Audio Engineering in the Motion Pictures
Much of the earliest work on Audio Engineering using electronics -- as
opposed to purely acoustical systems -- was for the telephone system and
for sound for motion
pictures. The history of motion picture sound engineering will be
found in the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television
Engineers, SMPTE. Many historic articles about ground-breaking audio work in the Bell
System were published in the Bell System Technical Journal. Topics of
articles published in one or both of these journals include the
development of microphones, loudspeakers, amplifiers, room acoustics,
stereophony, high-fidelity transmission systems and recording and
reproduction on mechanical disks, optical film, and magnetic film.
Before the advent of television
-- from its founding in 1916 to 1950 -- SMPTE was known as the Society
of Motion Picture Engineers, SMPE.
We have scanned and posted here, with permission from SMPTE, a detailed history as given by EW Kellogg in
"History of Sound Motion Pictures", Journal of the SMPTE, Vol 64 (1955), in three
installments: June, pp 291...302 (1.8 MB);
July, pp 356...374 (4.0 MB);
August, pp 422...437 (2.4 MB). Forty-four pages total, with 406 (!) references.
The history of motion picture sound recording, in all of its aspects,
will be found in two books that may be found at used book dealers:
- "Motion Picture Sound Engineering", Van Nostrand, 1938
- Frayne, John G & Wolfe, Halley, "Elements of Sound Recording", John Wiley and Sons, 1949.
Some interesting links on motion picture sound include:
jm
2003-12-05