A Simplified Distortion Balance Test Procedure for Optical Sound Records and Prints

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Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: J SMPTE
Volume: 90, No. 2, pp. 97–102
Abstract: A brief review is made of the sources that introduce distortion into the recordings of optical sound on film. One is the aperture (slit) width of the sound recorder, which may cause amplitude distortion and rectification effects. Other sources of distortion are light scattering in the negative emulsion, variations in process sensitometry, and other process and photographic sources, such as the Eberhard and Ross effects, and the individual characteristics of specific photographic materials and processes. A delicate operation is the transfer of the information contained in the sound record negative to the print film. Causes of distortion during the transfer phase are discussed. Next, distortion balance methods, that is, methods for the correction or cancellation of distortion, are enumerated. A new and simplified method for obtaining distortion balance is described in detail. This method is based on the light-spot scanning of peaks and valleys at selected ordinate distances from the zero axis of the soundtrack. It is intended for evaluating the photographic materials without interference from other elements of the sound recording system, such as the recorder, the printer, and the sound reader. The functioning and application of the new method is described in detail. Experimental data show that this new method correlates well with the conventional cross modulation method, but is much simpler and easier to incorporate into the customary sensitometric control routines of a motion picture processing laboratory.
Publication Date: 1981-02-01
DOI: 10.5594/J01498
ISSN: Print: 0036-1682
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J01498
Author(s): Karel Staes
Walter Markie
Copyright: © 1981 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

Distortion-Balance Tests for Motion-Picture Soundtracks [Active]
A Densitometric Method of Checking the Quality of Variable-Area Prints [Active]
Zero-Shift Test for Determining Optimum Density in Variable-Width Sound Recording [Active]
Modulated high-frequency recording as a means of determining conditions for optimal processing [Active]
1. Draft American National Standard , “Measurement and Characteristics of Electro-Acoustic Response of Motion-Picture Control Rooms and Indoor Theaters,” SMPTE J. 88 : 70 – 72 , Jan. 1979 . EXTERNAL
2. Frayne G. Wolfe H. , Elements of Sound Recording , John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , New York , 1949 . EXTERNAL

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Karel Staes and Walter Markie; A Simplified Distortion Balance Test Procedure for Optical Sound Records and Prints, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 90, Issue: 2, February 1981); SMPTE, 1981. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J01498

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Karel Staes and Walter Markie; A Simplified Distortion Balance Test Procedure for Optical Sound Records and Prints, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 90, Issue: 2, February 1981); SMPTE, 1981. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J01498

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<span class="citation">Karel Staes and Walter Markie; <cite>A Simplified Distortion Balance Test Procedure for Optical Sound Records and Prints</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 90, Issue: 2, February 1981); SMPTE, 1981. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/J01498" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/J01498</a></span>

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Karel Staes and Walter Markie; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j01498">A Simplified Distortion Balance Test Procedure for Optical Sound Records and Prints</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 90, Issue: 2, February 1981); SMPTE, 1981
<span class="doi">10.5594/J01498</span>
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