of the transmitters. The two assistants are in continuous communication by telephone, with the first recordist on the line intermittently, or he may prefer to give his directions to the assistant directly, the latter then passing them on to the stage man. Where communication through intermediaries Microphones Film Recorder ®"»: < mplifiei Assistant Recordist elephone "^First d Recordist Monitoring Speaker Assistant Recordist (Stage) f Partition Booth Figure 3. subordinates must feel that, while the head of the department will exact work and progress on the part of the staff commensurate with the constantly rising standards of the art, he will also see to it that they get their share of the rewards of such progress, and that he will defend them resolutely against unjust attacks, to which a technician in a rapidly developing art is peculiarly exposed. Recording is under the superintendence of a Recording Supervisor, whose subordinates carry on the actual work of transferring sound from air to film. The recording supervisor requires essentially the same qualifications as the director of recording, within the scope, at least, of operational problems. He must exercise careful judgment in assigning personnel to the particular associate producers, directors, and leading players with whom they will be able to get along best. The crew assigned to a given company usually is unsatisfactory, the first recordist goes on the stage and contacts directly with the director or his assistants. Sound and Story Another question on which opinions vary is the desirability of the sound man understanding something of story values, the technique of acting, and other elements of production somewhat remote from the transmission units and dynes per square centimeter which are naturally his first concern. One count in the blanket indictment brought against sound engineers by many picture people in the early struggles of adjustment, set forth that the sound technician was willing to sacrifice brilliant photography, vigorous action, and every other constituent of a good motion picture to get what he conceived to be good sound. Often enough the complaint 1 The term First Recordist is intended to correspond to First C inematoprapher. Recordist, while open to some objections, is used to differentiate the man from the machine, which is called a recorder.