PRODUCING NOISE EFFECTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16772, 11 October 1928, Page 9

PRODUCING NOISE EFFECTS

Ono of the most popular items of broadcasting in almost every country is the radio sketch with effects. It is not always easy to produce the desired effect over (lie air, and many ingenious devices are resorted to by the producers. Dramatic effects were produced in the studio o' 2FC when Air. Frank Hurley was delivering his series' of interesting and instructive talks on his polar and island adventures. By the use of a variety of instruments it was possible to present over the air a plausible imitation of the crushing of a sledge through the ice, the yelping of dogs, the howling of the wind, and other nautical noises. Jn some instances the actual instrument used in the adventure sounds the most realistic on the stage, as in the case of a dog whistle or flic clicking of a typewriter or a camera. On the other hand, cannon and gun effects can best bo produced bv the expert dropping of marbles on bass drums and the rattle oi machine guns by placing dried beans on kettle drums. War effects can be heightened by the simultaneous explosion of numerous harmless crackers. Many experiments were made, in American stations to reproduce the bell effects accompanying the running of a train, and it was eventually found necessary to get an actual bell into the studio. Similarly, in the re product on of the noise of an aeroplane engine no substitute could be found, and an actual engine had to be operated in a room adjoining the studioThe flapping of canvas sails in the wind is exceedingly hard to imitate over the air, as the flapping does not. reproduce through the microphone at all. The best imitation was found by the producers of studio sketches in 2FQ to be by playing an electric fan on a piece of tissue paper. The noise of a motor car engine can easily be imitated from the studio by the holding of stiff sheets of brown paper against the wings of an electric fan. St range as it may seem, a revolver fired near a microprone does not, sound at- all like a revolver shot through a loud speaker, so that noise has to he artificially produced, again by the useful electric fan and paper. In American stations it has been found that the best loud speaker imitation of a forest- fire is produced by a noise of a plumber’s blow lamp near the microphone. whilst the breaking of matches between the fingers by a number of studio attendants represent the falling of frees caused by the fire. Therefore noises are not exactly what they seem through the loud speaker, but the great thing for the producer of radio sketches, as in the stage presentation of plays, is to assist- the imagination of listeners so that they can mentally picture the, scene that is being vocally described to them over the air.