Polyteknisk Boghandel

Special Sound traces the fascinating creation and rich legacy of the BBC's electronic music studio, the Radiophonic Workshop, in the context of other, more famous studios in Europe and America. Rather than compete with these academic studios, the BBC built a studio initially to provide its own avant-garde dramatic productions with "special sound," experimental sounds "neither music nor sound effect." Very quickly, however, a popular kind of electronic music emerged from the ashes of highbrow BBC radio drama in the form of quirky jingles, signature tunes such as Doctor Who, and incidental music for hundreds of programs lasting until the studio's closure in 1996. 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. On the basis of in-depth research in the studio's archives and papers, this book tells the history of the many engineers, composers, directors, producers, and bureaucrats behind the studio to trace the shifting perception towards electronic music in Britain. Britain's peculiar position as "outsider" to the developments in electronic music as it evolved in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States render its unique and influential contributions to the field of electronic music a fascinating counterpoint to these more publicized academic styles. Combining historical discussion of the people and instrucments in the workshop with analysis of specific works, Niebur creates a new model for understanding how the Radiophonic Workshop fits into the larger history of electronic music.