Preserving Motion Picture Sound
A Brief History of Motion Picture Sound
By Robert Heiber and Thom Piper, Sr.
Chace Audio, Burbank, California
1796: The Music Box is invented.
1877: The Phonograph is invented by Thomas Edison.
1886: Charles Sumner Tainter and Chinchester Bell invent The Gramophone.
1901: The photographic recording of sound was devised.
1913: Edison develops the Kinetophone, which synchronized records to film.
1918: J.T. Tykociner developed a sound-on-film system that used mercury arc light and a Kunz photocell.
1923: Lee de Forest’s short Phonofilms, featuring vaudeville stars Weber and Fields, Sissle & Blake, Phil Baker, Eddie Cantor, Eva Puck Sammy White, and Conchita Piquir, are exhibited using the Case/De Forest sound-on-film method.
1924: The electrically-recorded talking picture was exhibited with success in Woolsey Hall at Yale University, followed by a film called Hawthorne. This was a film with sound-on-disc showing Western Electric’s role as the manufacturing unit of the Bell System. It was the first sound industrial film.
1925: The first electronic recordings were made with the use of a microphone.
1926: The Vitaphone system of Warner Bros. was first demonstrated to the press on August 2 at the Warner Theatre in New York City.
1927: On May 11, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in Hollywood.
1927: On October 26, the first “talkie” motion picture, The Jazz Singer (two short dialogue sequences, in addition to song numbers), is released using the “Vitaphone” system, which employed a 16-inch phonograph record synchronized to the film projector.
1927-1930: Sound-on-film systems evolve to include variable-density and variable-area. Sound was recorded on print film, which was then printed on the same print film as the picture.
1928: Disney released its first animated sound film Steamboat Willie, starring Mickey Mouse. The animation was drawn to the beat of a metronome, with a fully synchronized soundtrack of dialogue, music and effects.
1928: The first usable magnetic recording tape is developed by BASF in Germany.
1928: The Perfect Crime, the first live action motion picture with sound on film recording, is released.
1928: On July 6, Warner Bros. releases the Vitaphone feature, Lights Of New York.
1928: In August the first sound trailer or preview, Warming Up with Richard Dix, appeared.
1928: In December Fox releases In Old Arizona, the first motion picture to be mostly photographed outdoors with location sound.
1928: RCA introduces the variable area system to standardize its soundtrack to be the same width as Movietone.
1929: MGM’s first “all talking, all singing, all dancing film”, The Broadway Melody, is released. Irving Thalberg ordered one of the musical numbers to be re-shot. Having the actor “lip sync” the songs from a previous soundtrack saved time and money, and ushered in the practice of dubbing separately-recorded sound into a new scene.
1930: Monaural optical sound-on-film system is standardized. Also, the first electronic musical instrument, the electronic organ, is invented.
1931: Bell Laboratories made the first stereo recordings for experimental use.
1934: RCA introduces the first 16mm sound motion picture camera available to the public.
1936: The first true magnetic tape recorder, the Magnetophone, is sold.
1937: Universal Studios released One Hundred Men and a Girl in standard monophonic sound. It was the first soundtrack originally recorded by RCA in the multiple channel recording process.
1940: Disney’s Fantasia utilizes the first 70mm multi-channel optical or magnetic sound. In 1990 Fantasia was re-released in magnetic six-channel Fantasound 90 at the Cinerama dome Theater in Los Angeles.
1952: Manufacturing of nitrate film is ceased
1952: This is Cinerama, seven-channel magnetic sound synchronized to three film projectors appears. A Cinerama frame was six perfs high and ran at twenty-six fps for a speed of 146.25 fpm.
953:1 The motion picture The Robe is released in Cinemascope utilizing four magnetic tracks striped on a 35mm anamorphic print. This was the first four-track stereo LCRS (left,center,right,surround) film released. How to Marry a Millionaire was the first Cinemascope film made, but its release was held up for The Robe, which was considered a better introduction to the wide screen format.
1954: White Christmas was released in the Vista Vision horizontal 35mm widescreen format with Perspecta sound.
1955: Oklahoma is released in 65mm Todd-AO with separate 35mm six-track magnetic film synchronized to the film projector. Soundtrack ran at ninety fpm (twenty-four fps) in sync with the projector running at 112.5 fpm (thirty fps).
1962: How The West Was Won was released in the Cinerama seven-channel magnetic sound format. The speed for West was twenty-four fps with the six perf high film for a speed of 135 fpm. This allowed for a longer running time than the previous Cinerama films.
1967: The Graduate became the first film to use old songs from records as a major part of its music soundtrack.
1970: The Dolby A noise reduction system is introduced with the film Jane Eyre.
1971: Clockwork Orange is the first film to be mastered with Dolby noise reduction.
1974: Lisztomania released with a Dolby Stereo four-channel magnetic track.
1974: Earthquake introduces Universal Picture’s Sensurround process.
1976: A Star Is Born is released with surround sound effects in the Dolby Stereo optical track.
1979: MGM released Apocalypse Now using Dolby A Stereo 70mm surround sound.
1982: THX sound system released with Return of the Jedi.
1986: Dolby demonstrates SR noise reduction recording format to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
1990: Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the first theatrical system for digital sound in theaters, debuts with Dick Tracy but the system proves to be not reliable enough and is abandoned.
1992: Dolby introduces Dolby Digital 5.1 sound for theatrical exhibition with Batman Returns. Dolby puts its digital data between the perfs on the film.
1993: Digital Theater Sound (DTS) is introduced with Jurassic Park. This 5.1 system uses a CD-ROM for the audio track, which is synchronized to the print with a time code track.
1993: Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) is introduced with Last Action Hero. SDDS can present up to 7.1 channels of sound. The data is recorded on both edges of the film outside of the perf area.
1998: High-Magenta tracks are introduced as a compatible format for both white light and red LED readers in projectors. This is the first step in the transition to cyan dye only sound tracks, which require red illumination to be played back properly.
2004: Several major Hollywood studios announce theatrical releases with cyan dye tracks.
Audio in Motion Pictures: Playback and Recording Formats
By Thom Piper, Sr.
Chace Audio, Burbank, California
Magnetic Film formats:
16mm
17.5mm
35mm
Single Stripe
Clear edge
Fullcoat
3 Stripe
Optical Film formats (Positive & Negative):
16mm
17.5mm
35/32mm
35/32mm Dual-Rank
Variable Density (V/D)
Variable Area (V/A)
Noise Reduction formats:
DBX Type I and II
Dolby A
Dolby SR
Ultra Stereo
Film formats:
Comp / Combine
Dialogue/Music/Effects (DME)
Music & Effects (M & E)
Music (Mx)
Effects (EFX, Fx)
Mono
Stereo
Center Track
Edge Track
Films speeds (feet per minute):
36 fpm- standard 16mm
90 fpm- standard 35mm
146.25 Cinerama
135 fpm - Cinerama
180 fpm - Vista Vision
Audio Tape formats:
¼-inch Fulltrack, 2 track, 4 track
½-inch 2 track, 4 track, 8 track
1-inch 2 track, 8 track
2-inch 16 track, 24 track
NAGRA
Audio Sync references:
50 Hz
60 Hz
44.1 kHz
48 kHz
Ranger tone
Fairchild
Nagra sync
PAL/EBUTC
NTSC- DFTC, NDFTC
Sound Synchronization
By Robert Heiber
Chace Audio, Burbank, California
There are two main issues in motion picture sound synchronization (“sync”). The first and easiest is the printer advance needed to print the optical soundtrack onto the film. For 35mm film, the optical soundtrack is printed twenty-one frames ahead of the corresponding image. For 16mm the soundtrack advance is twenty-six frames ahead of the picture. The reason for this advance is to allow the film to resume a smooth, jitter free movement before the sound is reproduced. (During projection the intermittent movement in the projector holds the film frame in place while the shutter is open. If the sound playback head was installed at this location, the interruption in the film’s movement would yield an unacceptable “staccato” like sound.) Thus the sound is said to be “advanced” from the picture, and this sync relationship is established at the laboratory when the print is made. The important thing to remember when looking at prints with optical soundtracks is that the sound for the frame being looked at is really either twenty-one frames (35mm) or twenty-six frames (16mm) ahead. (Prints with magnetic stripes have different sound advances.)
The second and much more complicated issue of sync is the ability to “maintain sync” when manipulating the sound, for example during a transfer. Whenever the sound will be handled separately from the picture, maintaining the “sync reference” is one of the most critical technical requirements. When handled improperly, re-establishing sync becomes a time consuming and expensive process.
Film speed is twenty-four frames per second (fps), and historically it was derived by special synchronization motors that were able to keep a steady twenty-four fps speed using the 60Hz (50Hz in Europe) of standard 110/120 volt (230/240v) line current (the same electrical current that runs lights, appliances, etc.). In order to maintain sync between the machine playing the sound and the machine or device that is recording it, both machines must be referenced to the same source, whether it is wall current, a video generator or, in the case of digital devices, a word clock. When the sync reference is handled correctly, a “referenced transfer” is produced, meaning that both machines were locked together by either being physically coupled or electronically linked so that any difference in the play speed is duplicated on the recording machine. This is sometimes also called a “locked transfer.”
When this procedure is not followed and the play and record machine are running independently of each other, the sound will no longer sync to the original picture. This kind of transfer, known as a “wild” transfer, should only be made when the original film sound will not be used with the picture, for example for a CD soundtrack release. Working with film elements in either the video or digital domains introduces a host of additional special considerations, which is beyond a brief look at film synchronization.
Sync references are typically found on all sound motion picture elements other than film, since the film speed and sprockets provide for twenty-four fps sync. The most common sync references are 60 Hz (50Hz in Europe) or Time Code (either SMPTE or EBU). For older audiotape formats used in motion pictures, there are variations on the 60Hz sync reference. The most common are Ranger tone, Fairchild, and Pilot tone (Nagra). These obsolete formats must be played back on machines with special heads designed to read the sync references in order to make a properly-referenced transfer.
Tracks that were improperly made will usually exhibit a drift whereby the sound either falls slowly ahead or behind the picture. While the track will start out in sync with picture, even the untrained eye will notice a problem within a few minutes as the sound drifts further out of sync. This drift can be corrected with modern restoration tools, but the solution can be time consuming.
Another common sync issue occurs when the track abruptly “jumps” out of sync. The cause for this is a sudden occurrence of either too much or not enough audio. This is often the result of film damage, causing a loss of picture, soundtrack, or a version problem where the picture and sound are from different sets, for example, a theatrical version and a television version. These abrupt sync changes usually do not indicate a problem with the transfer process itself. When the problem is too much sound, often the audio track can be edited to match the picture. However, when the sound is short, the only alternative, in most cases, is additional research to find the correct version.
Maintaining the sync of a motion picture soundtrack is one of the most critical functions in the sound restoration process. Whenever embarking on a sound project, it is a good idea to fully understand how the sync references will be maintained before starting. Having a clear road map of the sync references will ensure a problem-free project.