COMPOSING FOR RADIO

Abstract

T considered from two points of view: the dificulties thrown in the way by present-day Radio technique, and the that this technique offers. What little has been written on the subject up to the present has dealt almost exclusively with the former point of view, the far more interesting question of possibilities being ignored. This is, of course, logically ridiculous, since by the natural law of progress the difficulties will decrease with the improvement of engineering technique, while the will increase. Nevertheless, these difficulties cannot be neglected, since the present-day defects of Radio transmission, and, more especially, of Radio reception, are bound to continue for some time: even if the perfect receiver were to make its appearance to-morrow, it might be years before it ousted all its predecessors. These defects can be summed up in one phrase-the reduction of low and high audio frequencies. Other defects exist, but in most cases are eventually based on these. Distortion, i.e., the introduction of tones not present in the original sound, used to be a plague, but is fast disappearing, thanks to modern methods (linear detection, push-pull audio amplification, avoidance of overload, etc.) The low frequencies, more specifically those below 100 cycles per second, or say even C1, are often reduced at the transmitter and almost invariably at the receiver (audio-frequency and loud speaker). Fortunately, however, the ear helps out by reconstructing the lost notes from the harmonics heard. In general, it may be said that the reduction of low notes is not now such a serious matter as the loss of high ones. (A few years ago, the reverse was true: not that the reproduction of high notes has become