Early Electronic | the submersible dirigible

Tag Archive for 'early electronic'

“Forget about this,” she says, “it’s for interest only”

Published

on July 24, 2008

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In a continuation of the good news emerging for Radiophonic Workshop enthusiasts, the BBC reports the existence of 267 previously unreleased Derbyshire tapes uncovered shortly after the composer’s 2001 death. Delia Derbyshire, early electronic/tape music pioneer, is the most celebrated of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop composers, largely responsible for the iconic “Ron Grainer” Dr. Who theme. Earlier Derbyshire work has been reissued on a variety of Radiophonic compilations, with a recent reissue of her KPM LP, Electrosonic, in 2006.

Lost tapes of the Dr Who composer By Nigel Wrench (BBC)

Now David Butler, of Manchester University’s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures has revealed for the first time the existence of 267 tapes found in Ms Derbyshire’s attic when she died in 2001.

They were, until last March, in the safekeeping of Mark Ayres, archivist for the Radiophonic Workshop - and have lain unheard for more than 30 years.

Most unexpected of all, however, is a piece of music that sounds like a contemporary dance track which was recorded, it is believed, in the late sixties. — Lost tapes of the Dr Who composer By Nigel Wrench (BBC)

Most surprising, as the BBC article notes, was the discovery of an experimental “dance” track, prefaced by Delia with the bashful quote referenced above. Radiophonic composers are known for being innovators, decades ahead of their time, but the Delia’s experimental dance tape sounds almost like a fully realized Warp recording, only composed while electronic was music still in its infancy.

Mr. Wrench’s article unfortunately doesn’t explain why these tapes were languishing so long with Mark Ayres — Radiophonic archivist — before they were eventually passed along for restoration to the University of Manchester and David Butler. Despite widespread coverage in major news outlets, Create Digital Music commenters have voiced a great deal of skepticism regarding the authenticity of the new tapes.

According to the BBC story, they haven’t been “found”; they were presumably retrieved from her attic as her affairs were put in order, back in 2001, and left with Mark Ayres (the official Radiophonic Workshop archivist, who is presumably above suspicion) until last March. What’s unclear from the story is where they’ve been between then and now, although the implication is that they’ve been with David Butler - presumably also above suspicion. — gwenhwyfaet

Another commenter calling himself David — presumably the same David now restoring the lost Derbyshire tapes at the University of Manchester’s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures – generously fills the gaps left by the BBC’s brief initial report with details-a-plenty, even linking to a lengthier article and presentation from the University’s Centre for Screen Studies.

We were stunned when we heard the rhythm track that you’ve all heard on the BBC site - I’m still knocked out by it! The track in question is from a 10.5″ reel that runs for just over 15 minutes - the only identification on the reel is a label that says ‘NOAH’s dance - basic rh.”

…

Captain Howdy is right again to point out that this track sounds so different to Delia’s known output or that of her contemporaries at the time - but it’s also worth remembering that - not least following their collaboration as Unit Delta Plus - she did have access to Zinovieff’s fledgling synthesizer the VCS3 and other electronic textures - and much of what we know of her output is limited to a relatively small body of work - but she was active in all kinds of contexts throughout the 1960s and there are several pieces in the archive that expand our understanding of what is characteristically ‘Delian’. — David

David’s explanation, posted yesterday, is worth reading it full. I look forward to hearing the story in more detail, and eventually hearing the restored tapes in their entirety.

Trunk Records to release collection of John Baker recordings

Published

sean

on July 17, 2008

in filler

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Thanks to Trunk Records, BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer John Baker — standout amidst the station’s slew of early electronic pioneers — is receiving the individual attention his recordings deserve, at long last. The John Baker Tapes, a two disc cd collection along with a vinyl issue of highlights, is scheduled for release in July and August, featuring previously unreleased Radiophonic material, soundtrack materials and home recordings. Considering the BBC’s notorious ineptitude at properly preserving the Workshop’s recordings, and the scarcity of information about John Baker’s career more generally, this Trunk release is a great relief.

Along with information about the scheduled July and August releases, Trunk includes a wonderful biography penned by John Baker’s brother, Richard Anthony Baker.

At the start of 1963, he joined the Radiophonic Workshop, which had been founded by Desmond Briscoe five years previously. In the early days of electronic music, its pioneering work of developing new and different sounds was greatly in demand by programme makers.

John invented many techniques. He recorded onto reel-to-reel tape the sound of everyday objects, such as the twanging of a ruler on a desk or a cork being pulled from a bottle. By changing the speed of the tape, he could alter the sounds’ pitch and was then able to compose a melody from these sounds by, for instance, making a minim fill four inches of tape, a crotchet, two, a quaver, one, and so on. More cleverly, if he wanted to introduce a jazz feeling to the tune, he cut a note slightly short so that it anticipated the beat. The work was painstaking and demanded a steady nerve. But it was the job for John. He loved it and was never happier.

additional reading/listening:

John Baker samples @ last.fm & BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop feature, Four sound effects that made TV history

(h/t Gutterbreakz)

Earliest electronic recording unveiled

Published

sean

on June 18, 2008

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Just in time for the approaching 60th anniversary of the first commercially available general purpose computer — The Ferranti Mark 1 — the BBC unveils what may be the earliest surviving electronic recording captured on that very pioneering device at the University of Manchester, some time during the autumn of 1951. Oddly enough, the recording wasn’t even recorded separately, saved only as part of a news broadcast.

From the BBC:

Paul Doornbusch, a computer music composer and historian at the New Zealand School of Music, told BBC News.

“As far as I know it’s the earliest recording of a computer playing music in the world, probably by quite a wide margin.”

The previous oldest known recordings were made on an IBM mainframe computer at Bell Labs in the US in 1957, he said.

…

following the recording, a university engineer called Frank Cooper asked if he could have a copy. Unable to give him the original, the BBC team cut him another version.

“At the time of the recording outside broadcasts were recorded on to acetate disks,” explained Mr Burton. “You can hear the presenter tell the recording engineer in the van ‘lift Jim’ and that meant lift the cutter off to stop recording.”

During the session, the temperamental machine managed to work its way through Baa Baa Black Sheep, God Save the King and part of In the Mood.

Following one aborted attempt, a laughing presenter says: “The machine’s obviously not in the mood.”

The disc was eventually passed to the CCS, who, along with the University of Manchester, has released the recording to mark the 60th anniversary of the Ferranti machine’s forerunner.

Plenty of additional information about the Ferranti is available at computer50.org, including an incredible sales brochure produced originally to promote the (then very bizarre) new machine.

All machines of this type can do THREE things:

They can perform all the operations of arithmetic exceedingly rapidly…

They can remember a great many numbers…

They can make decisions…

It can make decisions! Wikipedia, though, makes an important distinction, noting Australia’s CSIRAC beat The Ferranti to the first electronic composition by at least several months. While CSIRAC’s music was never recorded, original copies of the program allowed researchers to meticulously reconstruct that first recording. (note: I’ve stored the audio files below on my web space so I’m not leeching off their bandwith — see previous links to reach original document and audio files)