Sounds impossible: the BBC Radiophonic Workshop archive is now available for the first time

From Doctor Who and Blue Peter to The Goon Show and beyond, the legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop lives on… And their archive is now available – for the first time – for use by musical artists and producers. From its inception in 1958, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop helped pioneer electronic music and sampling.

In collaboration with Spitfire Audio, BBC Studios will now release an unprecedented package of samples from the innovative workshop. Famously, the Radiophonic Workshop created impossible sounds and unearthly music for shows including Living Planet, Tomorrow’s World, Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who… For which they made real not only the groundbreaking theme tune but also the voice of the Daleks and the sounds of the TARDIS.

For 40 years, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was the place to go for the sound of the impossible. As the unruly engine behind the music and effects of countless BBC productions, the Radiophonic Workshop’s methods included scraping piano strings, hitting lampshades and manipulating tape loops with milk bottles… Their unconventional methods producing distinctive sounds and music that continue to inspire artists to this day.

With exclusive access to the BBC archives, tools and hardware at the renowned Maida Vale Studios, Spitfire Audio has now captured the essence of the Workshop’s endeavours. The library features sounds from original tapes, as well as new recordings and experiments by Workshop members and associates.

The archive materials are now available in Spitfire Audio’s Solar engine. What’s more, musicians are able to use modern techniques of bending, stretching and morphing to create new effects. They also have access to a variety of microphones and equipment. This includes the EMT turntable and Rogers loudspeakers made especially for the BBC; the Maida Vale plate and spring reverbs, modular synthesizers, tape machines, EMS Vocoder, Echo chamber, Roland Vocoder SVC-350 and Eventide H-3000. The package is divided into Archive Content, Found Sounds, Junk Percussion, Tape Loops, Synths and a Miscellany.

The machines, performances and archive sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are now available in the first sample-library to capture the Workshop’s essence, with unprecedented access to its home of 40 years: London’s Maida Vale studios.

Dominic Walker, Global Business Director for BBC Studios said: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating once again with Spitfire Audio in bringing the legendary sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to a new generation of musicians and composers with this valuable online library”.

Harry Wilson, Spitfire Audio’s Head of Recording, added: “We’re not just looking back at what the members were doing way back when… We’re projecting a strand of their work into the future and saying: if the Workshop was engaged with a similar process now, what would it sound like?”