SAN BERNARDINO DAILY SUN SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 1927
THEATER USED AS INVENTION DEMONSTRATION
General Electric’s Device Has Crack of
Pistol at Time Smoke Is Seen
PIANO PLAYER IS DOOMED
Show How Music of Symphony
Orchestra May Be ‘Put’ on
Film of Photoplay
(By Associated Press)
SCHENECTADY, N. Y, Jan. 29. – Talking motion pictures in which the tones of the performers were synchronized perfectly with the action on the silver screen and which are produced by a new and different process, were demonstrated by officials of the General Electric company in a theater here today.
The demonstration was in two forms. In one, the sound-recording apparatus was merged with the motion picture camera, and both the audible and the visible were imprinted simultaneously on the film. In the other, the incidental music for one of the latest “first run” films was recorded on an undeveloped print of the feature picture.
Low Frequency Tones Heard
When reproduced today, the strains of the 100-piece orchestra permeated every inch of the auditorium, with the deep low notes of the tubas, bass viols and bassoons easily identified. Heretofore, the chief difficulty in tone reproduction and amplification has been to make audible the low frequency tones. The new process, called by its inventors the “Photo-Phone,” is a combination of the motion picture projector and the paliophoto-phone, a device invented by Dr. C. A. Hoxie of the General Electric company’s research staff. The paliophotophone makes a photographic print, by means of a vibrating beam of light on the strip of film. When run through the reproducing machine, the vibrating beam of light retranslates the photographic sound record into audibility. The sound recorded in the projecting machine is amplified by a loud speaker to and degree desired. Music Fits In Proper Place
By means of synchronized motors, the incidental music accompanying the “first run” picture in the theater at New York was placed upon the picture film in exactly the proper relation. This was shown by two incidents of the action of the picture. In one place, the sound of a blow was timed exactly with the motion on the screen; later, the crack of a pistol was simultaneous with the burst of smoke from the muzzle of the weapon. The inventors whose combined efforts produced the new talking movie believe that in imposing the music after a film has been made they have aided the small-town exhibitor. Whereas the music in thousands of public theaters is limited to one piano, it will be possible hereafter to show anywhere or everywhere a picture with a symphony accompaniment. The process demonstrated today represents the fruition of more than six years of continuous research and experiment.