Experimental sound artist Matthew Herbert is a master of manipulating sound effects -- just check his conceptually intense 2011 LP One Pig, which used samples culled throughout a pig's life, from birth to slaughter to being eaten. Fittingly, the musician will now be in charge of creating and gathering effects as the creative director for the BBC's relaunched Radiophonic Workshop.
The original workshop, which was open from 1958 to 1998, was housed at the famed Maida Vale studios in London. It was responsible for the iconic theme songs for Doctor Who, compositions used in radio-drama The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and scores of effects for assorted BBC programming.
The M.O. is essentially the same this time around, but the workshop has been moved online to the Space, which Herbert explained in a press statement is "an innovative new digital arts media service created in joint partnership between the BBC and the arts council the radiophonic workshop."
He and "seven fellow cutting-edge collaborators" -- Micahu and the Shapes' Mica Levi, Yann Seznec, Max de Wardener, theatre figure Lyndsey Turner, Patrick Bergel and broadcast technologist Tony Churnside -- will use the Space "as an online portal and forum for discussion around the challenges of creating new sounds in a world saturated in innovative music technology but lacklustre in terms of actual original output."
Herbert continued, "By bringing together the people making the technology with people making the music, we are hoping to find engaging answers to some of the modern problems associated with the role of sound and music on the internet, in certain creative forms and within broadcasting."
Up first for Herbert and co. is a "sonic memorial" to the BBC's Bush House building.
Thanks to the BBC for the tip.
The original workshop, which was open from 1958 to 1998, was housed at the famed Maida Vale studios in London. It was responsible for the iconic theme songs for Doctor Who, compositions used in radio-drama The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and scores of effects for assorted BBC programming.
The M.O. is essentially the same this time around, but the workshop has been moved online to the Space, which Herbert explained in a press statement is "an innovative new digital arts media service created in joint partnership between the BBC and the arts council the radiophonic workshop."
He and "seven fellow cutting-edge collaborators" -- Micahu and the Shapes' Mica Levi, Yann Seznec, Max de Wardener, theatre figure Lyndsey Turner, Patrick Bergel and broadcast technologist Tony Churnside -- will use the Space "as an online portal and forum for discussion around the challenges of creating new sounds in a world saturated in innovative music technology but lacklustre in terms of actual original output."
Herbert continued, "By bringing together the people making the technology with people making the music, we are hoping to find engaging answers to some of the modern problems associated with the role of sound and music on the internet, in certain creative forms and within broadcasting."
Up first for Herbert and co. is a "sonic memorial" to the BBC's Bush House building.
Thanks to the BBC for the tip.
