Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1931)

MOVIE MAKERS S9 The clinic RUSSELL C. HOLSLAC Technical comment and timely topics for the amateur Sound to the fore ■ Of course, home talkie machines for use with studio made films and discs are here to stay and await only the establishment of extensive film libraries for widest development. Towards this end, definite beginnings have already been made. Therefore, it would appear that talkies are destined to be the ne plus ultra of home entertainment. But it is obvious that films and syn talkie devices are ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_ still best produced only by a fully equipped studio to be reproduced through the complete machines at present available, machines which have reached a superlative degree of perfection in synchronized sound. Some months ago there appeared in The Clinic an item headed, Shall we talk our own?, wherein it was stated that rumors concerning the amateur's ability to make his own talking pictures at home were not likely to materialize soon. Half a year has elapsed since then and the rumors are still more lively. Yet we must reiterate that none of these rumors can be traced at present to any definite statement of name and date. Our counsel to the amateur who wishes to record voice or music in the home is not to become overenthusiastic about the idea at the present stage. In the first place, such an experiment would inevitably demand a division of attention between the interior lighting equipment and the complicated sound apparatus. With the relatively unknown problems of recording superimposed, the magnitude of the effort is obvious. The whole thing narrows down finally to the unavoidable issue: is it not more worth while at the present stage of developments to give all our effort to the making of good pictures rather than to complicate our work so unnecessarily that results in every direction are mediocre. Here is a typical letter which illustrates the kind of communication which the League's technical consultant has recently been receiving: "I am interested in doing recording of talkies on 16mm. Although I have never attempted this part of it so far, I hold an operator's ticket for radio work and I am sure I can get the sound to the record. I feel sure I can make an Russell C. Holslag outfit compact enough to move from scene to scene. Can you give me any pointers on this subject? Please give me this information as quickly as possible." This amateur does not realize what is in store for him until he begins his experiments. The writer states this categorically from work with his own experimental apparatus, only a part of which is illustrated on this page. Those who have tried it know the difficulty of the steps involved. And, so far, lacking professional apparatus with its tremendous cost, the sound results will not begin to compare with the accustomed perfection to which our photographic process has been brought. But is it hopeless for the amateur to try to in ^Hg_l^_^_^^ own pictures? Not by any means. He may follow the suggestions for using his phonograph records noted in the article, Music for silent films, in this issue of Movie Makers. Then there are certain well equipped studios to which the amateur may take his film to have it run off while he makes vocal comments, "talks his titles," as it were. Or, he may also have favorite phonograph records "dubbed in" for atmosphere. This is done on aluminum discs which may be played through the home talkie apparatus and will last indefinitely if fibre needles are used. Many of the large department and music stores have small studios for voice or ins t r u m e n t recording; these may be used for the same purpose. The aluminum disc is quite satisfactory for sound reproduction, especially with the voice. A new type of radio and phonograph combination has a cleverly arranged voice recording device but the duration of these records is but one minute and even rudimentary motion picture synchronization is not feasible with them for a film length greater than twenty five feet. At the present juncture, many home projectionists may feel that there is some uncertainty concerning material for the talkie projector — that there will not be a sufficient supply of films and synchronized discs to assure variety. Doubts on this score may be set at rest for the field is expanding with great rapidity. This is evidenced by the fact that even now some of the best and latest theatrical sound releases are being reduced and made available. Therefore, amateur interest in the subject should and can safely lie wholly in the sound projection field. f Continued on page 101] an Part of experimental for recording amateur outfit sound