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TV audio question...

J

justthenumbers

I'm watching an early Dawson-era episode of "Family Feud" on GSN. As viewers of the show know, there's about a 1-2 second period of silence between the point when Dawson yells out the contestant's response, and a sound effect indicating either the answer being on the board, or the "buzz" indicating that it's not.

In this example, the contestant's answer was on the board...and in that brief period of silence, I was able to faintly hear the sound effect indicating so -- BEFORE it actually appeared. It was perfectly audible when it was supposed to be too.

I've noticed this on numerous other shows for a long time. Why does this happen?

EDIT: It happened again during the "Fast Money" round -- between when Dawson yelled "Our survey SAID!" and the "ding ding ding" indicating that the family went over 200 points and won -- I hear the "ding ding ding" about a second before it actually happened.
 
Just a guess here...something called "print-through." When magnetic tape is stored tightly wound for long periods of time (as the 2" VTR reels from these shows no doubt were), it's possible for magnetism from one layer of the tape to transfer to the next layer of tape wound around it. This is most noticeable on loud sounds, which is why you're hearing the "ding ding ding"s and such - the sound is literally transferred from the piece of tape where it was originally recorded to the loop of tape wound just above it, and since that piece of tape hits the playback head first, you hear it a second or two before the "actual" sound.

The length of the delay depends, obviously, on the speed at which the tape is running and on the size of the tape reel on which it's packed.
 
this reminds me of something i always wondered....

why did cable channels sometimes have a touch-tone sound back in the day??
 
Yup, that's what I have always heard about it as well. "In-band signalling" is the technical term for such a practise. (Look it up on Wikipaedia.) Although now mostly a thing of the past, there are a few cable channels that STILL do it like that today; those few holdouts which haven't yet embraced out-of-band signalling.............

Home Shopping Club, via the KORS-CA multiplex, for example. ;o)
 
Scott Fybush hit the nail on the head with the audio question. This happens with audio tapes as well, especially with low quality tapes.

Regarding the "touch tones": Most cable networks that still provide analog signals play the tones on a seperate audio channel, usually channel 3. On digital signals local breaks may also be triggered by an embedded signal that tells the reciever to trigger a contact closure.
 
Even cassette tapes do that, where you hear a very silent version of the audio. JUST before it comes on. Easy for cue-ing, especially easy when listening w/ headphones on. Good thing VCR tapes were never double sided...you'd be hearing the Family Feud sfx backwards!
I remember the same thing happening with 8-track tapes, but interestingly enough never on carts or reel to reel.
 
davect said:
Scott Fybush hit the nail on the head with the audio question. This happens with audio tapes as well, especially with low quality tapes.
Click to expand...

I sometimes bought no-name audio tapes from Dollar Tree. A 3 pack for $1. Sometimes I would record something on it and then record something else over it and I could still hear the previous recording faintly underneath the new recording thus I never used those tapes when I used to (on rare occassions) trade airchecks.
 
MarcB said:
davect said:
Scott Fybush hit the nail on the head with the audio question. This happens with audio tapes as well, especially with low quality tapes.
Click to expand...

I sometimes bought no-name audio tapes from Dollar Tree. A 3 pack for $1. Sometimes I would record something on it and then record something else over it and I could still hear the previous recording faintly underneath the new recording thus I never used those tapes when I used to (on rare occassions) trade airchecks.
Click to expand...
That's why we have things called bulk erasers (de-magnetizing gun, electro-magnet, whatever. I used to hear that de-magnetizing a cheap tape(like a K-Mart or Certron brand :D) before you used it made it "better than new". Anyone remember that?
 
I've got some 33rpm records that also have the print through pre echo sound. Its not noticable on early releases of albums, but it the album has been reissued you can sometimes hear it if you turn the volume all the way up. Its because they used an old tape to make the new vinyl.
 
flytrap said:
I've got some 33rpm records that also have the print through pre echo sound. Its not noticable on early releases of albums, but it the album has been reissued you can sometimes hear it if you turn the volume all the way up. Its because they used an old tape to make the new vinyl.
Click to expand...

Probably true but I've also read of a mechanism where there could be the equivalent of printthrough on the record itself -- somehow if the grooves are too close together, the cut of one groove "modulates" the adjacent one? Hopefully someone else has heard of this and knows more details...
 
The serious problem, of course, is when you can see the characters' lips moving but the sound is not sychronized.

I've noticed this about commercial breaks on "Jeopardy". I only remember seeing it after I got cable, not when I was still watching it over-the-air. There are these colored curved lines on a black background on the left side of the screen when the commercial break starts. The lines are on the right at the end.
 
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