Mixing mathematics and sound was Delia Derbyshire's goal. This petite Englishwoman with librarian looks and otherworldly auditory abilities achieved her goal. A true musical genius, Delia, "The Sculptress of Sound", was the brains and the loop master of the original Dr Who theme while working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. She was not given a co-composer credit the BBC bureaucracy, which then preferred to keep the members of the workshop anonymous.
The sounds she crafted in the"60s could be fresh now in 2018. She created the theme while working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop As a studio assistant Once told 'The recording studio is no place for a woman.' She still persevered despite the lack of encouragement. She was not even given credit for the theme. Her ability to manipulate sounds was her niche. Growing up in the war torn city of Coventry, England, she relayed that the war sounds outside her family's flat stayed with her. Being able delve in her past emotions, while one can only understand must have been traumatic, were layered into her sound. recordings. Lamp shades and wine bottles were also used to design the music which is eternally visceral.
Her cerebral vision spawned early dance music. She also crafted what she called "Sound collages". Precocious and adventurous even as a child her music was deemed to lascivious or too sophisticated for the BBC. This didn't halt her from pursuing other avenues, such as electronic music festivals and fashion shows, that were more inclined to get excited about her erudite style.
Also referred to as the "Godmother of British electronic music" her career inspired untold numbers of musicians – such as Aphex Twin, Orbital and Kraftwerk – and her music has been sampled by the likes of Pink Floyd. Happenstance exploratory meetings with Paul McCartney and his idol sound maker, Karlheinz Stockhausen (whose image appeared on the cover of Sgt Pepper). A purveyor of electronic music, Sir Paul even wanted this musical pioneer to remake yesterday. He went as far as well sort of stalking her.
"I even found out where Miss Derbyshire lived, and went round to visit her," McCartney told Q magazine. "We even went into the hut at the bottom of her garden. It was full of tape machines and funny instruments. My plan in meeting her was to do an electronic backing for my song Yesterday.
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After 13 years of working at the Radiophonic Workshop, she became disenchanted with the way the electronic music movement was going in the late 60s and 70s so she job jumped always rushing into something creative like working at a book store, a gallery. The 90s found her coming back to the scene where she influenced Sonic Boom and Aphex Twin. Thankfully she did.
Delia believed that the way the ear / brain perceives sound should have dominance over any basic mathematical theory, but as with most things in life it is important to know the rules in order to advantageously bend or break them.
I've dubbed her sound collages as "music for the paranoid"
She took quickly to manipulating moods and atmospheric qualities. she is responsible for underwater haziness of the themes dynamic and ominous quality. The wonk wonk all done by her careful nudging and popping of the board. I was blown away by the haunting almost druggy like interpretation of her sound collage poem Falling. She sounds stoned as she speaks about floating, falling, nothingness. The male voice speaks about gathering speed downwards. Ominous sounds floating like cigar smoke in the background became her niche while creating these Sound Collages.
The haunting tone of her piece the Sea which relies of was and her English accent. She rambles eerily about being drowned. “I disappear down there into the sea." “The water seemed to be rather gooey and I didn’t like it.” I think she could have definitley rocked the collages in a Hitchcock movie.
The collages are mesmerizing videos and sense of place where you lose yourself in a cerebral,celestial experience like diving into a pool moody white noise.
Toward the end of her life, she became more eccentric and began to obsessively hide her music tapes in cereal boxes or she would bring them to a thrift shop where she would put another person’s name on the cover. The tapes were recovered and remastered.
In 2014, the tapes were put on display at John Rylands Deansgate Library in Manchester. This was a concerted effort to give Delia the cred she deserved and to get her name out of the cereal box. “ An important step forward in terms of finally turning Delia,
who helped to revolutionise BBC soundtracks by creating electronic
music through recording everyday sounds and cutting, splicing and
distorting tapes, into the household name she deserves to be.”
Major props for the little lady with the pretty voice and big mind. EDM lovers and Whovians everywhere tip your hat to the “Scuptress of Sound”.
Interesting fact
In 1967 Derbyshire's work as a member of electronic outfit Unit Delta Plus shared a bill with that of the Beatles at a happening at the Roundhouse in north London. The Beatles created a 14-minute track called Carnival of Light for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave that has never been officially released.
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