Western electric sound on film system

Western electric products telephones payphones 233g. Demonstrated in 1927 with short films of vaudeville acts and musical numbers. Western electric, which had sold or leased soundondisc projectors to most of the theaters. 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. The first talkies employed a mechanically synchronized soundondisc system instead of the later sound on film system. In 1929, western electric was also a big player in early cinema sound systems.

Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made. Recognition for western electric s contributions to the film industry soon followed. Western electric model 361 and model 394 condenser microphone transmitters. The state of the art 1928 part 1 motion picture sound recording in its infancy by edward bernds. The coming of sound sound actor, film, movie, voice. The major studios also turned away western electric, makers of vitaphone, in 1925. 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 history of movie technology and we is well represented in dream machines, projection and sound systems part one and part two. Siegfried 1924 adapted from the norse sagas premiered in the us in new york city in 1925, introducing the shortlived synchronized, phonofilm sound on.

Western electric wea horn replica wea studio japan duration. The equipment shown is an accurate drawing of how motion picture sound equipment looked in the late 1920s. Get the best deals on western electric vintage speakers when you shop the largest online selection at. Yes, modern wires are design to with stand the heat and stress generated in the copper. Like warners, fox was a small but expanding company that hoped sound would give it a competitive advantage. Erpis monopoly did not please the radio corporation of america rca, which had tried to market a soundon. In addition, an elaborate public address system included coverage of the auditorium, lobby and lounge areas. 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. The late 1920s and early 30s saw a large selection of sound equipment introduced to accommodate. Giving sound to an electric car the german composer worked on the sound design for the bmw vision m next. The western electric company and its rival rca were involved in the development. An animated cartoon synchronized to voice and sound. Mar 21, 20 western electric company finding his voice educational short film 1929.

Electrics newly created marketing subsidiary, electrical research products, incorporated erpi, to use western electric equipment with the movietone sound on film recording system. 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. The light output in turn produced a variable density sound pattern on the film. Undeterred, sam first threatened to leave the company until harry eventually accepted his brothers demands to make further films with sound. Victor at first hesitated to license the new system, it would seem primarily because of its high cost. Wente was granted a patent on this technology in 1923, and it was later the basis for the western electric sound on film process. Winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film. 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. 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. Western electric introduced the mirrophonic sound system, whose loudspeakers introduced multicellular horns to multiway loudspeaker systems. In 1929, western electric entered as a market competitor for early cinema sound systems. Western electric became synonymous with film sound. A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

Western electric equipment was also used in sound on film movies, electric recording technology and telecommunications. The following excerpt from the graumans chinese theater website, provides a brief behindthescenes glimpse of western electrics wide range 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. Development of electrical recording leopold stokowski. Jan 30, 2019 the fletcher system was the father of the shearer sound system and all those to come. A brief history of sound in moviesmovies and filmfilm.

He and his fellow engineers had been with the cinema industry from the beginning of sound. Western electric classic speakers silbatone valve amplifiers reel. 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. As we know modern plastic and synthetic material used to insulated copper wire deteriorates the sound quality. Only warners had sound men, however, and they had all signed contracts. Erpi developed and distributed studio recording equipment and sound systems to the major hollywood studios. Millions of model 500series phones were produced and were present in most homes in north america. According to online sources, it was released in 1928 or 1929 a year or two after the first opticaltrack syncsound film was shown publicly. 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. This system used phonograph discs to store the sound. The western electric amp rack for the film sound system. Western electric recording systems were then made available in the latter part of 1924 to victor and also to columbia to evaluate. New album the incredible shrinking man when i first heard a few of these songs i wasnt expecting to have such an instant reaction.

Western electric company formed a subsidiary on january 1928, to handle western s nontelephone interests. Vitaphone vaudeville, 19261930 san francisco silent film festival. Western electric recording filmography and movies fandango. Craft, executive vice president at bell laboratories, explains the vitaphone recording system, filming the popular vaudevillian duo witt and berg. The western electric universal base is commonly associated with the early sound era.

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 designed a wideaudiorange horn loudspeaker for cinemas. 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. By 1924, western electric was ready to sell its system to hollywood. 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. History of the motion picture the preworld war ii sound era. It also served as the purchasing agent for the member companies of the bell system. Sound motion picture technology engineering and technology. How big is the compression driver on the bass bins. Superior recording and amplification technology were now available to two hollywood studios, pursuing two very different methods of sound reproduction. The vitaphone was a soundondisc system developed by bell telephone laboratories and western electric. The original owners were the heeley electric palace ltd. Wentes development of the condenser mic in 1916 to the availability of improved carbon mics such as western electrics venerable model 1b.

The 1997 bernard happe memorial lecture of sound in the cinema. Heeley palace cinema in sheffield, gb cinema treasures. 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. They were in theaters letting patrons know the theater was equipped with 1933s western electric wide range sound system. Finding his voice 1929 is a short film, created as an instructional film on how the western electric soundonfilm recording system worked. 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. The above picture is what the 3slot payphone looked like before restoration began. Electrical research products, incorporated american. Western electric learned a few things about the sound movie business during. History of the motion picture history of the motion picture the preworld war ii sound era. This theatre is equipped with western electric sound system. Western electric sound system will keep you updated with our releases,gigs and news as we write and release songs.

Western electric then branchedout into developing uses for the vacuum tube including public address systems and an electrical recording system for the. Fox film corporation invested in the casesponable sound on film system. The piece you see above is my homage to the western electric 43a. Electronic switching system 1965 western electric telephone technology. Bergh, an audio engineer who specializes in restoring old soundtracks, has long been fascinated with the western electric system, which recorded the sound for the jazz singer and other early. 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. In the left rack we see the horn control panel, one 41a amp and one 42a amp. To improve sound reproduction the projection was also changed at this time from 16 to 24 frames per second. New york citys first radio station was put on the air by western in 1922, and weaf eventually became wnbc, the flagship station of the national broadcasting company.

This was later the basis for the western electric sound on film process. Many are still in use today because of their durability and ample availability. Western electric company finding his voice educational short film 1929. 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 developed an integrated system for recording, reproducing and filling a theater with synchronized sound. 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. Electrical research products, incorporated american company. Sep 01, 2006 although unveiled in 1925, electrical recording resulted from several successive technologies, ranging from western electric engineer edward c. These were doomed mostly by studiotheater owners reluctance to make the.

This light output produced a variable density sound pattern on the film. 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. The rendition of piano and violin on the 16a horn is very enjoyable and it is a favorite for smallscale vocal music. The direct predecessor of the 92a was the 43a, the theatre amplifier used for the first sound movies. 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. These were doomed mostly by studiotheater owners reluctance to make the substantial investment in playback equipment.

The 43a, as far as i can determine, was the first audio amplifier developed specifically for cinema sound. Finding his voice 1929 how sound on film works youtube. Gone with the wind 1939 technical specifications imdb. Warner brothers had just released the ground breaking film the jazz singer and it soon became apparent to many in hollywood. The discs were pressed by victor, the leading record label. Western electric 16a horn in a sublime listening space in japan. Motion picture sound recording in its infancy 1928 part1. It was a huge success, responsible for transforming warners into hollywoods hottest film factory. Ive posted about this before but now i wonder if this system survived. An excellent laymans explanation of how sound on film works. Licensing the western electric electrical recording system. Western electrics system required larger grooves, resulting in their discs. The pantages opened with super simplexes and a western electric sound system that could handle both film and disc reproduction.

This was estimated to be nearly 50% efficient, thus allowing a cinema to be filled with sound from a 3watt amplifier. 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. With my colleague, ray scoville, we developed a noise reduction system. With gene kelly, donald oconnor, debbie reynolds, jean hagen. Cast costume designer set designer lighting designer sound designer musical director conductor choreographer comment sign. Western electric company made a great decision hiring animators to create a cartoon showing off and explaining their new sound system and how talking movies worked and are. It can be very soft and delicate, very natural, yet vivid, colorful and dynamic. Wente had created in 1916 and greatly improved in 1922. And we had a huge complement of follow spot and effects projector gear in the booth.

To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our website, which has the same tickets as our fandango. Telephone world western electric crossbar vintage sounds. Western electric actually worked on both soundonfilm and soundondisc systems. Vitaphone was far from the first sound film system to use this technology, but it had amplifiers and loudspeakers, developed by western electric, which were stateoftheart. This allowed the sound to be played to a large audience at a comfortable volume. This short film is a training film shown to pacific northwest bell installers in the 1970s, encouraging them to upsell customers on extracost services. Western electric company finding his voice educational. Born today most popular celebs most popular celebs celebrity news. 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. 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. The rise, fall, and return of vitaphone brian cruz moving. In the right rack below the patchbay are two 42a amps. While the camera engineers were fiddling with 70mm, audio engineers were doing what they could to improve movie sound.

Does anyone know if this most important piece of audio history still exists. The idea of combining motion pictures and sound had been around since the invention of the cinema itself. Apr 20, 2018 in these two historic videos, from the 1926 experimental sound film, the voice from the screen, edward b. I have listened k597 on a customers 15a stereo system. Aes historical committee aes audio engineering society. Research group moved from western electric in chicago to newlyformed bell laboratories in manhattan. Not wishing to back the wrong system they developed their universal base which was able to replay both vitaphone and movietone films. The vitaphone system logged sound on a record linked electronically to the projector, keeping sound synchronized with image. It created the western electric universal base, a device by which early silent cinema projectors could be adapted to screen sound films.