Episode Overview

In this Twenty Thousand Hertz episode, host Dallas Taylor and supervising producer Casey Emerling dive into the fascinating history of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop—the British government-funded department that pioneered the art of electronic sound design and music for radio and television. The Workshop’s experimental techniques revolutionized audio for generations, giving birth to avant-garde sounds for iconic programming, most notably the legendary Doctor Who theme and sound effects. The episode features expert commentary from composer and unofficial Radiophonic Workshop archivist Mark Ayres, blending storytelling, audio demonstration, and archival interviews to chart the Workshop’s inventive, often eccentric legacy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Dawn of “Sound Design” (01:18–03:19)

• In the early 20th century, sound in drama was mostly literal: doors creaking, thunderclaps, glass breaking.
• By the 1950s, science fiction sparked demand for abstract soundscapes—creators needed effects that didn’t always originate from a real-world source.
• [Mark Ayres, 03:02]:

  “If you had a play about somebody having a nervous breakdown, where could you find the sound effect of someone having a nervous breakdown? What does that sound like?”

Continental Influences: Musique Concrète & Early Electronics (03:31–04:42)

• Paris: “Musique concrète,” using edited recordings of found sounds (e.g., popping bottles) as musical material.
• Cologne: Pioneered pure electronic music with oscillators and generators (as typified by Karlheinz Stockhausen).
• The BBC sought to leverage these techniques for practical use in programming.

The Workshop’s Founding: After-Hours Experimentation (05:03–07:07)

• Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe began clandestinely assembling makeshift studios at night using borrowed BBC equipment.
• Their success with Samuel Beckett’s All That Fall proved the potential for psychological, emotional sound design.
• Demand prompted an official home: two spare rooms at Maida Vale Studios in 1958, starting the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

The Ethos: Applied Art, Creative Chaos (07:16–08:11)

• The Workshop was built from studio managers, engineers, mathematicians, and musicians—no one was an “expert,” because the field was new.
• [Mark Ayres, 07:38]:

  “No one was an expert, but as Desmond would often say, because we're not experts, we don't know what we shouldn't be able to do.”

Legendary Techniques: Tape Manipulation & DIY Sounds (08:11–09:07)

• Ingenuity ruled: everything from coins, bells, and radiators, to loops of tape stretched across hallways.
• Techniques included: speed changes, reversals, splicing, looping, feedback, and echo—often leading to wild, imaginative results.

Early Projects:

• Quatermass and the Pit, The Goon Show (Major Bloodknock’s stomach), custom radio jingles, and educational programming for schools.

Educational & Groovy Soundtracks (10:48–12:21)

• Many workshop sounds were for children, with Mark Ayres sharing a personal memory of magic carpet soundscapes.
• Funkier side: John Baker’s “Festival Time,” showcasing jazz sensibility blended with tape manipulation.

Avant-Garde Meets Mainstream (12:21–13:52)

• Early reactions to the Workshop’s innovations were mixed—some BBC viewers found the sounds unsettlingly modern.
• The BBC embraced them partly for cost savings, but also to push creative boundaries.

Delia Derbyshire: Sonic Visionary (13:52–17:18)

• Background: Grew up in Coventry during WWII, captivated by the sounds of bombs and the city.
• Created a personal library of sampled sounds, most famously a green lampshade repurposed into striking musical elements.

“[Delia] sampled it every which way. … She recorded it and she filtered it and she recorded it while pulling the fader up so it had a soft attack and she had hard attack version. She reversed it, she bowed it, tapped it with all sorts of different sticks. It became this library of lampshade sounds.”
—Mark Ayres [14:31]

• Selected Works:
  • “Blue Veils and Golden Sands” (for a documentary about the Tuareg people)
  • “Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO” (robot chanting made of reversed speech)
  • [Delia Derbyshire, 16:22]:

    “If you play it forwards it would say something like ‘praise to the master, his wisdom and his reason.’”

The Making of the Doctor Who Theme & SFX (21:36–27:44)

The Search for a Futuristic Sound

• Producer Verity Lambert wanted a theme as “unearthly” as possible.
• Influenced by French experimentalists Les Structures Sonores but lacking the budget, she turned to the Radiophonic Workshop.

Ron Grainer’s Score, Delia’s Realization (22:42–25:33)

• Grainer provided a “score” full of poetic instructions: “wind clouds,” “bubbles,” etc.
• Delia painstakingly assembled the theme using plucked strings tape-looped, with every possible pitch and volume level meticulously spliced by hand.

“The melody. A lot of people say, oh, there was a theremin on the Doctor Who theme. There wasn't a theremin ... [or] synthesizer either. ... She would literally turn the dial on the front [of a test-tone oscillator] ... performing on a test tone oscillator. It's bizarre.”
—Mark Ayres [24:55]

“It was a magic experience because I couldn't see from the music how it was going to sound. And it was just Ron's brilliant aural imagination, because when he heard the results, oh, it was really tickled pink.”
—Delia Derbyshire [25:38]

Iconic Sound Effects

• TARDIS: Created by Brian Hodgson, using the sound of a house key scraped along piano strings, manipulated through tape reversal, speed changes, and white noise overlays.
• Daleks: Actors’ voices processed with a ring modulator (sine wave ~30hz), creating the signature mechanical menace.

“You will move ahead of us and follow my directions.”
—Dalek voice effect demo [26:57]

From Tape to Synthesizer: Evolution & Tensions (28:17–31:20)

• Introduction of the EMS VCS3 and later, Moog synthesizer, shifted production from hand-crafted tape music to performance-based electronic sounds.
• Delia and other purists felt this shift undermined the Workshop’s ethos of “made, not performed” music.

“The joy of creating music out of pure sounds and music, which literally wasn't performed but was made, was sculpted. That's what Delia loved. And she felt it was a backward step.”
—Mark Ayres [29:36]

• Delia tried but disliked synth-based recreations of the Doctor Who theme ([30:19]), some of which aired only in Australia by mistake.

The Workshop Becomes a Factory (30:46–31:02)

• Demand for generic music, faster turnarounds, and newer gear altered the Workshop’s character.

Decline and End of the Workshop (34:46–36:49)

• Economic policy (“Producer Choice”) enabled outsourcing, gutting internal BBC departments.
• Budget cuts left only Elizabeth Parker before the Workshop closed in 1998.
• Mark Ayres became unofficial archivist:

  “I believe this stuff to be important, which is why I am very heavily involved in its preservation and its celebration.” [36:49]

Revival and Legacy (37:18–39:26)

• Doctor Who was revived in 2005, using original Radiophonic Workshop sounds, thanks to Ayres supplying BBC with TARDIS/Dalek/Sound libraries.
• Many of the original sounds (TARDIS, bassline, melody) survive in the modern show.

“It’s 60 years and those sounds still sound modern.”
—Mark Ayres [37:57]

Broader Influence

• The Workshop’s lasting impact on sound design, sampling, and electronic music is profound.
• Their experimental techniques are now mainstream, with “echoes of the Workshop” in countless media and electronic genres.

“Electronic music became very much a part of the media landscape in the UK from the late 1950s because we were subjected to it in everything ... it’s part of our DNA.”
—Mark Ayres [38:45]

• Democratized technology means anyone can experiment:

  “You’ve got more technology on your mobile phone now than the Radiophonic Workshop had in its entire history. So there’s no excuse for not getting out there and having fun.”
  —Mark Ayres [39:26]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Because we're not experts, we don't know what we shouldn't be able to do.”
  —Desmond Briscoe (via Mark Ayres) [07:38]
• “It became this library of lampshade sounds.”
  —Mark Ayres, on Delia Derbyshire’s inventive sampling [14:31]
• “I wanted to pervade the music. To achieve that feeling of wetness … the flute was actually myself blowing across a bottle.”
  —Elizabeth Parker [33:14]
• “Sixty years and those sounds still sound modern.”
  —Mark Ayres [37:57]
• “It’s part of our DNA.”
  —Mark Ayres, on the Workshop’s cultural saturation [38:45]

Timeline of Important Segments

• [01:18-03:19]: Introduction to the state of early sound design
• [03:31-04:42]: Paris & Cologne's contribution to electronic music
• [05:03-07:07]: Oram & Briscoe's after-hours experiments lead to the Workshop's founding
• [13:52-17:18]: Spotlight on Delia Derbyshire and her iconic works
• [21:36-27:44]: Creation of the Doctor Who theme and signature sound effects
• [28:17-31:20]: Synthesizers alter the Workshop's culture and techniques
• [34:46-36:49]: Decline and closure of the Radiophonic Workshop
• [37:18-39:26]: Legacy—original Workshop sounds in modern Doctor Who and global influence

Final Reflections

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s legacy is not just historic—it’s audible in today’s pop culture, embedded in the DNA of electronic music, and accessible to anyone with a smartphone and a curious ear. As Mark Ayres puts it:

“We are surrounded by things which are not conventionally music, but which are music. ... So there’s no excuse for not getting out there and having fun.” [39:26]

For Further Listening

Mark Ayres and fellow alumni perform as “The Radiophonic Workshop,” and you can find their links in the show notes. Share this milestone in audio history with a sound design lover or Doctor Who fan in your life!