An archive of samples from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop has been released by Spitfire Audio, in collaboration with BBC Studios. The Radiophonic Workshop was a sound effects unit in the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios, creating avant-garde sounds through experimental methods. It would provide music and sound for a range of shows including Doctor Who. For the first time, the archive of otherworldly sounds will be available to the public and music producers.
The Radiophonic Workshop was created in 1958, initiated by Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe, with the aim of making innovative sounds and adding a new dimension to plays and shows on Radio 3. It provided theme tunes, jingles and sounds effects for various programmes. Inspired by musique concrète – an experimental musical technique that used recorded sounds rather than musical instruments – the Workshop used unconventional methods, creating sounds by hitting lampshades, scraping piano wires and manipulating tape loops with milk bottles.
Shows that the Workshop produced for included Doctor Who, The Goon Show, Blake’s 7, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Living Planet and many other productions from the BBC. The Workshop ran until it closed in 1988. It was revived in 2012 by the BBC and Arts Council England, who created a new version to run online, headed up by musician Matthew Herbert. Members of the Workshop have also reunited for various live performances of their BBC-commissioned musical works and festivals including End of the Road.
Now, Spitfire Audio has been granted exclusive access to the Workshop’s archives, tools and hardware at Maida Vale studios, with assistance from archivist Mark Ayres and other Workshop members. The sample library will feature sounds from the Workshop’s archive as well as new recordings from Workshop members and associates, such as Mark Ayres, Kieron Pepper, Bob Earland, Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb, Glynis Jones and Peter Howell.
To the BBC, electronic musician, composer and audio engineer Mark Ayres said: “As a kid born in the 1960s, I realised there was a department at the BBC that was purely for making bonkers noises. It blew my mind!”
“I’m the youngest member of the core Radiophonic Workshop – and I’m 64! We’re not going to be around forever. It was really important to leave a creative tool, inspired by our work, for other people to use going forward. I hope we’ve made an instrument that will inspire future generations.”
The Spitfire Audio BBC Radiophonic Workshop VST is available now for on Spitfire Audio’s website. An introductory price of £119/€143/$159 is available until March 6, 2025.
