Cleanup[edit]

This article needs 2 things badly:

Cleanup of the conversational, self-contradicting writing currently there. I'm going to hack away some of that now.
A better reference. I provide one here: MOS at FileSound.com

-- Bdoserror 15:49, 9 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For reference, I'm archiving the following block of text which I removed. I'm not sure of its veracity, and it's awkwardly and unencyclopedically written:

It is untrue to suggest that "MOS" is very peculiar and has no obvious meaning as noted above.

The likely true meaning of "MOS" is that the original picture cameras for shooting on a sound stage were noisy and enclosed in a "hut" on the studio floor. This was airtight and often the operator would pass out from lack of oxygen. The sound was also recorded optically on an equally noisy machine in another room. In order to synchronize them, they were driven by 220 volt a/c motors.

Such a motor would run at a constant speed, as would any other on the same circuit.

The sound camera required some time to get up to speed which is why sound recordists still call "speed" or "sound speed".

At that time a clapstick is put in front of the camera so the editor has a visual reference for "sync" or synchronisation between the picture and sound track when putting the rushes together.

Thus term "MOS" actually means "motor off sync", which indicated on the slate to inform the editor that there was no sound to search for, and initially allowed the camera to be driven by a 110-volt a/c current or a 36 volt battery. Some of the older studios still have a 220-volt outlet on the wall with the notation "Camera only". Kleinberg Studios in Canada is an example. Nowadays all cameras can run "sync sound" or "MOS" from battery sources due to the refinement of crystal control and battery technology.

The modern synchronisation for film now uses "timecode" which strangely enough originated in that anathema to film types -- videotape -- which is also changing their world through high definition.

Possible German origin[edit]

I deleted the section that was placed after "References" as it was poorly-phrased and in the wrong place, does not add any additional information, and potentially contradicts the main article. I am not a German-speaker, so I'm not sure about whether "Mit" is actually grammatically feasible in this situation, but there seems to be conflicting information about it. Either way, the text needs cleanup and editing to be NPOV, but I'm archiving it here in case anyone wants to clean it up and incorporate its contents into the main article. Sophaloo (talk) 18:36, 20 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

While the true origin of MOS may not ever be known, it is important to note that it is indeed posible that MOS can from early German directors. The German word for "with" is Mit and therefore "Mitout sound," or "Mit Out Sound" is feasible.

I am of the opinion that this explanation defies belief. If it was coined by a German speaker, then only as a deliberate joke. It wouldn’t make sense to have originated in German, because it’s German words, but a literal translation from English, kinda. German’s word for “without” does not contain “mit”, so it’s definitely not sourced from German. “Mitout” is the kind of phrase a clueless English speaker might come up with when trying to “translate”. — tooki (talk) 16:38, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It should also be noted that "Motor Only Sync," does not specify which motor to roll. So was it the sound motor or the camera motor?

I've added the theory from The Screenwriter's Bible that the term comes from German director Eric von Stroheim.Nycbl1y (talk) 20:09, 27 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I find it hard to believe that a German would ever say "mit out," given that the word "mit" is not used when expressing a lack of something; rather, "ohne" is the German word for without. 75.95.146.148 (talk) 06:40, 8 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Minus Optical Sound[edit]

The book "Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound" by David Lewis Yewdall has a section on this acronym and mentions "Minus Optical Sound" as another possible meaning. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ptousig (talk • contribs) 03:12, 28 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mail Order Sound[edit]

... and from a personal acquaintance, a sound recordist, mostly doing feature film work, comes the explanation that the sound for a shot slated "MOS" was supposed to be looked for in archives which would mail tapes by order to the cutter – therefore "Mail Order Sound". --84.190.82.133 (talk) 11:16, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Confusing[edit]

I found that blurb very confusing. What I got from it is that there was a motor which ran all the time and normally had both sound and camera running into it. However, on a shot without sound, only the motor would run, i.e. sound would not be recorded but the motor would still run, making it a motor only shot, ie. not a sound shot. This then seems to be contradicted by the last line in the paragraph and doesn't even seem to make sense when I say it back. Can someone re-write this to be understandable? - 86.44.154.69 (talk) 11:03, 5 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]