The talkies (1930)

Record Details:

Title:
The talkies
Date:
1930
Publisher:
London: Crosby Lockwood and Son
Volume:
The talkies
Leaf #:
00061
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
March 28, 2024
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THETALKIES 33 sounds. Perhaps I should not say odd sounds, because they are usually very closely related to the "fundamental" or the pitch we want. The reason why any sound has character is that it brings along with it harmonics of itself — a bunch of cousins and aunts as it were. The first harmonic of a note is the fundamental vibration or required pitch multiplied by 2, the second the fundamental multiplied by 3, and so forth. It is the presence of these harmonics to a greater or lesser degree that gives the character to any particular note and enables us to tell, for instance, what instrument is being played, or to recognise a person's voice. The instruments which are richest in these harmonics, especially the first harmonic, are the harp, the piano, and the organ, whose range of vibrations extends from 16 to 9,000 per second. So we see that if we take the musical scale as extending from about 20 vibrations a second to about 6,000, and then allow for at least one harmonic, we have to account for a range of vibrations of from 20 to at least 10,000 vibrations per second, which even then is not enough to give perfection. Having got these few facts into our head, we may proceed to find out why it is that the recordmakers are having such a stiff time, and why the