The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1939)

ANALYZER PITCH CHANNEL FDR.1°CURE,^U FREQOENCYU .FILTER, METER (0-25^) PREOISTORTING EQUALIZER SPECTRUM CHANNEL 300^ — [» — 0-25^ TO 9 OTWER SPECTRUM CHANNELS COVERING FREQUENCY RANGE 300-3000^ IN 300^ STEPS CYCLES PER SECONO ; 3, i i 2 9 , , , , i a ' , z a O | ° -0 0-0 .; 250SSO ' . S PlTC ( EECM WAVE Sh e s aw M a y UfJRENT j "* i i ME IN SECONDS Charts above are fully described in accompanying story text commencing in the middle of Column 3, dealing ivith Bell lab's new Vocoder. sentation of the creative efforts of the so-called talent branches of the amusement industries. While our recording and projection experts are pursuing the worthy task of bringing technical order out of the chaos of equipment and acoustical problems, there are many new possibilities for the improvement of the entertainment the modern equipment will be asked to record and to reproduce. There are few limits to the potential entertainment values than can open up through shrewd exploitation of developments cited above, in the hands of cooperative and progressive-minded photographers, soundmen, musicians and projectionists. This material is lying fallow to be seized upon by new geniuses of stage, motion picture, radio, opera, dance, pantomime, extravaganza, etc., in fact, any of the theatrical mediums through which entertainment is presented to a paying public can find new stimulating and enlivening materials to hand from which newer and more effective methods of presentation can be evolved. Who can say what might take place in the traditionally static proscenium of the dramatic theatre, the musical comedy stage, the dance and concert fields, through use of these new materials. Consider the still unplumbed potentialities of recorded music and sound with motion picture action even beyond the forward strides of recent years. Sound-photography in sub-standard fields still is open to great exploitation. Last summer we had the pleasure of scoring and recording the music for the first 16mm feature production in which sound track and the picture track were recorded simultaneously. The particular problems that arose in connection with frequency ranges, intensity level restrictions, etc. — necessitating considerable experimental study beyond standard 35 mm experience — made the work doubly interesting. In the 16 mm and even the 8 mm field, universities and schools, sales organizations and other educational and commercial groups are creating an increasing demand for material that is not being met by the available supply. It is impossible to estimate the future range of this field, since it is only after years of battering the wall of indifference by a few pioneer enthusiasts that the motion picture method is being recognized more and more as a most efficient method of teaching. Despite the increasing publicity and many truly creditable improvements of recent years in equipment and films for sub-standard, commercial and home moviefilms with recorded sound, a basic technique still remains to be developed. At this point, the average reader of International Photographer, who has probably gleaned a considerable smattering of information from various trade announcements, rumors from the laboratories and the manufacturing companies and the few technical papers on the subjects cited. is liable to mumble, "So what, where have we heard this before?" We thoroughly agree with the reader who tosses aside prophetic generalities as no longer stimulating fodder. The time has come to discard enthusiasms over a broad horizon for the more limited and more practical task of concentration upon specific things. The editors of International Photographer and many intelligent tech! nician friends of ours in the IATSE have long held the same thought. This is evidenced by the fact that International Photographer's policy has tended more and more away from broadly general attempts at wide news coverage in the technical fields toward selective presentation of interesting developments. In future discussions in the field of new enter tainment possibilities through new products of inventive minds and new technical tools in both the 35 mm and sub-standard fields, it is our plan to strictly follow this International Photographer policy. This department will be thrown open to factual pointed news of new instruments new devices and new techniques in the combination of photography, sound and music. A midwest university is making radical de partures in detailed analysis of song perform ance. A studio technician patents new electrical music instruments. Piano and instrument tuning is being checked for accuracy by photographic methods. Certain practical limitations are obj served as guideposts in recording for 16 mm pro jection of sight-and-sound. A manufacturer well known to readers of this magazine imports a new adjustable reverberation system, that permits a wide variety of sound effects by simply moving a few dials. A famous sound lab gives Hollywooc sound experts a preview peek at a sensationa new instrument during its development stages New scoring methods combine the technician": skill with greater creative possibilities for the composer, the arranger and the photographer of] motion picture musical scenes. Such will be tht material of this department. While considerable material is already in hant for publication in succeeding issues, we welcomi news of new developments along the lines men tioned from manufacturers, research workers university departments, and technicians, musi cians, projectionists in all branches of the in dustry. In getting this department under way, no better instance comes to mind than the demonstration' last month to Hollywood technicians by Bel Laboratories experts of their new Vocoder. Thi preview showing of a new device — still in the de velopment stage — so that studio experts migh contribute valuable suggestions to be incorporate! in the final perfected design, indicates an awak ening by the leaders in the sound equipment fieh to the vital need for constructive workaday coop eration with studio experts that has long beet recognized by the film and lamp manufacturer? Whether the Vocoder becomes of supreme inn portance or is soon forgotten, it inaugurates I new era of valuable cooperation in the creatioi of new sound equipment for the motion pictun industry, providing that other manufacturers fol low this example and recognize the wisdom o giving practical studio technical experts the op portunity to make suggestions during developmen of equipment intended for use in the industry. Hence, we this month introduce the Vocoder, And with this leap into factual reporting of nev developments along the lines mentioned we dro] the editorial viewpoint and the prophetic per once and for all in favor of an objective new; approach for this department in future issues. The Vocoder is described in an official Bel statement as "an electrical instrument that invest igates and analyzes speech and then proceeds to remake it in practically any form desired." Whih the quality of the experimental machine demon ■ strated, was, of course, not up to studio standard: for recording purpose, in its Hollywood demon: strations, it lived up to specifications. Its eventua possibilities as a sound department counter-parr of the optical printer, which creates such miracle: for photography (Int. Photog. June, 1938) an