Talking pictures : how they are made and how to appreciate them (1937)

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Sound Recording for nearly four decades a talking picture formed the goal of a long line of eager scientists. That it eluded solution for forty years indicates the many scientific problems involved. In fact, the first talking picture was not made with the light ray method. It was done by making an impression on a wax record, the method used for so many years in the phonograph industry. Difficulties in synchronizing and final editing made this method less popular than the highly practical light rav svstem. Waxrecord recording is still used in film studios, but usually only in one particular and specialized manner. The principle of the microphone has been described. It is understood that words spoken before the microphone on the stage have been translated into varying electrical currents. These now come over a wire from the stage to the recording machines. The current comes to an "amplifying panel. " This panel is similar to those used in radio broadcasting studios and long distance telephone exchanges. The purpose of such a panel is to amplify the original weak signal from point of origin by approximated a million times until it is strong enough to be projected by telephone for thousands of miles, or to be broadcast over the radio, or in our case to activate the li^ht modulator of the talking picture sound recording machine. There are two main svstems of recording sound by light rays. One is called the variable density method; the other, the variable area method. In the variable density method a beam of light passes through a slit about one thousandth of an inch wide into [197]