Radio 3 – Sound and Music Production

BBC MUSIC launches with ‘God Only Knows’ remix

BBC launches new MUSIC site with God Only Knows,
a star-studded film
featuring ‘The Impossible Orchestra’

I heard about this on the way in to work this morning – but I didn’t know what the event was going to be until sitting down with the family at 8pm. It reminded me of the great ‘Perfect Day’ BBC promotional film. I have gathered these comments from various sources available online. The song was broadcast simultaneously on Tuesday 7th October 2014 on BBC One, Two, Three, Four and Radio 1, 2, 4, 6 and 5 Live.

The track, which will also be released in aid of Children in Need, features 27 artists across all musical genres. They include Sir Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Chris Martin, Sam Smith, Brian May, Jamie Cullum and Nicola Benedetti.

God Only Knows has reached almost mythical status in the pop canon. Written and produced by Brian Wilson with lyricist Tony Asher and younger brother Carl Wilson on vocals, it was released in 1966 as part of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album. It reached Number 2 in the UK and Number 39 in the US Charts. It has become one of the most lauded tracks of all time. Rolling Stone placed it at 25 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and in 2006, Pitchfork magazine crowned God Only Knows as the best song of the 1960s.

BBC Music will encompass TV and radio programming, digital services and schemes to support emerging talent including the introduction of classical music to UK primary schools. The song’s original writer, Brian Wilson, also features on the track, along with the BBC Concert Orchestra. The collective group of musicians has been named the Impossible Orchestra. Bob Shennan, director of BBC Music, said: “This ‘impossible’ orchestra is a celebration of all the talent, diversity and musical passion found every single day throughout the BBC.”

Watch the ‘making of’ here

The line by line breakdown of singers is as follows:

BBC Concert Orchestra

Martin James Bartlett – celeste

Pharrell Williams – I may not always love you

Emeli Sandé – But as long as there are stars above you

Elton John – You never need to doubt it

Lorde – I’ll make you so sure about it

Chris Martin – God only knows what I’d be without you

Brian Wilson – If you should ever leave me

Florence Welch – Well life would still go on believe me

Kylie Minogue – The world could show nothing to me

Stevie Wonder – So what good would living do me

Eliza Carthy – God only knows what I’d be without you

Nicola Benedetti – violin

Jools Holland – piano

Brian May – electric guitar

Jake Bugg – lalalala

Katie Derham – violin

Tees Valley Youth Choir – God only knows

Alison Balsom – piccolo trumpet

One Direction – God only knows what I’d be without you

Jaz Dhami – God only knows what I’d be without you

Paloma Faith – God only knows what I’d be without you

Chrissie Hynde – God only knows

Jamie Cullum – God only knows what I’d be without you

Baaba Maal – God only knows

Danielle de Niese – God only knows what I’d be without you

Dave Grohl – God only knows

Sam Smith – God only knows what I’d be without you

Brian Wilson – God only knows what I’d be without you

read:

THE TELEGRAPH: the Future of Music on BBC

THE GUARDIAN: BBC MUSIC LAUNCH

Sources: BBC Media Centre, BBC YOUTUBE Channel, BBC NEWS WEBSITE
(accessed 7th October 2014)

October 7, 2014 BBC Music, featured posts, Industry, Music Industry, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio One, Trevor Dann, Uncategorized No Comments

Free Thinking – BBC Radiophonic Workshop

The BBC Radiophonic workshop was founded in 1958 by Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram. This group of experimental composers, sound engineers and musical innovators provided music for programmes including The Body in Question, Horizon, Quatermass, Newsround, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Chronicle and Delia Derbyshire’s iconic Doctor Who Theme before being shut down by Director General John Birt in 1998.

In an edition recorded just as the Workshop prepare to release a new album, and tour the UK, Matthew Sweet brings together Radiophonic Workshop members Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb, Peter Howells, and Mark Ayres to reflect on the days and nights they spent in the workshop, coaxing ageing machines into otherworldly life, and pioneering electronic music. Also in the programme, The Prodigy’s Kieron Pepper and Vile Electrodes on the influence the Radiophonic Workshop had on them.

Listen to the BBC Radio 3 programme here:

Taking part in the programme:
Dick Mills
Mark Ayres
Roger Limb
Peter Howell
Paddy Kingsland
Matthew Howden
Kieron Pepper
Vile Electrodes
Steven Price

May 1, 2014 electronic music, Experimental, featured posts, film sound, Radio 3, Radiophonic Workshop, sound design, sound history 1 Comment

Sound of Cinema – Sound and Fury

How do sound designers use soundscapes and sound effects to manipulate excitement and emotion in the cinema audience?

As part of the BBC’s Sound of Cinema season, Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering, visits Pinewood studios to meet Glenn Freemantle, Danny Boyle’s sound designer. Freemantle describes the extraordinary lengths he went to in order to re-create the soundscape of a remote desert canyon in the film 127 Hours, so that the cinema audience hears exactly what the climber trapped under a rock for 127 hours hears as he tries to escape. And he shows how to build up the sound in a creepy scene to make the audience feel uneasy.

Trevor Cox also learns how the sound of a futuristic motor bike is created in the latest Judge Dredd film ? how does a sound designer create a sound that is incredibly powerful but also believable?

And there’s a revealing trip to a screening room in central London to experience the very latest technology in the world of cinematic surround sound

March 3, 2014 featured posts, Radio 3, Radio 4, sound design, sound editing for visual media No Comments

The Soundworld Of Dr Who

This interesting documentary celebrates the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and explores the sound design of Doctor Who, both in its early years, and in recording the seventh BBC Wales series. Matthew Sweet interviews Tim Ricketts, Paul Jefferies and Brian Hodgson who are all involved with sound design on Doctor Who, past and present. Also interviewed the voice of the Daleks and Ice Warriors, Nicholas Briggs. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 during the interval of the 2013 Doctor Who at the Proms.

Listen to the programme here

Also

Doctor Who: How Norfolk man created Dalek and Tardis sounds

July 19, 2013 electronic music, Radio 3, Radiophonic Workshop, sound design, sound editing for visual media, sound history, TV No Comments

If Chimes Could Whisper – The Strange Tale of the Glass Armonica

Dame Evelyn Glennie celebrates the 250th birthday of one of the most unusual of all musical instruments, the Glass Armonica, premiered by Benjamin Franklin in 1762. She tries out the working instrument at the Benjamin Franklin House in London, sees an original example in the Horniman Museum, and discovers the repertoire written for it by Mozart, Hasse and Donizetti. On the way, she encounters madness and mental illness, reveals one of the world’s first female virtuosi, Marianne Davies, and meets the man responsible for the present day revival of this remarkable instrument, Thomas Bloch.

Listen to the BBC Radio 3 programme here

December 22, 2012 Experimental, Music, orchestral recording, Radio 3, sound history No Comments