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THE PRESENT TECHNICAL STATUS OF 16-MM. SOUND-FILM*
J. A. MAURER**
Summary. — Improvements in the technic of recording and printing during the past few years have made possible the production of 16-mm. sound-films, either by optical reduction or by direct recording, having considerably better quality than is being obtained in general commercial practice. By the use of a moderate degree of equalization in recording, it it practicable to obtain from 16-mm. negatives prints giving a flat frequency response to 6000 cycles, with useful response to 7500 cycles, when reproduced through a flat amplifying system. Harmonic and envelope distortion and speed variations can be kept within acceptable limits for high-quality reproduction. The principal remaining defect is background noise. Some general agreement upon commercial 16-mm. reproducing system characteristics is needed, however, before this improved quality can be made generally available.
The optical reduction equipment that is in general commercial use today for producing 16-mm. sound-films was developed during the years 1933, 1934, and 1935. This equipment was described and the results obtained were discussed in papers by Baker;1 Dimmick, Batsel, and Sachtleben;2 Kellogg;3 Batsel and Sachtleben;4 and Sandvick and Streiffert,5 in the JOURNAL of this Society.
All these authors are in close agreement in reporting that the 16mm. prints showed high-frequency losses of the order of 12 decibels at 5000 cycles and 16 decibels at 6000 cycles, on the basis of constant modulation in the 35-mm. recording.
Several papers relating to 16-mm. sound have appeared in the JOURNAL since the time of the Sandvick and Streiffert paper, but none of these has contained direct information on the frequency characteristics being obtained from 16-mm. film. The purpose of the present communication is to bring the record up to date.
Since 1935 considerable improvements have been made in 35-mm. recording technic, but these have had little effect upon the quality of 16-mm. sound-prints commercially available. A good idea of the
* Presented at the 1939 Spring Meeting at Hollywood, Calif. ; received April 14, 1939.
** The Berndt-Maurer Corp., New York, N. Y.
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