SOUND TRAFFIC NEW STUDIO COMMODITY

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7111, 8 January 1930, Page 5

SOUND TRAFFIC NEW STUDIO COMMODITY

MASEFIELD'S poem, “Cargoes,” happily reminds one of the traffic in sound. Sound now comes in cargoes; not a week passing that does not see its cargo of sounds arriving from Ophir and Nineveh, Clyde and Palestine. The cargoes are of two kinds: lilrn with its accompanying sound track made from actual audible photography, and dovices for tho reproduction of sound, such as bells, whistles and traffic horns peculiar to ono locality. The former classification may be again subdivided; thero are sound tracks accompanying news reels, and thero are those which aro made by special camera crews not attached to the news reel division. Ono operator recently spent weeks in Paris photographing all quarters of the city with his cameras. The hubbub of tho taxis wheeling round the Arc do Triomphe, tho measured tread of the thousands visiting the tomb of tho Unknown Soldier, the chatter of tho tourists in Versailles, the jests and quips in the sidewalk cafes, the rumble of the trains, the cries of scurrying porters in the Gare Saint Lazare, the whir of airplane motors at Le Bourget field—all these are transcribed on film.

Sixty-one reels of film were mado in Paris alone! These will be utilised, in part, during the next few years whenever a film with a Parisian setting demands certain sounds which would einanato from their respective localities.

When tho sound films arrive in Hollywood, an expert classifies them and places them in a huge concrete aud steel vault, where they remain cloistered and silent until a director sees the need for an authentic sound-and-sight background for his particular production. But all foreign scenes do not have imported sounds. They may have imported devices to mako these sounds, which involves what has come to be known as the “sound-prop” depart-' ment. When a certain sound effect is needed, they create it. Sometimes the

REPRODUCTION DEVICES

original sound registers badly on tho microphone. It is up to “sound-props 1 ' to find some substitute which will give tho desired effect. A simple little device makes an excellent substitute for the sound which is made' by leather boots crunching over snow. It's a bag made of soft deer leather and filled with corn-starch. Closo your eyes and grind your fist into the leather and cold shivers will run down your back. In one “sound-prop” department there are some 1500 different mechanical sound devices. These, in various combinations, will yield many more distinct effects upon tho ear. There aro 35 different sets of telephone bells alone. That is because different countries have different telephone equipment. Thero aro two huge packing cases filled with an assortment of French traffic horns. There are chimes of every sort, from dining room ones to the immense cathedral chimes. Another problem the “sound-prop” department must frequently work out is in preventing any sound anachronism. In the filming of an air picture it was necessary tu have a syren which sounded just like the syrens used in London during the war as an air raid warning. A typical syren was tried out. The technical experts said it wasn’t exactly iike the ones in use ten years ago. There opinions proved correct; it was learned that the war-time syrens had been given up by the London police and another typo substituted. Accordingly “sound-props” had to dig round until ono was found which gave the exact noiso of the London syren of a decade ago. Some 30 manqtacturers had submitted their product before the desired ono was secured. One of tho wonders of Hollywood is the traffic :in sound that has sprung up in tho wake of talking pictures. Sound is no longer merely a disturbance of the ether in rhythmic waves—it is a commodity. It is no longer something ephemeral—it is collected carefully and produced whenever necessary.