Home Movies (1954)

Automatic Daylight Processing DEVELOPING TANK • Processes up to 200 Ft. • 8mm-16mm-35mm • Movie — X-Ray — Microfilm • Motor driven portable • Tough plastic tanks • Uniform Density Assured • 70mm tank also available FILM DRYER • Motor driven — Heated • Speedy drying • Automatic shrinkage allowance • StainJess steel and aluminum construction • Easily assembled without tooli • Compact, Portable Guaranteed. Write for Free Literature Micro Record Corp. Dept. H 487 South Ave. Beacon, N. Y. * from your films KODACHROME COLOR or BLACK & WHITE Protect your valuable originals from projector damage and wear, run duplicate prints. Duplicate prints make wonderful gifts. 8mm or 16mm . . . Duplicates 11c per ft. 8mm Enlarged to 16mm, or 16mm Reduced to 8mm 14c per finished foot * Mail us your original films with cash, check or money order, and we guarantee the BEST duplicates possible, QUICK SERVICE, TOP VALUE, SATISFACTION Minimum Order $3.00. j "TfUCyUHMd MOVIE LABS. Dept. 12522 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, California HdmeM'ovies SOCKOo Get the BEST in 8 and 16mm filmsjoin the great new MOVIE, CLUB! Enjoy These Exclusive MC Advantages: * World's most unusual adult films. (Also family and kiddie films. ) Not sold at stores. * Amazing "Try Before You Buy" Plan. Vou pay only after you've seen them and want to keep them. * Revolutionary Trade-In" Film Plan. Get new films at one-third the usual cost! * Guaranteed Lowest Prices! 8mm Viewer-Projector OR Three 50 ft. 8mm films OR tw o 16mm films. Write today for particulars and membership application. MOVIE CLUB P.O. Boi 585 wio North Hollywood, California HOW TO MAKE MOVIE TITLES IN COLOR! Write today for a FREE A-to-Z Sample Title Test Kit. Make titles that are different . . . better and tailored to your taste. Try our method . . . FREE. Complete color or B&W Outfit $6.50 A-to-Z MOVIE ACCESSORIES 175 Fifth Avtm Deot. H New Y»rk 10. W V How to Make Money in PHOTOGRAPHY tax -m \,ou ** t Unique, low -eolt LEARN-BY-DOING meth*«*" * od and INDIVIDUAL attention train you • A/^> quickly at home In still and motion picture photography. Start making monev. We =hnw you how. Oiir 45th year. Big FREE rr.lnrful book gives full facts. Write TODAY ! Resident Training alto available. G. I. Approved. NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY Dept. 114. 10 W. 33 St.. New YO'k 1, N.Y. NEED SPECIAL EQUIPMENT? YOUR PHOTO DEALER HAS IT SOUND • Continued from Page 387 times impossible to place the microphone where all pickup of projector noise is eliminated completely. In such cases it is well to record some of this 'standard' projector background noise for use as 'blank' tape where necessary. A recommendation to deliberately record "noise for insertion into a sound track may seem strange but. the ear will accomodate itself to I and accept I a constant low level noise and is objectionably conscious of it ONLTi when it is periodically interrupted by intervals of contrasting silence. This 'acceptance' of a constant low level noise is all the more so if we can assume that the action on the screen is the subject of primary interest with the music serving as an accessory to that action rather than being a concert performance. * * * Q. If hat are the best magnetic tapes to use for making, Sound Track? — {L.F.\. A. The Standard Brands of plastic base magnetic recording tapes are superior in both response and fidelity and also have the lowest noise level. Plastic base tapes are subject to. a greater degree of expansion and contraction from temperature changes and at extremely warm temperatures have a tendency to become 'soft' and introduce "drag' as they pass through the erase and record heads. Continued stretch of plastic base tape i due to high temperatures and continued tension ) can. in time, become permanently "set' in the tape and introduce sufficient error in linear dimension to necessitate re-editing of the sound track where synchronization is critical. Striped synchronizing tape I such as Revere Sound Tape I is available in plastic base only as far as I know but since synchronous projection speed, is determined by the "strobe" pattern, linear dimensional changes have no effect on synchronization. High fidelity paper base tape has a somewhat lower response and fidelity and a slightly higher noise level characteristic. However, since sound tracks are not intended i or used) for concert performance purposes, neither of the above mentioned qualities lor lack of quality I is objectionable. Furthermore, paper base tapes are not so susceptible to linear dimensional change nor are these changes so apt to become a 'set' characteristic in the tape. For this reason many persons prefer paper base tapes for sound track purposes. So, analyze your requirements and choose the type of tape that will best satisfy those requirements. I would suggest that once you have selected a satisfactory tape for your purposes. Stick to that particular tape for all of your sound track purposes until such time as you wish to change completely to another tape. Since recording characteristics will be consistently uniform, recording procedures can be more easily standardized and more uniform results in recording can usually be achieved without extensive tests. 0. I ha ve been taking Humming Bird pictures but cannot seem to get a decent recording of their song although J have been able to get the microphone as near as three feet from the birds. Am I doing something wrong, or what? — [M.G.). A. Not knowing just what kind of equipment you have or just how you are u.-ing the equipment it is difficult for me to say whether or not you are doing anything wrong. However. I am going to hazard a guess at the 'or what" part of your question. The 'song' of the Humming Bird is VERY HIGH in pitch and is little more than a squeak. Since the cycle frequency is very high in the sonic range, it is possible that this cycle frequency is very close to l or above ) the frequency limits of your recorder to record, particularly so if you are trying to record at 3% inch per second tape transport speed. This may possibly be the reason for your inability to get a satisfactory recording. * * * Q. I would like to record a commentary over a music track that I have made some time ago. Is it possible to do this without rerecording the music and commentary simultaneously onto another tape? If so. how is it done? — {F.G.). A. A commentary I or voice track i can be "dubbed" over a previously recorded music track. To do so. the erase head must either be by-passed or its erase function nullified during the dubbing procedure. In the early models of the Brush Sound Mirror I where the erase and sound heads w ere separate I . it w as possible to lead the tape from the supply reel around the back of the erase head and then around the front of the record i and playback I head. A slight additional "drag" was introduced by this procedure which slowed the tape transport speed slightly. However, with an accessory pressure roller installed at the capstan, this "drag' land all slippage! is eliminated. I If any users of this equipment wish information on pressure rollers, write your request to Dow Garlock c/o this magazine ) . On recorders where it is impossible to by-pass the erase head, it is possible to insulate this unit so that its erase function cannot act upon the tape that is being recorded. This is done by covering the face of the erase 400