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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1931-12-11, Page 6.71 • .— !,rrrryyr,,, 7 A • TING IT ON THE NOSE.” 10 Digest has a • w• words to say out the Produc- tion Man. "Who is that fellow over there with the watch in his hand?" • That is the question most frequent- ly asked by visitors making their first inspection of the Columbia Broadcasting System studios. The reply; "Oh, him? Why, he's just the production man." Usually this discourages any further ques- tions, and sends the visitor on his way with only a vague idea, or per- haps no idea at all, of exactly what is a production man. John S. Carlile, who is Production Chief at Columbia, could say truth- fully although modestly forbids it, that the production ,man is the most important individual during the re- hearsing or broadcasting of a radio program; that inside the studio the production man is the absolute mon- arch of all he surveys: that only by a wave of his hand does a program start and end; that artists, announc- ers, engineers, and audience take their cues from hiin, andhim alone. The production man is a compara- tively recent development in radio broadcasting, who grew up quietly and unobtrusively while radio was un- dergoing the change from a mere mechanical toy to an important med- ium of entertainment. In the ancient days of broadcast- ing, say ten years ago, there was no such thing as a production man. An announcer, an engineer and one or more artist:, would get together any- where from ten minutes to a half hour before broadcast, decide what sort of program they would put on and then shoot it. Time wasn't so important then, because there were no sponsored 'programs. It didn't matter much if they ran short or ran over. In thosi' days, talent consisted of second and third-rate entertainers who had seen their day, more fre- quently, youngsters who had not yet had their big opportunities. Program _directors, who were station managers then, couldn't afford to pay much for AUTHORIZED Fada Sales and Service JOSEPH GRUMMETT Huron Road -West Phone 31 on 251, Seaforth Local Agents. These men are prepared to help you with your radio problems. W. C. Barber—Sonora. Chas. Barnett—Rogers. E. C. Chamberlain—Kolster. J. F. Daly—Philco, Westing- house. A„'W. Dunlop—De Forest Cros- "ley. Joseph Grummett—Fada. knew, in short, what is now referred to as microphone technique. At 'first, they were simply seated alongside the engineer in the control room during rehearsals, to time pro- grams and to pass judgment on the quality of performances. The timing of programs, of course, took on a new •mportance. Time became t radio's stock in trade, and it couldn't be wast- ed. That meant more rehearsing of programs, and the haphazard, slap- dash methods of broadcasting became a thing of the past. The production man was a natural development of radio's metamorphosis from an electrical toy to an art, or industry (take your choice). His title is self-explanatory; he is the producer of radio shows. As the de- velopment of radio along technical lines kept step with its commercial growth, the program builders—idea men and continuity writers—were be- coming more ambitious, more imagin- ative. The modern production man's job is to put the ideas conceived b,y these program builders into programs as they were conceived. The most difficult, if not the most important end of production is the studio set-up of orchestras. In gener- al, the ,arrangement of orchestras for broadcast work is based on the regu- lar standards of instrumentation. En- gineers claim that there are set rules Io r the placing of microphones in .or- d.nto get the best reception, and the up-to-date production man will al- ways first try to set up his orchestra ai nund the mikes. Juggling mikes is sometimes necessary in the case of crclustras of unconventional charac- ter and make-up, but it is usually avoided if possible. All of the large studios at Colum- bia are spaced by numbers along two parallel baseboards, and lettered along the other two. When an orchestra is finally set up the position of each member of it is charted. These charts are kept on file, and are referred to the next: time an orchestra of the same make-up is rehearsed. These records save the production man a good deal of time, for he does not have to go through the same jug- gling process again. They do not mean however, that two orchestra, made up of the same number of strings, bass- es, woodwinds and traps, and playing the same piece of music, will sound the same if set up the same way, even assuming that the individual members of the two orchestras are equally skilled musicians. A difference in the way their selections are scored may require an entirely different set-up. Some orchestras, for instance, go in strong for solos by one player, or one section; others may have their pieces arranged for full orchestra most of the time. Then, there is almost in- variably a difference in the instru- ments themselves. The first violin- ist, an important musician in the av- erage orchestra, might have a fiddle that is brittle and brilliant in tone, or he might have one that is soft and rich. Orchestra leaders with little radio experience are apt to be afraid of brass, when as a matter of fact, all stringed instruments are more trou blesome to place properly. One of the commonest faults in orchestral production is the strident fiddle, and the instrument that has to be set most carefully of all is, strangely en- ough, the cello. On certain tones, particularly in the middle register, the cello will often create what is known as a "woof"—really an over- tone, and in the case of the cello it has the unique faculty of distorting the tones of all other instruments. Another difficult instrument to place properly is the piccolo, because of its high range and shrill quality. It is an instrument that is used principal- ly for brilliant figures and cannot be played softly. An experienced and musically cap- able production man does not have much trouble in arranging the posi- tion of instruments for good recep- tion. 'His big worry is with the men. Few realize how much actual body movement is necessary for musicians. The saxophonist may have three or four saxophones on the rack along side him; the horn player has ffis mutes and other paraphernalia. Above all, they must not be uncomfortably crowded for the sake of tricky ar- rangements. • Individual singers do not present so much of a problem, although the sanity of production men was threat- ened for a time with the advent of the "crooner" and the "whispering" baritone. The technique of "croon- ing" consist of a lowering the voice level almost to a whisper, at the same time crowding the microphone. The effect is a fairly pleasant one, and it's easy to do. And that's the trou- ble with it. One doesn't have to have an excellent voice to be able to hum or whisper with a sentimental tilt. But unfortunately good crooning is not so easy. True enough, it covers a multitude of defects that would be apparent with the use of the full voice, but it also requires consider- able voice control. Most of the good crooners were good straight singers in the first place, and only a few poor singers get away with it. Crooning is "phoney" singing, and the average poduction man would rather work with a temperamental opera star; but for awhile every dance orchestra had a crooner, and no matter hoy lack- ing in vitality or naturalness they were, they had to be handled. Of course, opera and concert sing- ers without broadcasting experience are sometimes difficult, as the same amount of voice used on the stage or auditorium is not necessary in the studio. But singers can develop mic- rophone technique in a short time, and the production man attaches more im- portance to the accompaniment than to the soloist. A solo can be spoiled utterly by careless arrangement of the accompaniment. Even simple piano accompaniment must treceilve careful attention. The thing that is apt to rattle a produetion man qniekest is the tim- ing of a program, and that's the one thing he must not allow to rattle him. Nine times out—Of 1$en whin some slight thing goes wrong to spoil the perfectivality of reeeptida. talent, and held out the rather feeble inducement of free publicity to recon- cile the low wage scale. Ten dollars was a lot of money for a half-hour program. Thcn came the sponsored programs. The. possibilities of radio as an ad- vertising medium did not undergo any lengthy and tedious experimental progress. Advertising people are quick to lay hold of a new thing, and the sponsors came with a rush. The cry went out for more and better en- tertainment, and high priced talent stormed the doors of broadcasting stations. There was gold in "them thar studios." The loud speaker was replacing the earphones in the Amer- ican home, and radio ceased to be a novelty. All this was lovely for the future of radio, but rather tragic for the re- putation -less fellow who had been do- ing his stuff for a pittance and pub- licity. The once indigent but now prosperous station manager no long- er called him at the last moment, to beg him to do a half hour spot, to "just help me out of a jam, old man; Joe was supposed to go on for me, but he phoned and said he had a heavy date." Those boys found themselves, just when radio began to be worth something, very much out in the cold. ,But then a curious situation arose —a situation not anticipated and for some time puzzling to program direc- tors. For some reason or other the big -name artists who were flocking in- to radio were not doing so well. In many instances it was just a case of temperament. Although radio was paying out big money, it was never- theless looked upon with condescen- sion, if not utter disdain, by much of this high priced talent. It was dif- ficult to get many of them to rehearse because they did'nt think rehearsals were necessary. But even those who weren't temper- amental had trouble. Accustomed to an audience whose response they could intuitively feel, many of them almost died of fright when faced by nothing but a microphone. This was equally true of monologists and other funny men of the stage and singers. What radio needed was showmen, but where were they? Announcers might be equipped with lovely baritone voices, ingratiating manners and red-hot personalities, but when a perfectly good contralto sounded like an alley cat just because she didn't know how to use her voice in front of the microphone, they might not be aware of it. Control room en- gineers knew which dial to turn and how far, in order to get the sounds from the studios as clear and clean as possible, but when a French horn sounded like a moo -cow, they weren't expected to know the difference. Then the second and third-rate per- formers, who had been left out in the cold when radio got rich began to drift back. Used in the old days, to putting on half or even full -hour shows, single handed, they knew how to project their personalities into a lifeless metal gadget and through the ether. They had learned, through long practice, how to modulate, inflect, and otherwise control their voices or their musical instruments in order to obtain true reproduction of sound. They ROGERS RADIO Announcement Mr. Chas. Barnett announces his appointment as authorized Rogers Radio deal- er in Seaforth and vicinity. Now you can choose your radio safely ---at the price you can afford to pay. With the choice of many strikingly beautiful models, there is no need to be satisfied with less than the quality and value assur- ed by Rogers the selectivity. sensitivity and matchless tone of this Super -Heterodyne. Ask Mr. Barnett for a demonstration of the latest Rogers Radios. Compare theta for all-round performance, for tone, for dollar -value. Chas. Barnett gen Sales and Service. Seaforth, ,* • Nobody notices it, but let a program run more than a• few seeonds short or over, and somebody is going to raise a bowl. And the howl, of course, is justified for nothing can spoil a program more easily than ob- viously dragging it out or rushing it to a close. The word "obvibusly" impantant, because frequently even the most earefully rehearsed pro- grams must be stalled or hurried. The trick is to do it without being obvious. Listeners take the timing of pro- grams pretty much for granted. They set their kitchen clocks by the begin- ning or close of a program that might include two or three dramatic sketch- es, a dozen dance numbers and solos and a monologue, and not be more than two or three . seconds off. But they do not share with the production man his satisfaction when he "hits it on the nose." "Hitting it on the nose" means ex- actly on the second, and that is balm for the harried production man. He is usually satisfied if this show ends within a few seconds of the dot; he is disgraced if it is more than that, and is thrilled when it is "on the nose." 'Even the most ordinary program requires patient rehearsing and re- working for the proper timing. And no matter how perfect the final re- hearsal, it is never a certainty that the show will end on the dot when it eventually is put on the air. • For that reason a production man must be able to adjust a program at almost any time, and do it so skillfully that it will not be noticeable. In the mid- dle of any musical number he must be able to tell, without consulting his watch, the correct time within a few seconds. Of, course, he does consult his watch and his continuity sheets con- stantly. He usually makes any nec- essary adjustments after the station break, and never makes up a discre- pancy in time on one number. By a system of signals through the control room window he tells the orchestra leader to make his timing a shade slower on the next number, making up perhaps five to ten. seconds. Ten seconds doesn't sound like much, but slowing down any more than that on a single number would make it ob- viously dragged out. Slowing down three pieces in the same way would make up half a minute, which is a- bout as much as a well rehearsed pro- gram ever falls behind. If it should be any more than that, the produc- tion man, instead of signaling for a carefully spread out slowing down of two or three numbers, will signal for an extra chorus of the final number. Production men are hard -worked people, and a twelve or fourteen - hour day is their lot. It is the hun- dreds of little details that the pro- duction man is responsible for that make for the excellent quality and smoothness of a radio program. It is the patient and painstaking con- sideration of these small details that mean the difference between a good and a bad Program, but small credit ever falls to the production man. We can't keep pace with the • Demand for • PHILCO. MADE -IN -CANADA Balanced Superheterodyne 7-9-11 Tube Radios In all our years in the radio business we have never experienced anything like it. With the majority of pros- pects, "it's Philco or nothing." And they're right, for Philco outperforms all other radios and offers value that has never been approached. You too MUST have a Philco balanced Superheterodyne to meet to -day's crowded broadcasting conditions— and this is the place to get it. FEATURES Balanced Superheterodyne. Pentode Tube in 7 -tube Models, Tone Control and Static Modulator, Automatic Volume Control. Hand rubbed Cabinets by Norman Bell Geddes. Lowest Prices in Radio History. 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