Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/600849
70 CINEMONTAGE / FALL 2015 of the miles of sound footage. They initially balked at the shift from optical to magnetic because they were accustomed to "reading" visible sound marks on optical tracks. Some complained about having to use a "squawk box" to review the audio and mark the cuts with grease pencils because it slowed them down. For a short while, editors continued to be able to demand an optical "work track," even when the film was recorded magnetically. By 1950, Paramount Pictures' head of sound Loren Ryder had converted the studio entirely to sprocketed 17.5mm magnetic audio, rendering optical sound obsolete for production — although not for exhibition. The full history of magnetic sound from wire recording through Stefan Kudelski's (who along with Col. Richard H. Ranger came up with NBC's three-tone radio chime) development of the NAGRA recorder and onward is thoroughly examined. A Century of Sound acknowledges the importance of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in developing standards and giving awards in the sound field. In 1938, AMPAS set up a committee to study theatre sound equipment by testing sample soundtracks from each of the Hollywood studios in various movie theatres to see how well — or how poorly — they sounded compared to the same soundtracks when heard during the final mix at the studios. Based upon measurements they made, the committee came up with a standard equalization setting by which technicians could adjust theatre amplifiers to produce sound that would work well with the most recent Shearer Horn two-way loudspeakers. In this way, audio heard by audiences would accurately reflect the original audio quality heard by the sound mixers. Sound in theatres therefore would avoid treble frequencies that were too muffled or shrill, or bass frequencies that were too weak or tubby and boomy. Named Academy Curve, this standard lasted almost 50 years. A prime example of Gitt's meticulous care taken to make clear the dozens of technical topics Soundmen on an outdoor set for The Robe in 1953 holding three separate microphones, covered with windscreens, to record true three-channel stereophonic sound. Actor Richard Burton is third from right.