Talkie Equipment

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 13 (Supplement)

Talkie Equipment

Praise by Western Electric Head

According to the officials of the Western Electric Company, the Civic plant is the finest and largest in the Dominion. No expense has been spared by the management to secure the latest developments that modern science can produce, and patrons of the Civic are assured of excellent reproduction. Mr. J. H. Barker, jun., said, in a recent interview, that a great deal depended upon the extent to which the management of the theatre cooperated with his engineers in the work of installation.

“Those responsible for New Zealand’s finest theatre,” said Mr. Barker, “have been untiring in their efforts to obtain the finest reproduction possible for their theatre. Special accoustic treatment has been

given the auditorium, and months ago Civic architects were in touch with our engineers to collaborate on perfecting an architectural scheme which would be adapted to the best extent possible for the showing of talking pictures. The Civic represents the finest development of the modern theatre.”

Western Electric engineers have been in constant attendance at the theatre during its course of construction. The hundreds of miles of hightest wires necessary for connecting up the complicated parts of talkie apparatus, were built into the building itself during the construction period. A special innovation was introduced to take care of the problem of removing the reproducing equipment from the stage when it is needed for Mr. Henkel’s presentations. Nowhere in the southern hemisphere has there been a more and complex treatment necessary, nor a more painstaking effort by both the management and the sound engineers to produce good results.

Engineers directly concerned with the installation of the talkie outfit have been Mr. J. W. Mcßurney, installation manager for Western Electric; Mr. R. H. Boreham, installation supervisor for the North Island, and installation engineer Mr. F. E. Butterfield.

In speaking of his New Zealand employees, Mr. Barker said that nowhere in his experience had he been able to obtain the services of such a high-grade type of experienced electrical engineers as those now in his organisation. In a total payroll of some forty people in the Western Electric Company, all blit four are New Zealanders. During the weeks of installation work at the Civic Theatre, a special

engineer was assigned the duty of instructing the Civic operator in the intricacies of sound-picture mechanism. It is stated on good authority that at least 75 per cent, of the success of any talkie programme depends upon the skill with which the equipment is operated. The finest talkie plant in the world with the finest picture can be marred completely by unskilled operation of the mechanism. Excessive volume can mar the success of a programme as completely as total interruption of the dialogue. A too-high tone level for either the voice or music, irritates and disturbs the audience without their knowing what is wrong. Similarly, a too faint amplification of the speaking voice causes overstrain on the part of the audience to catch the words of the dialogue, a condition similar to witnessing a legitimate stage play in a theatre with poor accoustics and by a cast of unskilled locutionists. A pleasing tone level is necessary, and this is the responsibility of the management through those in charge of the sound mechanism. The Civic Theatre management has been untiring in its co-operation with those responsible for the success of its programme. Each detail has been meticulously studied from every conceivable angle to produce the best results from an entertainment standpoint. Neither expense nor time has been spared to give New Zealand theatre-goers the best.