American cinematographer. (1951)

MODULATION WRITER designed by Loren L. Ryder, which traces pattern of sound recording modulation on surface of magnetic film or tape as aid to editing. Tracing is made after tape is recorded. SCRIBER, working on principle of ball point pen and shown at (1 ), scribes visual sound on magnetic film in the form of a varying amplitude ink line (2) in exact sync with the original modulation. Editing Magnetic Sound New modulation writer scribes sound track pat¬ tern on magnetic film or tape, making editing as simple as with optical sound tracks. By LOREN L. RYDER, A.S.C. Director of Recording and Engineering, Paramount Studio. Visual sound on magnetic film has not only simplified editing, but it has made editing faster and less expensive. New techniques make the film imme¬ diately available, eliminate tedious mechanical procedures and improve the sound quality. The basic techniques described in this article apply to all sprocket driven mag¬ netic films — namely, 35mm, 1734mm and 1 6mm. For reasons of economy and convenience in handling, the writer recommends the use of I7^mm mag¬ netic film to accompany 35mm picture and 1 6mm magnetic film to accompany 1 6mm picture. However, many com¬ pletely satisfactory 35mm releases have been made from 16mm magnetic film, and 1734mm magnetic recordings are used to accompany 16mm pictures. In some cases and for certain steps in the procedure, the writer also recommends the use of 34” magnetic tape synchron¬ ized by the Fairchild PicSync process (described in American Cinematog¬ rapher, January and February, 1951). The production example used in this article is a twenty-eight minute tele¬ vision show photographed on 35mm film and recorded on 1734mm magnetic film traveling at 90 feet per minute. It is assumed that production shooting will involve 10,000 feet of magnetic film, 5,000 feet of print takes and the show will edit down to 2,500 feet for release. Upon completion of each day’s shoot¬ ing, the editor using a magnetic sound reader or magnetic Moviola, will break out and splice together all print takes. The technique at Ryder Services is to protect the original recording by making a 34" synchronous tape duplicate record¬ ing which is stored and used for reprints. The next step is to run the roll of print take original through the modulation writer. This scribes visual sound on the film in the form of a varying ampli¬ tude ink line in sync with the original modulation. The editor synchronizes the picture daily to the previously spliced roll of scribed magnetic original. The picture and sound can then be edge coded and the film is ready for editing. The edit¬ ing procedure, except for the manner of splicing, is the same as editing photo¬ graphic film. The editorial cutting print is in all cases used for dubbing as it is not subject to quality and dirt deteriora¬ tion from handling. In the case of telephone line record¬ ings or rush work the protection and scribed film can be ready for editing within an hour following shooting. It is always available before picture daily. Reprints from the 34” tape are imme¬ diately available by the simple procedure of electrical transfer. This eliminates the cost of a sound negative, negative pro¬ cessing, negative cutting and the dubbing print. Shown below are comparative costs: Old Photographic Negative-Positive Process 10,000 ft. 35 mm. photographic sound negative @ .0182 182. 10,000 ft. 35 mm. photographic sound negative processing @ .0175 175. 5,000 ft. 35 mm. photographic sound contact print @ .03728 186. 2i/2 reels 35 mm. negative matching @ 20. 50. 2,500 ft. 35 mm. photographic dubbing print @ .03728 93. Total Cost $686. Ryder Magnetic Film Method 5,000 ft. 17'/2 mm. magnetic film out takes, film used 10 times @ .0026 13. 5,000 ft. 17 Vi mm. magnetic film print takes, film used 2 times @ .013 13. 5,000 ft. transfer to ’/t" '•'ape @ .0055 28. 4,170 ft. i/t" tape @ 15" per minute, tape used 10 times @ .000264 1. 5,000 ft. modulation writing @ .0028 14. Total Cost $121. (Continued on Page 156) April, 1951 American Cinematographer 137