ABSTRACT
From the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, during the transition to synchronous sound, the appearance of sound recordists signaled a fundamental change for the film industry. Locating an exact year for the start or finish proves difficult, considering the ongoing nature of this transition as well as the continued experimentation with both technique and technology. The Monitor Man possessed the power of sound; however, he had a particular approach to its creation for a film, one that proved controversial, particularly amongst practitioners. In the early sound era, the Monitor Man sought to create complex sound by mixing a variety of sound sources, including dialogue, music, and sound effects. In the transition period, as the Monitor Man sought to record complex audio during production, in effect creating complex sound, he offered a novel solution: He sought to do so by utilizing multiple microphones positioned in ways on the set to gain various sources of sound during production.
