Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1929)

54 BETTER THEATRES SECTION OF October 26, 1929 Oliver Turn Table with Audak Pickup 1-16 Actual Size Weight 150 lbs. House Control The Oliver Synchronous Reproducer $750.00 The most complete equipment on the market. Rola Booth Monitor Fader Panel Two Oliver Speedometers Exciter Box Oliver Turn Table with Audak Pickup 1-16 Actual Size Weight 150 lbs. "Powerizer" Amplifier Rola Dynamic Speaker Oliver Manufacturing Co. Film Bldg., Cleveland, Ohio Our Chicago Distributor: Movie Supply Company, 844 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. Rola Dynamic Speaker Disc and Film Recording in the Light of New Developments (Continued from page 43) ing methods, have increased the upper range, until it is now possible at the cost of a slight amount of output to exceed the range covered by the disc method. In the film recording, the velocity of the film controls the high frequency reproduction to a large extent. At the standard film speed of 90 feet per minute (1.5 feet per second) the film travels only one three-thousandths of an inch (less than the thickness of a hair) during the time it requires to record a 6,000-cycle note. This means that the light beam in both the recording and reproducing mechanisms must be narrower than this to give good high frequency reproduction. While it is optically possible to secure a beam of this type (or mechanically in some types of equipment) it is done at the cost of exposure or light on the photo-electric cell. Anyone who has focused the lens system in a projector knows that the only effect of widening the light beam on the film is to lose "definition," due to the loss of high frequencies. In addition to these two problems, there is the one of development of both the negative and the positive, since the density of the sound track affects the output in both methods. In this respect it differs from the disc method, where every record is an almost exact duplicate of the master record. There has been some criticism of the film track on the ground that the track proper is very sensitive to abrasion and to foreign matter, which results either in distortion or in a high noise level. While it is true that film requires more attention than it does in the silent or disc recordings, nothing more than a moderate amount of attention need be given to the sound aperture and to oil and foreign matter on the film. It is very probable that ball bearing projectors with grease rather than oil lubrication will minimize the latter trouble. Most of the abrasion occurs laterally with the film, rather than transversely or across the film, and the former may cause either no noise at all or only a slight amount. In the majority of the cases that have come to my attention, clicks in the horns have been due to improperly made patches in the sound film. When a patch is properly made with an epaque area in the track, tapering in both directions from the patch, no trouble is experienced. As an example of what can be done, I might add that test films have been run over a thousand times with reasonable care, and the cause of failure was finally found to be due to checked sprocket holes, rather than to damage of the film track. The outstanding advantage of the film method, I believe, lies in its great comparative portability and in the possibility for extending the upper register, which improves the speech. The trend is distinctly toward the use of alltalking pictures, and music recording has become secondary. In retrospect, it seems that the release of "In Old Arizona" gave the exhibitor the first inkling of the possibilities of the film method on the lot and gave a decided impetus to the trend toward its use. Aside from the advantages on the lot of the film method, we have the news and the commercial film fields in which it has no competition at present. In many cases it has been necessary to record first on film and then from the film to the disc — with an inevitable loss. The editing of the picture is simplified. Censoring or other cuts in the film may be made without having to remake a record. Once the print has been properly made, loss of synchronism is impossible. There is no possibility of a needle jumping the groove or the record being set wrong. In short, the human equation is almost entirely eliminated. The disc method has been favored by many projectionists because the elements involved were within the scope of their experience. They have all seen pick-ups and records, and there is nothing obscure about the reproduction. Effort in threading, however, is probably less than that of handling the record, and it may be that as the operators become familiar with the film method, as photo-electric cells become more dependable, and as batteries and other auxiliaries which require attention are eliminated, projectionists may lose this preference. Although wide film has a number of virtues from the projection viewpoint, it is doubtful if ic would have been developed as rapidly — that is, announced this early — if it had not been for the film track. The principal thing that has limited this form of recording has been the space available on the film. In the variable density method, only .080 thousandths of an inch are used. Even then the encroachment of the track on the picture is quite evident. In the new Grandeur film (merely one example of a number of wide films that are coming out), the track is .240 thousandths of an inch wide. Other factors remaining constant, this permits three times as much light to reach the photo-electric cell, resulting in three times the voltage output, or nine times the power output. This means about three times the apparent sound intensity, so that it is a definite step in improving the output of the cell. This, together with improvements in photo-electric cells, which will make them more sensitive to the portion of the light spectrum that comes through the film, will make it possible to use an amplifier having only slightly more gain, or amplification, than the type used with a pick-up. This will result in a reduction in background noise. In the demonstration at the Gaiety, the projection was at a speed of 20, rather than 24, frames per second. This, of course, increases the running time for the 2,000-foot reel, but to place it on a par with the 35-mm., it is