Tag: bbc radiophonic workshop

Whose theme is Who?


Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

I’ve been trying to get back to Dave Dexter, Jr. and the Beatles, but I got distracted by a renewed interest in the fascinating history of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and Ron Grainer’s Doctor Who theme. This is Delia Derbyshire’s stunning, shimmering production, which includes the famous sound effects for the show.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JUL/DoctorWho1963.mp3]

Snippets of sounds and music by Derbyshire and the workshop have been collected by the BBC into a Flash player that you’ll find at this link. It’s all too easy to make the sounds overlap, so be quick with the stop button, and watch out for the clips that loop. Here is Murray Gold’s fantastic, powerful arrangement and orchestration for the new Doctor series in 2005.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JUL/DoctorWho2005.mp3]

If this subject is of any interest I’ll let you find the same sites I’ve been looking at, but one favor I should do for you is assemble the pieces of a 2003 BBC documentary on the Radiophonic Workshop, called The Alchemists of Sound.

Synthetic Sir George

Time BeatWaltz in Orbit

I’ve been trying to find a copy of a 1962 single of partially electronic music, Time Beat b/w Waltz in Time, by Ray Cathode. I’ve placed bids, and lost, for the single on eBay, but fortunately I found these MP3’s on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. [Link] Here are the tracks.

Ray Cathode – Beat Time
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/time_beat.mp3]

Ray Cathode – Waltz in Orbit
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/waltz_in_orbit.mp3]

Ray Cathode was a pseudonym for a collaboration between BBC technician-producer Maddalena Fagandini and George Martin, who would sign the Beatles to Parlophone Records just a couple of months later. The recording was made for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was set up to create atmospheric music and effects for radio and TV. The 1963 production by Delia Derbyshire of Ron Grainer’s theme for Doctor Who is undoubtedly the workshop’s most familiar work.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/DoctorWho.mp3]