Well - very annoyingly, the last design wouldn't work with IE7, IE8 compatibility mode and the IE6 png fix didn't work! So I've abandoned that in favour of this one - quickly thrown together last night! Looks like I'll be working on this for a coupla days than.
Latest News
A new project - the Steampunk Keyboard - is underway! Progress, blogs and photos in the Steampunk Keyboard Project Section.
At a bit of a halt now! Mainly due to winter (too cold in the workshop!) but also due to the lack of materials! The next bit to do is the sides, so I am currently looking (albeit not terribly hard!) for 1/4" brass plate.
Added a blogging module to the site so that The Author can rant and rave at leisure. (And he has!)
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Audio Clips
Some audio clips (some of these my absolute favourite pieces of music!) to demonstrate the awesome qualities of Musique Concrete (especially the BBC Radiophonic Workshop) and to demonstrate pieces of synthesizer music.
There is a large section about the Doctor Who Theme - this is not by accident, as this is the Author's favourite piece of music!
Please note these clips are more than likely copyright BBC etc.
Doctor Who Audio
Doctor Who - the seminal (and now voted best ever Sci-Fi) television theme, composed by Ron Grainer and (originally) realised by Delia Derbyshire in the BBC Radiophionic Workshop (1962-3).
The original theme was generated by hand (by Delia) using reel-to-reel tape machines, recording the sound of a plucked bass string and manipulating that recording (by speeding up, slowing down, reversing etc) to create the well-known bass-line track and using test oscillators - again recorded to tape - to generate the swooping and whooshing sounds. The notes were individually recorded or manufactured, then cut to length (the longer the note, the longer the piece of tape) and then subsequently joined (spliced) together with sticky tape to create a tape loop, or tape reel. These loops (or reels) were then played on several tape recorders at the same time - in synchronisation - and recorded to yet another tape recorder. Thus the layers of sounds (now we call them tracks!) were built up to produce the finished mono master tape. Any changes that needed to be made after the master tape was recorded (for example the "sparklies" of the Troughton era) were then constructed on a reel or loop of tape and then played in sequence with the master track, therefore effectively re-recording the master again, but with the extra effects. All of this was done in mono, using one or two track tapes and all timed completely by ear (and hand) as there were no computers or auto-timers in those days!
The Original Doctor Who Theme - as broadcast 23rd November 1963
Although the theme was added to and revamped many times over the first few years that Doctor Who aired (1963 to 1980), the theme was essentially the same (give or take) master tapes put together by Delia in 1963. A few "bits and bobs" were added - noteably the "sparklies" at the beginning of the Patrick Troughton era (1966-ish) - however, the theme stayed basically the same through the Pertwee and Baker eras.
Doctor Who Theme - "Sparklies" - 1967
Doctor Who Theme - "Stutter Start" - 1970
Doctor Who Theme - Stereo - 1972
In 1970, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop took delivery of one of it's early analogue synthesizers. This machine was manufactured by EMS and was called the "Synthi 100" or, as it came to be known - The Delaware - named after the road outside the Workshop. The synthesiser was the biggest voltage controlled synthesizer in the world and had 16 oscillators and even incorporated its own oscilloscope and frequency counter. The machine was used to create the normal in-program incidental music, however the BBC commissioned a remake of the Doctor Who Theme in 1972, utilising the Delaware. The theme was made and recorded by Brian Hodgson and Paddy Kingsland (with Delia as producer), however the new arrangement was not well received by BBC Executives and abandoned. You can make up your own mind on this one!
Doctor Who Theme - Delaware - 1972
In 1980, the then producer of Doctor Who (one John Nathan-Turner) ordered that the theme be revamped completely to bring it up to a modern sound. He commissioned the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for the work and the task fell to Peter Howell. Howell took the music (but that was all) and completely re-recorded the theme from scratch using "modern" analogue synthesisers and the judicious use of the Roland SVC-350 Vocoder (a new acquisition at the time) to generate the "modern" theme.
Doctor Who Theme - Peter Howell - 1980
That version then stayed as the theme tune for a few years until more updates were ordered. This time, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop did not get the commission and it then began to fall into the hands of people outside the workshop. That continued through to the "Classic" show's end in 1989.
Doctor Who Theme - Dominic Glynn - 1985
Doctor Who Theme - Keff McCulloch - 1987
2005 saw Doctor Who back on the screens again, and although the show was new (re-invented in American terms), fortunately the familiar theme tune was kept. However, by that time, the Radiphonic Workshop was no more and so it fell to Murray Gold - employed by the new Doctor Who production team - to realise the theme once again. Gold has continued to update the theme periodically, gradually moving towards a more orchestral line for the theme. Some of Delia's original track lines were incorporated into the Murray Gold versions.
The original theme was generated by hand (by Delia) using reel-to-reel tape machines, recording the sound of a plucked bass string and manipulating that recording (by speeding up, slowing down, reversing etc) to create the well-known bass-line track and using test oscillators - again recorded to tape - to generate the swooping and whooshing sounds. The notes were individually recorded or manufactured, then cut to length (the longer the note, the longer the piece of tape) and then subsequently joined (spliced) together with sticky tape to create a tape loop, or tape reel. These loops (or reels) were then played on several tape recorders at the same time - in synchronisation - and recorded to yet another tape recorder. Thus the layers of sounds (now we call them tracks!) were built up to produce the finished mono master tape. Any changes that needed to be made after the master tape was recorded (for example the "sparklies" of the Troughton era) were then constructed on a reel or loop of tape and then played in sequence with the master track, therefore effectively re-recording the master again, but with the extra effects. All of this was done in mono, using one or two track tapes and all timed completely by ear (and hand) as there were no computers or auto-timers in those days!
In 1980, the then producer of Doctor Who (one John Nathan-Turner) ordered that the theme be revamped completely to bring it up to a modern sound. He commissioned the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for the work and the task fell to Peter Howell. Howell took the music (but that was all) and completely re-recorded the theme from scratch using "modern" analogue synthesisers and the judicious use of the Roland SVC-350 Vocoder (a new acquisition at the time) to generate the "modern" theme.