Western electric sound on film system

Demonstrated in 1927 with short films of vaudeville acts and musical numbers. A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound. Finding his voice 1929 is a short film, created as an instructional film on how the western electric soundonfilm recording system worked. This 270page hardback tells the story of western electric, the manufacturing arm of the bell telephone system, later spun off as lucent and now alcatellucent. New album the incredible shrinking man when i first heard a few of these songs i wasnt expecting to have such an instant reaction. By 1924, western electric was ready to sell its system to hollywood. Electrical research products, incorporated american company. The piece you see above is my homage to the western electric 43a. Not wishing to back the wrong system they developed their universal base which was able to replay both vitaphone and movietone films. The equipment shown is an accurate drawing of how motion picture sound equipment looked in the late 1920s. Siegfried 1924 adapted from the norse sagas premiered in the us in new york city in 1925, introducing the shortlived synchronized, phonofilm sound on. It also served as the purchasing agent for the member companies of the bell system.

The history of movie technology and we is well represented in dream machines, projection and sound systems part one and part two. Western electric introduced the mirrophonic sound system, whose loudspeakers introduced multicellular horns to multiway loudspeaker systems. All of foxs sound feature films were made using the movietone system until 1931 when it was superseded by a western electric recording system using the. Western electric actually worked on both soundonfilm and soundondisc systems. An animated cartoon synchronized to voice and sound.

In addition, an elaborate public address system included coverage of the auditorium, lobby and lounge areas. In addition to talking pictures, western electric had introduced the first public address system in 1920 as a natural outgrowth of their work in radio. Western electric company formed a subsidiary on january 1928, to handle western s nontelephone interests. Born today most popular celebs most popular celebs celebrity news. Sound motion picture technology engineering and technology. As we know modern plastic and synthetic material used to insulated copper wire deteriorates the sound quality. The direct predecessor of the 92a was the 43a, the theatre amplifier used for the first sound movies. Cast costume designer set designer lighting designer sound designer musical director conductor choreographer comment sign. Western electric sound system photos 3 californias. Millions of model 500series phones were produced and were present in most homes in north america. The system was first embraced by the warner brothers and over 100 short subjects were produced at the warner brothersfirst national studios in the mid 1920s. What hit me from the start was a deep sense of storytelling in a very cinematic setting reminding me of one of my favourite film and television genres nordic noir. Western electric 16a horn in a sublime listening space in japan. Undeterred, sam first threatened to leave the company until harry eventually accepted his brothers demands to make further films with sound.

Winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film. The following excerpt from the graumans chinese theater website, provides a brief behindthescenes glimpse of western electrics wide range sound system. He and his fellow engineers had been with the cinema industry from the beginning of sound. The rise, fall, and return of vitaphone brian cruz moving. Western electric became synonymous with film sound. Craft, executive vice president at bell laboratories, explains the vitaphone recording system, filming the popular vaudevillian duo witt and berg. Western electric sound system will keep you updated with our releases,gigs and news as we write and release songs. Does anyone know if this most important piece of audio history still exists. It can be very soft and delicate, very natural, yet vivid, colorful and dynamic. Giving sound to an electric car the german composer worked on the sound design for the bmw vision m next. Erpi developed and distributed studio recording equipment and sound systems to the major hollywood studios. Western electric classic speakers silbatone valve amplifiers reel.

While the film was a boxoffice success, don juan failed to recapture the rather large budget, which led many in the industry to conclude that all this talk of sound movies was a failed experiment. The above picture is what the 3slot payphone looked like before restoration began. Only warners had sound men, however, and they had all signed contracts. The idea of combining motion pictures and sound had been around since the invention of the cinema itself. Superior recording and amplification technology were now available to two hollywood studios, pursuing two very different methods of sound reproduction. Yes, modern wires are design to with stand the heat and stress generated in the copper. Western electric were offering either disc or film systems with projectors suitable for both, whilst rca in america, petersen in denmark, gaumont in france, kalee in england, klangfilm in germany, all concentrated with sound on film. I have listened k597 on a customers 15a stereo system. Apr 20, 2018 in these two historic videos, from the 1926 experimental sound film, the voice from the screen, edward b. Mar 21, 20 western electric company finding his voice educational short film 1929. Aug 01, 2017 edward wente and his team developed a light emitting vacuum tube that converted audio voltage into variable levels of light to expose movie film. Vitaphone vaudeville, 19261930 san francisco silent film festival.

The state of the art 1928 part 1 motion picture sound recording in its infancy by edward bernds. This system used phonograph discs to store the sound. Western electric equipment was also used in sound on film movies, electric recording technology and telecommunications. This short film is a training film shown to pacific northwest bell installers in the 1970s, encouraging them to upsell customers on extracost services. Heeley palace cinema in sheffield, gb cinema treasures. The origin of stereophonic sound on may 1932, stokovski highly recommended that the electric art has opened new horizon for musics development at american musical institute by presenting a hundred or more recording segments which performed by philadelphia symphony orchestra.

Development of electrical recording leopold stokowski. Western electric designed a wideaudiorange horn loudspeaker for cinemas. Electrics newly created marketing subsidiary, electrical research products, incorporated erpi, to use western electric equipment with the movietone sound on film recording system. Licensing the western electric electrical recording system. The rendition of piano and violin on the 16a horn is very enjoyable and it is a favorite for smallscale vocal music. Western electric model 361 and model 394 condenser microphone transmitters. The pantages opened with super simplexes and a western electric sound system that could handle both film and disc reproduction. With gene kelly, donald oconnor, debbie reynolds, jean hagen. Wente had created in 1916 and greatly improved in 1922. Lyle goldman had done the animation for wireless telephony 1921 and the mystery box 1922 for the bray studios and released by goldwyn pictures, and the ear. How big is the compression driver on the bass bins. Wentes development of the condenser mic in 1916 to the availability of improved carbon mics such as western electrics venerable model 1b. Thomas edison had commissioned the kinetograph to provide visual images for his phonograph, and william dickson had actually synchronized the two machines in a device briefly marketed in the. Get the best deals on western electric vintage speakers when you shop the largest online selection at.

Electronic switching system 1965 western electric telephone technology. Electrical research products, incorporated american. Western electric wea horn replica wea studio japan duration. The 43a, as far as i can determine, was the first audio amplifier developed specifically for cinema sound. To improve sound reproduction the projection was also changed at this time from 16 to 24 frames per second. Western electric, which had sold or leased soundondisc projectors to most of the theaters. An excellent laymans explanation of how sound on film works.

Two of those corporations formed a third, vitaphone, which produced the first commercially viable sound system, essentially a very large phonograph platter hooked up to a film. In the left rack we see the horn control panel, one 41a amp and one 42a amp. Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made. This theatre is equipped with western electric sound system.

Edward wente and his team developed a light emitting vacuum tube that converted audio voltage into variable levels of light to expose movie film. Western electric recording systems were then made available in the latter part of 1924 to victor and also to columbia to evaluate. Victor at first hesitated to license the new system, it would seem primarily because of its high cost. The discs were pressed by victor, the leading record label. The original owners were the heeley electric palace ltd. They were in theaters letting patrons know the theater was equipped with 1933s western electric wide range sound system.

Western electric recording filmography and movies fandango. According to online sources, it was released in 1928 or 1929 a year or two after the first opticaltrack syncsound film was shown publicly. Like warners, fox was a small but expanding company that hoped sound would give it a competitive advantage. This light output produced a variable density sound pattern on the film. Sep 01, 2006 although unveiled in 1925, electrical recording resulted from several successive technologies, ranging from western electric engineer edward c. Take a look at the 1947 movie life of reilly where william bendix is using a d7 clipper mike with a pa system that figures in the movies plot. It created the western electric universal base, a device by which early silent cinema projectors could be adapted to screen sound films. History of the motion picture the preworld war ii sound era.

The heeley palace cinema converted to sound in march 1930 with its first talkie film broadway melody shown on 31st march using the western electric sound system. Fox film corporation invested in the casesponable sound on film system. Western electric products telephones payphones 233g. The vitaphone was a soundondisc system developed by bell telephone laboratories and western electric.

Western electric company finding his voice educational short film 1929. History of the motion picture history of the motion picture the preworld war ii sound era. The western electric universal base is commonly associated with the early sound era. By may 1928 virtually every studio in hollywood, major and minor, was licensed by western electric s newly created marketing subsidiary, electrical research products, incorporated erpi, to use western electric equipment with the movietone soundonfilm recording system. Warner brothers had just released the ground breaking film the jazz singer and it soon became apparent to many in hollywood. And we had a huge complement of follow spot and effects projector gear in the booth. Western electrics system required larger grooves, resulting in their discs. Erpis monopoly did not please the radio corporation of america rca, which had tried to market a soundon. Research group moved from western electric in chicago to newlyformed bell laboratories in manhattan. Recognition for western electric s contributions to the film industry soon followed. These were doomed mostly by studiotheater owners reluctance to make the. Many are still in use today because of their durability and ample availability. In 1929, western electric was also a big player in early cinema sound systems.

Gone with the wind 1939 technical specifications imdb. This allowed the sound to be played to a large audience at a comfortable volume. The first talkies employed a mechanically synchronized soundondisc system instead of the later sound on film system. The western electric amp rack for the film sound system. Finding his voice 1929 how sound on film works youtube. This was estimated to be nearly 50% efficient, thus allowing a cinema to be filled with sound from a 3watt amplifier. The vitaphone system logged sound on a record linked electronically to the projector, keeping sound synchronized with image. Wente was granted a patent on this technology in 1923, and it was later the basis for the western electric sound on film process. During the early 60s i was apprenticed to an ex senior engineer of western electric uk who had been involved in pioneering technology for magnetic multiple track recording and large scale sound systems for cinema and auditoriums. The western electric model 500 telephone series was the standard domestic desk telephone set issued by the bell system in north america from 1950 through the 1984 bell system divestiture. Ive posted about this before but now i wonder if this system survived. It was a huge success, responsible for transforming warners into hollywoods hottest film factory.

To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our website, which has the same tickets as our fandango. Although the film explained the western electric sound on film system, when the film was initially released, the sound was provided by the vitaphone soundondisc system. Jan 30, 2019 the fletcher system was the father of the shearer sound system and all those to come. Western electric then branchedout into developing uses for the vacuum tube including public address systems and an electrical recording system for the. Aes historical committee aes audio engineering society. These were doomed mostly by studiotheater owners reluctance to make the substantial investment in playback equipment. With my colleague, ray scoville, we developed a noise reduction system. The major studios also turned away western electric, makers of vitaphone, in 1925.

Even from these early days of sound on film companies were investigating the possibilities of stereo sound, one of the earliest such examples was in. Motion picture sound recording in its infancy 1928 part1. Oscars best picture winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film festival awards central festival central all events. In 1929, western electric entered as a market competitor for early cinema sound systems. I wasnt aware of this max fleischer directed film or the characters from it, but i am glad to have now watched this. Edward christopher wente joined the western electric engineering department in 1914 to work on research involving the design and calibration of a uniformly sensitive transmitter or microphone for use in sound studies. Telephone world western electric crossbar vintage sounds. Western electric learned a few things about the sound movie business during. The 1997 bernard happe memorial lecture of sound in the cinema. The light output in turn produced a variable density sound pattern on the film.