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Alchemists of Sound (2003): BBC Radiophonic Workshop Length: 1hr
Filetype: wmv (175Mb) or avi (700Mb) - right-click / save as definitely works, no idea if it'll stream (try!). I watch it using the free VLC (VideoLAN) player which is fab.
The whole programme is also available, in smaller chunks, at YouTube (part one) and it abounds on the internet. Further information on the programme from BBC's website
This is a documentary I watched at 8pm one evening in 2005 and was so enchanted I stayed up to watch the repeat at 3am. Then I was straight on to the internet the next day at work to hunt it down or see if I could buy a copy from the BBC / 2Entertain (nope, no plans to release it that I'm aware of).
If you've not seen this and you delight in strange and quirky sounds, and in the ingenious ways in which these sounds were turned into an acoustic backdrop (or actual music) using tape loops to record raw sound and manipulate it, then this is a suitable programme for you. It's the slightly spooky soundtrack to some of my childhood.
Narrated by Oliver Postgate it also features interviews with the workshop geniuses and some others, including Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz who gave us "Look Around You".
In 1991 there was an exhibit called "Behind the Sofa" at the now defunct Museum of the Moving Image by Waterloo, London - I remember all sorts of Dr Who memorabilia being on show but the bit that made me smile in particular was the panel of buttons which let you hear the various versions of the theme tune. Magic :)
Here's a video of the Dr Who theme tune, recorded live at the Radiophonic Workshop's gig at the Camden Roundhouse last year (I didn't record it but I was there enjoying it).
Monday, 29 March 2010
8 comments:
Comment policy: I enthusiastically welcome corrections and I entertain polite disagreement ;) Because of the nature of this blog it attracts a LOT - 5 a day at the moment - of spam comments (I write about spam practices,misleading marketing and unevidenced quackery) and so I'm more likely to post a pasted version of your comment, removing any hyperlinks.
Comments written in ALL CAPS LOCK will be deleted and I won't publish any pro-homeopathy comments, that ship has sailed I'm afraid (it's nonsense).
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Thanks, I love this stuff!
ReplyDeletethanx a lot! i am a big fan of the radiophonic workshop and, of course, all the fantastic vintage who-fx :-)
ReplyDeletewalter
Been looking for this for ages - can't thank you enough - cheers!
ReplyDeleteCheers from the US. I love these sort of documentaries. This art is history. Thanks...
ReplyDeleteI actually just discovered this doc last night!! one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I know have my sampler ready!! :)
ReplyDeletelovely stuff, thanks!
ReplyDeleteCan't find it! It doesn't abound on the internet, and it has been removed from You Tube. How do I get hold of it? Your link doesn't work either... this is not criticism, BTW :)
ReplyDeleteLigia
Well you're certainly right about YouTube - what a shame, it did indeed once abound all over the place. I've just tried my own links (the .wmv and .avi ones above) and they work fine for me, but possibly there are some restrictions in place that won't let them work for anyone that isn't me, in which case... alas. I am not sure what to suggest, and I don't think there are any plans to release it.
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