In the Land of Make-Believe

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 16, 2 November 1928, Page 15

In the Land of Make-Believe

Unusual Devices Used to Effect Realism

T quite often happens that the: children during their hour are transported to some distant place in an ieroplane, motor, sailing boat or train. Those who follow the course in these conveyances are often convinced of the realism of the noises concomitant with these. A battle often appears real by the introduction of what seems to be machine-gun fire and heavy artillery, while the puffing of a train up a steep hill convinces the youthful listeners they are really participating in a trip. Not long ago one station desired to reproduce the sound made by a motor-boat, and it took a deal of thinking and experimenting before the right sound was hit upon. In the end it was simply gained by tapping the fingers of one hand smartly againts the palm of the other. N Australian writer goes into detail regarding the various noises as follow: In some instances the actual instrument used in the adventure sounds the most realitstic on the stage, as in the case of a dog whistle or the clicking of a typewriter or a camera. On the other hand, cannon and gun effects can best be produced by the expert dropping of marbles on bass drums and the rattle of machine guns by playing dried beans on kettle drums. War effects can be heightened by the simultaneous explosion of numerous harmless crackers, Many experiments were made in American, stations to-reproduce the bell effects accompanying the running of a train, and it was eventually found necessary to get an actual train bell into the studio. Similarly, in

the reproduction of the noise of an aeroplane engine no substitute could be found, and an actual engine had, to be operated in a room adjoining the studio. ‘THE flapping of canvas sails in the wind is exceedingly hard to imitate over the air, as the flapping does not reproduce through the microphone at all. The best imitation was found by the producers of studio sketches in 2VC to be by playing an electric fan on a piece of tissue paper. The noise of a motor-car engine can easily be imitated from the studio by the holding of stiff sheets of brown paper against the wings of an electric fan. Strange as it may seem, a revolver fired near a microphone does not sound at all like a revolver shot through the loudspeaker, so that noise has to be artificially produced, again by the useful electric fan and paper. In American stations it has been found that the best loudspeaker imitation of a forest fire is produced by the noise of a plumber’s blow lamp near the microphone, whilst the breaking of matches between the fingers by a number of studio attendants represents the falling of trees caused by the fire. "THEREFORE, noises are not exactly what they seem through the loudspeaker, but the great thing for the producer of radio sketches, as in the stage representation of plays, is to assist the imagination of listeners so that they can mentally picture the scene that is being vocally described to them over the air.