How to add sound to amateur films (1954)

mark where the second piece of music is to finish. This is at the end of "Dad returns the ball. Fade-out". You have once more two marks on the tape. Set the tape with the first of these marks an inch or two beyond your reference point and switch to "record". Provided the tape is stationary, you impress little or no switching noise on the tape by doing this. Set the volume control, start the tape and after allowing a second for the speed to stabilise, speak the first passage of commentary into the microphone. At the end, turn down the volume and stop the tape within two or three seconds. Now switch to "playback" and find the end of the commentary you have just recorded. Starting from here, record the second passage of music as far as the second of the two marks on the tape. Continuing in this way, you can gradually replace all your pilot commentary by the music and commentary you want the audience to hear. You can rehearse separately each passage of commentary and time it to a fraction of a second, if need be. Some films may call for split-second timing over a considerable period. An example arises in the quick cutting used to build up tension. Recording the pilot commentary for such a sequence is not easy unless you know the script by heart. To provide accurate timing, you must provide the first word of description immediately each new shot appears on the screen. More likely than not you will hesitate at some of the shots and your pilot commentary will lag behind the picture. To avoid this, get an assistant to tap an object near the microphone at the start of each shot. It will not matter then if you hesitate or even occasionally omit to describe a shot. When you make the final recording, you use the "taps" as timing marks; your commentary identifies the shots to which they relate. 79