Sound-on-film
Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track, and may record the signal either optically or magnetically. Earlier technologies were sound-on-disc, meaning the film's soundtrack would be on a separate phonograph record.[1]
History
Sound on film can be dated back to the early 1880s, when Charles E. Fritts filed a patent claiming the idea. In 1923 a patent was filed by E. E. Ries, for a variable density soundtrack recording, which was submitted to the SMPE (now
Opposite with variable-density, in the early 1920s, variable-area sound recording was first experimented on by the
Analog sound-on-film recording
The most prevalent current method of recording analogue sound on a
In the early years of the 21st century distributors changed to using cyan dye optical soundtracks on color stocks instead of applicated tracks, which use environmentally unfriendly chemicals to retain a silver (black-and-white) soundtrack. Because traditional incandescent exciter lamps produce copious amounts of infra-red light, and cyan tracks do not absorb infra-red light, this change required theaters to replace the incandescent exciter lamp with a complementary colored red LED or laser. These LED or laser exciters are backwards-compatible with older tracks.
Earlier processes, used on
Digital sound-on-film formats
Three different digital soundtrack systems for 35 mm cinema release prints were introduced during the 1990s. They are:
Sound-on-film formats
Almost all sound formats used with motion-picture film have been sound-on-film formats, including:
Optical analog formats
- Fox/Western Electric (Westrex) Movietone, are variable-density formats of sound film. (No longer used, but still playable on modern 35 mm projectors.)
- Tri-Ergon, another variable-density format prevalent in Germany and Europe until the 1940s. The US patent rights of this Berlin based company were bought by William Fox in 1926, leading to a patent war with the US film industry lasting until 1935. Tri-Ergon amalgamated with a number of other German competitors from 1928 to form the Dutch-controlled Tobis Film syndicate in 1930,[4][5] licensing the system to UFA GmbH[6] as UFA-Klang.
- RCA Photophone, a variable-area format since the late 1920s—now universally used for optical analog soundtracks. Since the late 1970s usually with a Dolby encoding matrix.
Encoding matrices
- Dolby Stereo (SVA)
- Dolby SR
- Ultra Stereo
Optical digital formats
Obsolete formats
- Cinema Digital Sound, an optical format which was the first commercial digital sound format, used between 1990 and 1992
- Fantasound. This was a system developed by RCA and Disney Studios with a multi-channel soundtrack recorded on a separate strip of film from the picture. It was used for the initial release of Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940)
- Lee De Forestin 1919, defunct by 1929
See also
- Charles A. Hoxie
- List of film formats
- List of film sound systems
- List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
- Movietone sound system
- Optigan
- Phonofilm
- RCA Photophone
- Variophone
- Eugène Lauste
- Joseph Tykociński-Tykociner
References
- ^ Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound
- ^ Fayne, John G. "(History of) Motion Picture Sound Recording" (PDF). The Journal of Audio Engineering Society. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- ^ DTS | Corporate | Milestones Archived 2010-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "KLANGFILM - Early Systems (1928 - 1931)", Komagane, Nagano Prefecture : Caliber Code Corporation. Last accessed 5 September 2020.
- JSTOR 1225449. Retrieved September 6, 2020 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Kreimeier, K. (translation: Hill and Wang). 1999. THE UFA STORY. London: University of California Press.
External links
- Multichannel Film Sound (MKPE)