Evening star., 1943-05-09

! ton fill the bill. Likewise by ex-
perimentation 1t was concluded not
long ago that the sound of rainfall
could best be made. not by dried
peas ratified on a screen, but by
water itself-pumped from a studio
faucet or through a spray device
when light drizzle is called for
To get the sound of -four mill
grinder on recent war program
broadcast, the technician slowed
down recordings of (a) a plane pow
er-diving, so that it went into a high
pitched whine, and (b) a crowd
applauding, so that it became a
low rumble. The combination of
the two. plus bit of water-e effect,
gave the desired results.
For Some effects, however, the
procedure is considerably less COM
plicated. For breaking glass, for
example, one has simply to break
glass. To create the sound of a
ball knocking down ten-pins, one
simply rolls ball at ten-pins in
the studio provided one is accurate
Which one was not during a broad
cast of several months ago, when his
ball missed. and stooge hastily
had to kick over the wooden pegs.
But there have been mistakes be-
fore, Just as there will periodically
be mistakes in the future. Like the
legendary experience OF Bob Finney
over at VOL. Young Mr.. Finney
was handling one of his first pro-
duction shows as sound-effects man.
1t was only 15-minute program,
but the first IA 2-or-So minutes
were devoted entirely to conversa-
ton. Mr.. Finney, whose sole pur-
pose was to push the 'doorbell"
button-one of three buttons on the
sound-effects cabinet-lapsed into
languid do2e. Just in time he
snapped to for his cue, but he had
forgotten which type of ring the
script called for-telephone, door,
bell or buzzer. Frantic thumbing
through script. frantic signaling
from the cast. So the ingenious Mr..
Flnney sent to the network
r-r-r-rlng, ting ling and
phtttttt, all three. And that was
the last time he handled the con-
troll box
Alertness at Turntable.
While recorded sound effects
might be sneered upon as too much
Of a canned thing. nevertheless the
staff man who must weld even rec
ordS into show is faced with
colossal Job of concentration. To
drop that needle into the proper
groove at precisely the right time
is responsibility on which depends
the entire continuity of a drama.
You'd realize if you were to hear,
say, the command Fire." and an
empty 30 or even IS seconds drifted
by before the noise of the cannon
came out of your loudspeaker.
In the category of records. more
over, there is a whole library of
fascinating titles and fine points of
differentiation. One label specify
ing monkey calls, for example
Apes Gibbering,' followed imme-
dlately by "Gibbering Gibbons and
Gibbons Jabberine' On crowd"
disc there is an ALI Male French
Crowd "A Native Crowd" which
gives away to something like Cen
cral Sounds of Rlbald Celebration.
1t is perhaps odd that no differ
ence can be detected in the tenor
Of the three; but then, maybe all
three have something particularly
ribald to shout about.
But whatever his particular lob
OF articulation may be the retiring
fellow in the studio background who
closes the door. makes babies CRY
or spins the record turntable is an
rndlsnensable whose absence YOU
would bewail even more than a
sponsor. His Is an art-form to
he studied.