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length, taking about ten minutes to show. As an alternative, We
decided some years ago that we would have to be satisfied with
showing films accompanied by running commentaries on gramophone
records. The cost of getting these cut was also excessive,
and prevented their use. We then realised that we would have
to wait until such time as an apparatus was available that would
enable us to make our own records. Such an apparatus is now on
the market and one was purchased during the year.
A certain amount of experience is necessary before a satisfactory
record is cut, but careful experiment over a short period
enables the operator to ensure good results. In the first place, a
speaker must be selected with a good recording voice. Secondly,
the recording room should be small and damped down sufficiently,
by blankets or similar material, to prevent echo on the records.
The echo in the room must not be eliminated entirely or the
record will be "flat"; and thirdly the depth of the cut must be
exactly right.
While recording, absolute silence, except for the speaker's
voice, must be maintained, as every extraneous sound is recorded,
the turning of a paper, or the moving of a shoe on the floor will
completely spoil a record.
It is essential for the speaker to have his part clearly written
out, typed for preference, with words to which he wishes to give
emphasis underlined. The script must be marked off in sections,
each of fifteen seconds or less, and the reading must be done
exactly to time with the aid of a stop watch. A mistake in a word,
hesitancy or a cough means that the record must be done again.
For the reproduction of these records a double gramophone
is necessary, i.e., one with two turntables, both capable of running
at the same time. A switch must be fixed to enable the operator
to swing from one record to the other without a break and then
the whole apparatus is coupled up to a loud speaker.
An ordinary film will take from six to eight 12in. single-sided
records and with an outfit such as this, it is possible, provided that
care is taken to switch over to the next record as the last word is