WEMBLEY AND NOISE

Hokitika Guardian, 5 February 1924, Page 3

WEMBLEY AND NOISE

FI YE MEN MAKE A NOISE. • LONDON, Nov. 12. The Exhibition authorities ore sparing no pains to organise thing- in tune. and ve-terday took no little pains to discover the acoustic properties of the Stadium. For within that groat amphitheatre many fixtures will he held during the coming year, in which the carrying powers ot the human voice and musical instruments will be important r-> the success of the undertakings. Mr Owen Nares and Mr and Mrs Basil Gill, the well-known actors, helped to tarry out the tests, and these proved the stadium to he in reality a whispering gallery. An enormous power amplifier, with eight projections, raised -10 ft. above the ground, stood at one end of the stadium. Sounds were conveyed through a microphone and amplifiers to loud speakers fixed on top ot a specially erected tower. telephone wires forming the connection. Some of the results achieved were satiMaetorv. others were ludicrous.

Master Geoffrey Nares took his part in the performance and spoke his piece, “Mummy, wave your handkerchief if you have heard me.” “Mummy. Mummy ? Have you heard me?”

lie said Amplified 5000 times the normal volume the young voice boomed across the stadium, and “Mummy” laughed. Mrs Basil Gill recited, and was followed by her husband, whose voice was heard quite clear and plain giving an extract from “Julius ( aesai. “T do not know." came the mighty tnne of Brutus, “what other men think of this Kfe •' So 011 ’ “Give me a drink." “Had enough Walter?" queried not Brutus, hut Mr Basil Gill. Mr Owen Nares then recited with passion: “Agnes. I love thee

and a 1.. should ..like to see any "damn wavo wash that out.” “Now,” ho added, “do you want any more?” Mr Nates laughed, and his laughter was magnified and rolled and reverberated round the huge auditorium'. The magnified sound of human voices was weird and uncanny. The voices, too, re-echoed strangely. During the British Empire Exhibition pageants and noisy displays will he everyday features. How much noise can the public, and particularly women and children, stand without discomfort ? Tin's was mm el the problems responsible for to-day's tests. Unusual results were obtained from the band. In massed formation it played the “Mcistersingers,” first without amplification. and ilieu tlm volume of sound was just mighty.