Evening star., 1928-11-08
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

is exactly the point. He can be con-
vinced that If one person feels so. thou
sands have a similar earpoint about
that sour saxophone. and rather than
listen to 1t they will either turn OF
their sets or tune in other stations
In radio broadcasting the voice of the
people is, verify, God.
X " X
There is a certain Jazz band that
plays indefatigably, as most of them
do. but has something in it or about it
that rattles. We have tried our best to
detect just what it is, but it has escaped
our ears 1t is not present in any other
orchestra we know of Perhaps it Is a
piece of tin on which the drummer of
the organization beats with aplomb
from time to time.
Anyway, something rattles. Now,
there isn't any set on the market, even
the latest and most costly, or any loud
speaker, no matter whether dynamic or
magnetic, which can afford to absorb
rattles from the broadcasting end. If
something rattles there, it will rattle
here. Radio has made wonderful ad-
van 7as, especially in regard to tone
quality, but 1t is perfect by no means.
The curves" of the best sets and speak
ers show a ratio far below theoretical
perfection.
So he who longs for perfect reception
Will shrink from any band which IN
corporates rattle of any kind. Thus
the tone OF one organization, taken as a
unit which it really is, although a
blend, contains rattle, that of an
other a thin. harsh sound and that of
another a sour saXophone.
Certain voices, too, as every one
knows contain discordant clements,
difficult to trace. but inescapable to
ears. Their vibrations are wrong. some
how
A slight dissertation on the differ
ence between tone" and "timbre"
may be in place. These two terms
are much used in musical discussions.
too often in an indefinite sense. AS a
matter of fact, a musical tone Is a
sound of individual character. The
timbre of voice, for instance, is the
quality of the tone. In other words.
tone, is almost a synonym for
sound and "timbre" for quality"
The tone quality of a radio receiver,
so often spoken of in the past three
years, takes the listener down basical-
ly to the sound of the set. If the
sounds which come into his ears are
of true musical quality, with vibrations
from the speaker corresponding to
those which went into 1t, the owner
may congratulate himself on possess
ing set with good tone quality.
To speak of the timbre of singers
voice, or even of a musical instrument.
as received via radio, is to speak of
the tone of the Tone If one may put
1t that way. since the word tone"
practically includes the two, in the
best sense of both.
The quality of any musical organi-
cation depends not only upon the
blend of all the instruments. or voices
land voice" is good word to mean
instrument, too), but, In a negative
way, even more upon the lack of poor
quality in certain particular voices or
instruments.
One such offender. no matter how
good the rest, can make discord in
the ears of a sensitive radio listener.
And let it be said that these critical
persons are after ALL the best friends
the broadcasters have. To broadcast
to a hundred people who are trying
to read or talk at the same time they
are trying to listen Is not so profitable
as to broadcast to 10 real music lovers
who give an artist their serious, un-
divided attention.
Radio stations have taken too much
for granted, both at the stations and
in the homes. Some day, we are con-
vinced, they will set group of emf
nent engineers to work upon these
singular problems, and from their ef-
forts will come the super broadcasting
and receiving of the future.