“WIDE RANGE” SOUND

Waikato Times, Volume 115, Issue 19270, 31 May 1934, Page 15

“WIDE RANGE” SOUND

VOICES MORE DISTINCT. MANY IMPROVEMENTS NOTED. The sound system which has been Installed in the State Theatre Is a triumph of science. It is what Is known as the Western Electric Wide Range Sound System—a system that produces a life-like recreation of the living voice and the original music. It Is said to remove all dullness and blur, and brings beauty, brilliance and sparkle, adding depth, detail and clear outline. The system is dual in nature, for it Is a result of developments and refinements in both recording and reproduction. To give the public all the benefits of the new system, the pictures necessarily have to reproduced with Wide Range recording and reproduced in the theatre with Wide Range production. To understand just what has been done, one must appreciate the steps that take place from the time the actor speaks his lines In the studio until they are heard by the audience in the theatre. Briefly, here is the sequence of events:— The actor’s voice creates sound waves in the air which are picked up by the microphone. In this delicate instrument they are changed into electric waves, transmitted over wires to powerful amplifiers which “ boost” these weak electric currents millions of times. Wires again transmit the amplified currents to the recording machine in which the electrical pulsations arc photographed on what is called the sound track. The negative is then developed and a positive print made and developed. After checking the quality of the .print a variety of things may lie done. For example, music and sound effects may be added by “dubbing." Dubbing- is to sound what trick photography is to pictures. Then follows Hie la-borons cutting, editing and final assembly. All Hits results in a finished negative from which hundreds of release prints are prepared for distribution to theatres. Brilliant Thread of Light. When one of these release .prints is reproduced in a theatre, the sound track running in Hie projector passes through a brilliant thread of light about I OOOt!i part of an inch in width. As the sound track moves steadily through Hie beam of light, the photographic record causes the light beam t . Dicker in exact accord with Hie original sound• waves. The dickering light, falls upon tin- j-eusiiive surface of a phuln-elorlrie cell and creates electrical pula..lions which diipicalc those produced by the original sound. Once more passiim l,lirous:|i .■.mptifiers these pulsations are transmitted imr wires to loud speakers behind the screen, and are there Ira ns formed by a vibrating di.'iplnarin into sound waves which iva Ii Ihi i.Us of 11)0 audience.

These numerous and delicate operations beginning in the studio, oarrled on through the film laboratory, and ending in the theatre, may be l liluened to the bucket brigade of olden times, where a long line of men passed along buckets of water to a Are. If each man in the line spilled a little water the buckets reached the Are partly empty. A little loss at each of the many stages through which the sound passes from studio to theatre will likewise deliver a diminished quality of scrund in the theatre. Wide range recordings and reproduction minimise these losses and deliver at its destination a higher quality and wider volume range of sound. Natural Reproduction, Wide Range reproduction used with available studio products brings out a great deal that some equipment fails to reproduce, so that a better and more natural quality of reproduction is achieved. The human ear is one of the most marvellous devices of nature- It is capable of hearing sound ranging in volume from the faint whisper of rustling leaves to the thundering, crashing roar of artillery gun Are. It hears sounds ranging in pitch from the rumble of the lowest organ pipe to the highest overtones produced by musical instruments. It is almost inconceivable that any man-made device should approach the capacity of the human ear, yet that is the achievement of Wide Range. Wide Rango in pitcJv goes down close to the limit of audibility where sounds are physically felt rather than heard by the ear and up to near the point where the ultra-treble fades into nothingness. Sounds ranging from a whisper', to the earth-rocking crash of thundci* may now be heard with stirring realism. Sounds ranging in pilch from the\ rumbling notes of drum and organ k\ those created by the highest-pitched ''.instruments in a symphony orchestra, \are reproduced with practically all l.heNmillianec, colour, timbre and beauty of I lie instruments themselves. Voices are given the rounducss, I lie individuality, the exact human tones which determine the true personality and charm of the speaker's voice. Distinct Tonal Characterisations. Both musical instrumenTs and an voices have individual personalities and distinct tonal, characteristics caused by overtones of their fundamental sounds. .Musicians call these l qualities timbre or "bloom. - ’ Wide Ha brings Mils same bloom of music and human voice to the talking screen.

LITTLE "EXTRAS.” All Hie little extras which give tlnisli to a theatre will he in evidence, for instance. Hie costumes of Hie girl u-liei> will be very charming and of tnusual design.