Home Movies (1944)

HOME MOVIES Published in Hollywood JULY 1944 1 REVOLUTIONARY and economical new sound recording and playback machine, capable of up to eight hours of recording and automatic playback, loomed over the horizon of postv, ar innovations when the Fonda Tape Recorder was presented at a special demonstration recently. What many saw in this new type of recorder is its tremendous possibilities for providing economical sound for silent home movie films. They especially saw how easily the recorder-playback unit could be coupled with either 8mm. or i6mm. projectors to facilitate fully synchronized recording of music, narrative and sound effects with edited films, and the playing back of such recordings in accompaniment with screening of the pictures. The Fonda Tape Recorder, pictured above, is a neat, compact unit, and not much larger than a table model radio receiver. It is a precision instrument which records and plays back on cellophane tape with high fidelity and low cost of operation. The cellophane tape, a little more than an inch in width, is an endless loop 320 feet long and permits up to eight hours of constant recording at a cost of only 50 cents per hour. Adapted for use with home movies, a shorter tape would be used, and would be instantly interchangeable as with the reels of film in a projector. The cellophane tape is wide enough so that a total of 60 separate sound tracks may be inscribed side by side on a single width. The recorder is the development of Jay Fonda, Chief Engineer of the Fonda Corporation, who learned the advantages of this type of recording while working as a motion picture film sound man. The principle was taken from that of the motion picture film sound track — the main difference being that Fonda applied a needle to do the work done by an intensified light. Both the recording and reproducing needles have permanent gem points which do not require changing and which eliminate shavings, tfius making • The Fonda tape recorder which records as many as 60 separate sound tracks on a single ribbon of cellophane tape. Tracks are cut and played back with a needle, same as phonograph discs. Sound quality compares with best disc recording. Cellophane Tape Recorder May Solve Sound Problem By L E S T E possible the play-back of the film virtually thousands of times without loss of tonal quality. The problem of how to press the sound track on the tape with a needle without cutting it was Fonda's first obstacle. This was solved through the adoption of a yieldable felt pad located directly under the recording needle. It was on this basis that patents owned by the Fonda Corporation were subsequently granted. As the tape unwinds from the outside of a roll and under the recording stylus, it travels at a constant speed of 4c feet a minute. At the same time it automatically rewinds itself on the inside of the roll and keeps going until all 60 tracks have been cut, where such extensive recording is desired. When used as a reference recorder, foi which it was originally designed, titles of the various portions of the re M N N cording can be marked directly on the tape. Furthermore, the tape, which is easily changed, is delivered in individual cartons with printed charts for identifying the recorded material. The simplicity of operation and its ability to indicate plainly what is recorded on it, in addition to the fact that changes in magazines are required only three times in every 24 hours of continuous operation, make this unique precision recorder of great value as a reference file for the whole range of industry. At present the Fonda Tape Recorder is available in three models: the small eight-hour portable recorder described above; the one-to-eight hour stationary unit for airports, radio broadcasting stations and governmental use; and a small unit which records for up to one hour. Recently, Home Movies pointed out • Continued on Page 300 277