From the time the first vague rumors about Walt Disney's third feature-length production, "Fantasia," began to dribble about the industry, down to the present moment, with the production having its premiere showings in New York and Hollywood, the cine-technical community has been asking itself questions about the radically unconventional sound system around which the production is built. What relation, technicians have been asking, does this "Fantasound" bear to conventional recording? What—if any—is its relation to stereophonic methods? Is it comparable to any existing methods of multiple-channel recording, such as have been previously used to produce close-mixed tracks of orchestral music for conventional productions? In short, what is "Fantasound," how does it work, and what is likely to come of it? […]
