HEARD BUT NOT SEEN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 295, 16 February 1945, Page 14

HEARD BUT NOT SEEN

Noises Off In An NBS Studio

N albatross flies lazily over the schooner. You can hear the beat of its wings. A sudden squall strikes the ship. The sails flap in their gaskets or whatever it is that sails flap in, and the cordage groans and strains. ~ But it doesn’t.

The noisy albatross is the production manager’s coat, flapped furiously with his. right hand while his left holds the script. And those sails? A member of the cast is opening and shutting an umbrella as fast as he can. The forestay andthe backstay and so on that groan? That’s just another member of the cast,

in an NBS production, enjoying himself with a rope and a pulley. And it all takes place in the calm unruffled air of the studio. with the operator and other technicians a couple of yards away and separated from the actors by a window. -- These are the parts of a radio story that: are heard but not seen. Through experience the NBS can produce sound effects at a moment’s notice-from the wail of a newly-born baBy to an old man’s wheeze. Making a play for a record, or for straight broadcasting, contains much more than hits the ear. A Drama is Made The other day The Listaner watched the production of a play. Looking over the typewritten script we found curious markings in red and blue-red for sound effects and blue for musical interludes or backgrounds. The cast assembled and, coached by the production chief, Bernard Beeby, for a quarter-of-an-hour, limbered up the vocal organs and, in "swing" terms, "got into the groove." Generally the producer, assistant-pro-ducer, one panel operator and one recording operator are required in addition to

the cast. Their job is timing. As each disc takes from six to seven minutes, careful timing in the script is essential, and here is where there is a good deal of resporisibility on the operator. Some operators are so skilful that they ca: change over to a new disc in the middle of a word without splitting it’ and so maintain a perfectly even flow of speech. There are times when three turntables are used at once, for three different yet combined sound effects. These might be booming guns, heavy rain, and a background of music. The NBS sound effects library has several hundreds of records capable of providing a play cast with almost every sound required. Quite often the producer finds that with the

aid of some very simple apparatus in the studio he can get even better effects than the recorded ones. He demonstrated for us. Gurgle-Gurgle "Here," he said, "is a squirrel running away." He ran his fingers lightly along a table-top. For water noises a tap and bucket are used. Those much pleasanter sounds such as "Say when" and the following gurgle are done with the real thing up to a point. A siphon. of soda and a glass with a couple of fingers of plain water in it do the trick. To take reality too far might produce a spoonerism or a verbal fumble from a member of the cast, and that would ruin a disc, which costs money. There are times, of course, when a tangled phrase crops up. The other members of the cast can then let go their mirth, for they know that that part of the record is ruined anyway, so a laugh won’t do. any more harm. In a script we noticed the instruction "croak of bullfrog" and wondered just how that was done. Mr. Beeby obliged. (continued pn next page)

/ (continued from previous page) Really’ hearty laughter, we then suggested, was probably one of the most difficult things for an actor to produce in front of a cold microphone. "Not at all," said Mr. Beeby, whose roar of laughter, dissolving into an exhausted giggle, had us tittering too. Garden scenes are easy. Recordings of birds, hum of bees, a spade striking a stone and all the other horticultural pleasantries present no obstacles. But what about the squeaking of a wheelbarrow wheel? A revolving office-chair supplies that. Real Ship’s Telegraph A’ steamer at sea is easy too. Engine noises come from actual recordings, but the ship’s telegraph, with its clanging bell, is the genuine article. It stands in the studio and has beeg responsible for many a feminine jump of alarm when the lever has been pulled down without warning. There are countless cunning devices for radio sound effects. Some are the result of hours of patient study and practice; others of pure accident. For instance, skilful manipulation of a matchbox gives a full tap ballet beating the boards not exactly in perfect unison, which is the natural effect desired. A bag of broken glass speaks for itself. Clothes-pegs, strung on elastic, and made to dance over a piece of board, suggest marching feet.

Fell Down on -the Job In a corner of the studio is a piece of stairway with four or five carpeted stairs..Running up and down these gives a life-like sound. On one occasion the crash of a man falling downstairs was required; so the producer was the victim. The fire siren screams out in the night, crowds gather, and the brave fireman rescues the panic-stricken maidservant from the top floor. Meantime the fire is crackling fiercely-a mixture of brown paper and cellophane crushed in the hand. They wanted different types of a woman’s screams, from the squeak produced by the sudden appearance of a mouse to one of pure terror. And so, for an hour, and a suitable fee, a young woman obliged. She screamed solidly when the turntable turned, making records of all the vocal emotions. The musical and wholly attractive sound of a busy cash register is on the file, along with the delicate rustle of fairy feet and the full-throated roar of foghorns. Standing in a corner of the studio, a magic cabinet will give the noise of any sort of lock being opened or shut. A bolt and a piece of chain, also attached to the cabinet, produce noises -of a foul dungeon into which can be suitably introduced the authentic voice recorded) of a Japanese, picked up from an actual broadcast from Tokio, and, similarly, the hysterical voice of Hitler from the Reich. }