How to add sound to amateur films (1954)

records below the usual speed. A slowed-down version of machine-gun fire has been used in a dockyard sequence to simulate the rattle of chains. When the appropriate effect is not to hand, an extremely slow reproduction of Chopin's Funeral March provides a good imitation of the drone of aircraft. Recording Your Own Effects Effects records are still useful even if you do your own magnetic recording. You will not take a recorder with you wherever you use the camera. So you will still draw on discs for the sounds of cars and crowds, planes and trains, transferring them to tape or stripe as necessary. Of course, there are many sounds you can record without difficulty — a clock striking, barking dogs, or a tap running. However even quite simple effects can pose problems. Suppose you have filmed the children playing in the garden with the dog. You want a record of his bark, but indoors the acoustics are very different. The recording does not sound right unless it is made out of doors. The solution lies in having your recorder indoors, the microphone on the window sill and the dog outdoors. Some effects simply don't record as you expect them to. You must then counter the tricks of the microphone by devising tricks of your own. Often you have to provide a caricature of the sound you require. At other times the effect must be synthesised because the real thing is unobtainable. The classic example is the crushing of a matchbox close to the microphone to provide the sound of a crashing aeroplane. Fortunately the amateur rarely films such a subject. A difficulty you will meet more often is that of simulating the roar of a waterfall. You can produce this effect by turning a ball of steel wool on glasspaper while breathing through your mouth near the microphone as you would to clean a pair of spectacles. By adjusting the relative distances of your mouth and the 124