Special Sound The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop [Paperback]

Special Soundtraces 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.

About the Companion Website
Chapter One: Radio Drama and the Birth of Electronic Music
Chapter Two:Ideological Struggles and Pragmatic Realities
Chapter Three:The Golden Age of Special Sound
Chapter Four:The Coming of the Synthesizers
Chapter Five:The Second Golden Age
Chapter Six:The Price of Success
Endnotes
Appendix:Transcriptions
Bibliography
Index

Louis Niebur has accomplished a feat of virtuoso research that places in a wholly original context the extraordinary accomplishments of such pioneers as Maddalena Fagandini, Daphne Oram, and the fabulous Delia Derbyshire.Special Sound: The Creation andlC‘