Special Sound: The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic WorkshopSpecial Sound traces the fascinating creation and legacy of the BBC's electronic music studio, the Radiophonic Workshop, in the context of other studios in Europe and America. The BBC built a studio to provide its own avant-garde dramatic productions with experimental sounds "neither music nor sound effect." Quickly, however, a popular kind of electronic music emerged in the form of quirky jingles, signature tunes such as Doctor Who, and incidental music for hundreds of programs. These influential sounds and styles, heard by millions of listeners over decades of operation on television and radio, have served as a primary inspiration for the use of electronic instruments in popular music. Using in-depth research in the studio's archives and papers, this book tells the history of the many engineers, composers, directors, and producers behind the studio to trace the shifting perception towards electronic music in Britain. Combining historical discussion of the people and instruments in the workshop with analysis of specific works, Louis Niebur creates a new model for understanding how the Radiophonic Workshop fits into the larger history of electronic music. |
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Special Sound: The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Louis Niebur Limited preview - 2010 |
Special Sound: The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Louis Niebur Limited preview - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
acousmatic acousmêtre album ARP Odyssey audience basic bass BBC Radiophonic Workshop BBC's Bermange Bird Brian Hodgson British broadcast Cleverdon combination commissions complex composition create culture Daphne Oram Delaware Delia Derbyshire Desmond Briscoe Dick Mills dissonance Donald McWhinnie early electronic music electronic sound engineer episode equipment Fagandini film genre Grainer guitar idea incidental music initial instruments John Baker keyboard listener Logopolis Loofah Tree loops machine Maida Vale Mellotron melody memo Minutes Moog Music Department musique concrète Nathan-Turner notes original Orpheus oscillators output Paddy Kingsland Peter Howell piece pitch play popular produced radio drama Radiophonic Effects radiophonic sound realized rhythmic Richard Yeoman-Clark Roger Limb Room science fiction score sequence shift signature tune sound effects space special sound staff stereo story synth synthesizer tape recorders techniques television Third Programme timbre tion tonal tone track traditional VCS3 video example vocoder voice Workshop composers