Sound Research WIKINDX
Sound Research WIKINDX |
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Altman, R. (1992). Sound space. In R. Altman (Ed.), Sound Theory Sound Practice (pp. 46–64). New York: Routledge. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (16/02/2006, 08:28) |
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| Resource type: Book Chapter BibTeX citation key: Altman1992c Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: Film Music/Sound, History Keywords: Acoustics, Aural Imagery, Film sound, History, Psychoacoustics, Realism, Sound Recording, Visual Space Creators: Altman Publisher: Routledge (New York) Collection: Sound Theory Sound Practice |
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| Notes |
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An historical overview of early cinema sound and attempts to accommodate sound to image. Restated is the idea that recorded sound represents rather than reproduces reality. Various historical attempts to use sound to represent space are discussed.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| Quotes |
| p.55 Summarizing 1930's film sound theoretician J.P. Maxfield "the sound track must carry, independently from the image, all the information necessary to reconstruct the "real" space of the scene (that is, the one represented by the image)." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| p.62 As the image on screen flits about incessantly drawing our eyes hither and thither, it is the sound track, with its constant scale, that provides stability and an anchorage. "It is thus the sound track that provides a base for visual identification, that authorizes vision and makes it possible. The identity of Hollywood spectators begins with their ability to be auditors." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
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pp.51–55
An important point here is the relation between sound scale and image scale and the effect on film sound of single microphone technique, multiple mikes, mixing, sound editing, microhpone placements etc. In the early '30s, the emphasis was directed to authentic spatial recording (with a human body analogy) but, with the development of condensor microphones (required to be close to the sound source) and boom technology, this shifted to an emphasis on clarity (of dialogue). This had implications for mixing in post-production leading to the contruction of a sound track rather that its recording. By the end of the decade, attempts to match sound scale accurately to image scale had been all but discarded.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: POA |
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pp.58–62
By the end of the '30s, sound scale/image scale proportionality had been discarded in favour of (dialogue) intelligibility. The notion of the internal auditor (point-of-audition) was developed -- the spectator is required to identify with or inhabit the body of an on-screen character who will hear for us. Reverberation is used to identify sound intended for this character (little or no reverb) or not (greater ratio of reverberated sound to direct sound). The spectator is inserted into the film narrative "at the very intersection of two spaces [film space and the internal auditor's space (the character's body)] which the image alone is incapable of linking, thus giving us the sensation of controlling the relationship between those spaces." (p.61)
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: POA |