The Motion Picture Almanac 1929 (1929)

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1929 The MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC u: SPEAKrNC SHADOWS T Making the sUent shadows spea\ is one of the most interesting phases, of physics. In this article the methods of recording and reprodncing tal\ing motion pictures is told in the language of the layman. By F. H. RICHARDSON* AT, so 'tis said, paid his fee at biuod that we ma\ enjoy the things which music of the finest bands and orchesthe box office and entered a mo\ie already have been accepted as almost tras in the world are available in the after a considerable absence in commonplace, but which are not and homes, and by means of which plays by the world's best players may, and many believe, soon will supplant the barn-storming troupes of actors varying from mediocre to just plain punk. Not only is it now true that all this is already available to many of our cities. the wilds. Settling himself in com never really will be quite that, fort, he listened in contentment to music It may, I think, be fairly said, and coming from he knew not where, finally should in justice be said that the begin remarking to a friend: "Sure, 'tis a dom ning of it all was that day not so very good thing they've learned them horn far back in the years when Thomas tooters to see in th' darruk. I'm not .-Mva Edison, seated at a workbench havin' me eyes bored out w-id them lights over in Menlo Park, New Jersey, first but it now seems certain that soon it will they used t' have I' Then came the silent news reel, followed )iy Movietone. Pat listened and stared a moment in amazement. Hastily retrieving his hat from underneath the seat, Pat arose and started for the door with the remark: "Sure, 'tis lilack ma.gic ut is, an' this is no place for a dacent son of ould Ireland !" But Pat was, as you and I know, in error. It is not "black magic" that causes the shadows to speak, though we surely are tempted ering Ime impressed upon the outer to apply the term magician to those men diameter of a cylinder of wax by a of science who have brought about this finely pointed steel needle, latest marvel of a very marvelous aiul Of course it is a very far cry from wonderful aae. '''^' ^''-''t crude recording to the pho It is my purpose in this article to tell tograph of President Coolidge or vou as accurately as I may and avoid a Thomas A. Edison being flashed on a lot of technical terms which would be huge screen before thousands, and listened to the faint, probably rather also be available in acceptable form to squeak}-, uncertain voice which was even the smallest village and hamlet, the reproduction of sound from a wav Truly the tale of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp seems tame iieside Editor's l^ote: Mr. Richardson is staff technical expert of "Exhibitors Hf.r.\ld-World" and one of the best \nown authorities on projection problems m the motion picture industry. He has been a student of sound recording and projection, and in this article he gives you the benefit of his \nowledge of the subject. what our men of science have accomplished in this new field of human achievement. Sound travels, or is propagated through the air in vibrations called sound waves. These waves are of different frequencies — a .greater or less number per second — according to the pitch of the sound. If the sound be what we call "low" — that is to say relatively hoarse, as the sound from the bass pipes of a great organ or the sound from a dass drum, then the number of waves per second are relatively few. If the sound be high pitched — shrill — as the sound of a tenor lorn or a small boy's tin whistle, then about as intelligible to the average man made, with every semblance of perfect the number of waves per second will or woman as would Eg\ptian hieroglyphics just how, in what manner and by what means these magical shadows do seem to speak. First of all, let it be clearly understood that this wonder was not brought about without years of research ; days, weeks, months and years of costly and olttimes disappointing experiments and hard, exhausting work to the very point naturalness, to address them. That, however, was the real beginning of what w'e now somewhat flippantly term "canned speech." Thomas A. Edison was, without the question of a doubt, the one who blazed the now so splendid trail by means of which we may be very high. The number of waves per second is termed the "frequency" and these frequencies may range from as low as fifty up to thousands per second. Get this clearly: a "loud" sound may at the same time be a "low" sound, in send the best singers of the world into the sense that it may be low pitched, cities they have never even heard of. Conversely a low sound may be a very to actually appear before and sing to shrill sound. The amount of sound is of heartbreak. Men have almost sweat their people; by means of which the measured in what we call "Volume.'