8mm Forum: 16mm sound

»	8mm Forum » 16mm Forum » 16mm sound - Help Please

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: 16mm sound - Help Please

Pasquale De Marco
Junior
Posts: 10
From: Hewitt, New Jersey
Registered: Jul 2005

posted May 26, 2010 11:09 AM

Hi Folks,

We have a customer that apparently has 16mm optical "wave" sound film. It seems that there are 3 types: magnetic, optical wave and optical with lines. Is that right ?

Are there projectors that handle more than one ?
Any suggestions for good models ?
Most Ebay offers just say "Optical" not which type.

I'm not a hobbyist, I have a transfer business.
I post here occasionally and you have always been helpful.

Thanks in advance !

Pat De Marco

| IP: Logged

Martin Jones
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1269
From: Thetford , Norfolk,England
Registered: May 2008

posted May 26, 2010 11:13 AM

The "wave" track is called "variable area" and the "lines" track is "variable density". ALL machines should handle BOTH happily if the sound optics are properly adjusted for alignment and focus.

Martin

--------------------
Retired TV Service Engineer
Ongoing interest in Telecine....

| IP: Logged

Hugh McCullough
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 156
From: Old Coulsdon. Surrey. UK
Registered: Oct 2006

posted May 26, 2010 11:29 AM

Magnetic sound is a brown stripe along the edge of the film. It is in effect a small tape recording.
Wave sound is called Variable area, and line sound is called Variable Density.
Both are optical sound,and both can be played back on any optical sound projector.
The difference between the two types is in the way the sound was originally recorded.
This makes no difference to playback.

--------------------
EIKI Ex 6100 xenon machine.

| IP: Logged

Wayne Tuell
Master Film Handler

Posts: 488
From: Minden, NV
Registered: Jul 2009

posted May 26, 2010 04:42 PM

http://paulivester.com/films/filmstock/guide.htm
Here is a good link that shows the different types of sound tracks.

--------------------
www.16mmDrive-InFilms.com

| IP: Logged

Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted May 26, 2010 08:56 PM

Pasquale - I'd personally recommend one of these Eikis, and the seller has several. It's possible to buy cheaper 16mm projectors but this is a good one that's more modern than most in circulation, so less likely to have had extensive usage. Easy to use and good features, too. I think it's the model without speakers in the fron case (although there's one in the back, so a buyer needs to have a separate speaker to use.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Eiki-ENT-0 -16mm-Projector-Optical-Sound-Great-Shape-/130388789600?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5bc70960

--------------------
Adrian Winchester

| IP: Logged

Pasquale De Marco
Junior
Posts: 10
From: Hewitt, New Jersey
Registered: Jul 2005

posted May 28, 2010 06:45 AM

THANKS ! Great help as always.

Was 16mm sound predominantly magnetic or optical or was it evenly divided ?
Was there much family 16mm sound ?

We have not seen any "family" 16mm sound - only silent. The only 16mm sound we've seen has been "professional".

I'm guessing that all 16mm sound projectors have some sort of RCA-like output for an external speaker. Adrian, I will look seriously at that Eikis.

Thanks again

Pat

| IP: Logged

Damien Taylor
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 111
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Oct 2008

posted May 28, 2010 08:28 AM

16mm optical sound is much, much more common than magnetic.

Apart from a few expensive cameras purchased mainly by TV news crews, sound had to be recorded on a separate tape deck then added later. Most amateurs did not bother with the hassle and extra expense.

Projectors can have many sound outputs, sometimes RCA, sometimes 1/2" Jacks, DIN plugs etc..

| IP: Logged

Paul Spinks
Master Film Handler

Posts: 453
From: Barking, Essex, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted May 29, 2010 02:16 AM

My 16mm print of "Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman" is made up of two prints which have the different optical tracks. There is no noticeable audio difference when projected.

| IP: Logged

Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted May 29, 2010 06:57 PM

I'm not sure what a RCA-like output is but Eikis have standard jack sockets. It seems rare to find home movies shot on 16mm with sound, but a few of the projectors with magnetic sound have recording capabilities, so I presume that some of the buyers of these wanted them to record soundtracks on striped home movies.

I think it would be true to say that magnetic sound is superflous for the majority of collectors. I eventually wanted it because I decided to collect Scopitones (which are all magnetic) but I only have one other film with magnetic sound - and I didn't even know that it was magnetic until after I bought it!

--------------------
Adrian Winchester

| IP: Logged

Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted May 30, 2010 02:39 AM

RCA is what we in the UK call phono.

--------------------
Maurice

| IP: Logged

All times are Central

Printer-friendly view of this topic

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2