Projection engineering (Jan 1932-Mar 1933)

MAY, 1932 Page 13 Our efforts since may be said to have been directed toward getting rid of the can, and this effort has been successful in large measure not only in a physical sense, but in a psychological sense as well, since with the improvement in quality that has resulted the public prejudice against canned music has for the most part disappeared. In order to understand why presentday sound records are better than the early records it is necessary to be a bit technical. The human ear can hear sounds having a frequency range from fifty cycles per second to ten thousand cycles per second. The old-fashioned phonograph produced only the middle band of these frequencies and eliminated the high notes and the low notes. In these circumstances all voices sounded more or less alike and all had that quality of tinniness associated with the canning process. Our present-day instruments are perfect enough to record and reproduce all of the frequencies which the human ear can hear, with a resulting improvement in naturalness. Noise We think of noise as unpleasant sound. In the struggle toward perfection in this art it has been necessary to give study to the suppression of noise. When sound is amplified to fill a large theatre or auditorium, noises which were not noticeable at lower levels became objectionable. When I say that it has been possible in large measure to eliminate the noises or unpleasant sounds while amplifying the unpleasant sounds, it would appear that I am indicating that the instruments of modern postephony have the quality of good taste. This, of course, could not be true, but they do have the scientific property of dealing to some extent sufficient for practical purposes in a selective manner with sounds of different character. This is the basis of what is known as Western Electric noiseless recording developed during the past two years. You may have noticed that present-day talking motion pictures are more noiseless than those of four years ago in that they are comparatively free of extraneous, unpleasant sounds suggestive of mechanical instrumentalities. When listening directly to sound, the ear unconsciously rejects those noises which permeate the atmosphere in which we live. This selective process is made possible in part by the separation of the source of the noise from the source of the sound to which we are listening. In the case of postephony, the microphone is not so discriminating and picks up the noise as well as the desirable sound, and furthermore, when a record is reproduced the sound and the noise must emanate from the source — namely, the loudspeaker. This is exactly as though all of the noise which is piesent in this room came to you as though uttered by me while speaking to you. In this way you will see that the instrumental process of postephony is at some disadvantage compared with the natural process of direct hearing. Study of the problem of eliminating noises has drawn into a new field of acoustic engineering, which has to do with the treatment of rooms and public places for the purpose of suppressing noises on the one hand, and making them properly receptive and responsive to the sounds that are desired. A few examples may serve to illustrate the scope of this field. You have perhaps read of the study on subway noises for the noise abatement commission in New York City ; and, as a corollary to that, one for a milk company J. E. OTTERSON President, ERPI. here in an effort to suppress the noises connected with the delivery of milk so familiarly objectionable in the early hours of the morning. Churches, too, are seeking ways of making the spoken word more audible to congregations whose hearing appears peculiarly deficient as related to words of grace. The results of similar studies made for the architects of the new Philadelphia opera house have led to some fundamental features of design and treatment that will insure pleasing acoustics. Many public buildings have been constructed in the past with unsatisfactory acoustic qualities which might have been avoided with the application of present-day knowledge. We rank as one of our most interesting projects the recent acoustical treatment of Madison Square Garden, which made it possible for the great Paderewski to give a piano recital there in February. His music was heard perfectly in every part of that vast auditorium, which was acclaimed by musical critics as an outstanding achievement. Four years ago I ventured to prophesy that talking pictures would be applied to the fields of advertising, politics, education and religious teaching. Progress in these fields has been steady, but somewhat slowed down by the business conditions of the past two years. If time permitted, I could present to you a comprehensive program of pictures that have been made in these various fields. Talking Pictures in Education As was to be expected, the value of the talking picture for instructional purposes has been most quickly seized upon and widely used in the field of commerce and industry. Many of the great corporations are using talking pictures today for the training and instruction of their personnel and for conveying the personal messages of their executives to outlying offices and branches of their organizations throughout the world. The epic story of many industries is being recorded and portrayed. Through these we may attain to an understanding of how these great industries came into being and why they exist, and to understand these things is to interpret the forces that underlie our modern life and civilization. Already talking pictures have been made to advertise commodities of everyday life. The cough that is never present in a carload can be recorded in talking pictures. The man who owns one can tell of his satisfaction with his motor car. Railroads, airlines, trade associations, insurance companies, newspapers and public service companies have used this medium to advertise their services and to create public understanding and good-will. Manufacturers, department stores, banks, hotels, theatres and other industrial and business organizations are using talking pictures to train their employees— churches to train their ministers and schools to train their teachers; athletic coaches to teach games ; Bobby Jones to teach golf; Bill Tilden to teach tennis. In closing I may say that I regard talking pictures as, in reality, a means of communication, whereby the art and inspiration of great actors, teachers, preachers, and statesmen may be carried from the sphere in which they move, to the ever widening sphere of world interest from the metropolis to the hamlet, from the great university to the country school-house, from the cathedral to the parish church, from this generation to future generations who may find in the better understanding of our lives, our achievements, and our dreams, of our personalities and characters the inspiration and example that will lead them to a still higher civilization in the days to come.