How to add sound to amateur films (1954)

Record Details:

Title:
How to add sound to amateur films
Date:
1954
Publisher:
London : Focal Press
Volume:
How to add sound to amateur films
Leaf #:
000151
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Motion Picture Technology
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
March 28, 2024
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fa" fa fa bb The best position for the speaker is usually above the screen and inclined towards the back row of the audience. A curtain hung behind the speaker will absorb the sound radiated from the back. In the professional cinema, this effect is achieved by placing the loudspeaker behind the screen. Unfortunately this introduces difficulties. The screen has to be made from a perforated material in order to reduce the absorption of sound. Even when the perforations are so large and closely spaced as to reduce the screen reflectivity by one third, some loss of volume remains. This is most pronounced at high frequencies and consequently music may sound woolly or muffled. Using sound-on-film, either optical or magnetically striped, the amateur cannot afford to lose the higher frequencies which contribute so greatly to clarity and realism. You must therefore compromise by placing the loudspeaker close to the screen, but not behind it. Because our ears are placed on either side of our heads, we can judge the position of a sound source quite closely in terms of bearings to right or left. On the other hand, we are readily deceived in the vertical direction. On a console television set, for example, the speaker is placed considerably below the picture. Yet we are never aware of this as we watch a programme. In fact, the enquiring child will often apply his ear to the glass before discovering the true source of the sound. 147