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Thread: The mother of all prog

  1. #1

    The mother of all prog

    As recent thread on the VCS3 synth seems to have side-tracked into a discussion on Roxy Music.
    I thought I would start this one because nowhere in that thread was the name Delia Derbyshire mentioned.

    As someone who holds the rare accolade of actually influencing Pink Floyd, I feel she deserves a separate credit On this forum.
    Someone who truly we all owe a debt to.

    Yes guys, women really do exist beyond porn sites....

    Last edited by rael74; 12-16-2014 at 02:00 AM.

  2. #2
    Right on brother. An extraordinarily inventive composer.

  3. #3
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rael74 View Post
    Yes guys, women really do exist beyond porn sites....
    Yeah, I knew that already, but then I'm a more highly evolved ape than you. I feel like I keep needing to point that out.

  4. #4
    http://championupnorth.com/music/fea...ectronic-music

    "First we pay tribute to ‘Sculptress of Sound’ Delia Derbyshire. The ‘woman behind the wobbulator’ once approached Decca Recording Studios in London, only for them to tell her unequivocally that they did not employ women in their recording studios. Despite various companies knocking her back, she continued to pursue her passion, and in 1960 she landed an opportunity with the BBC as a trainee assistant studio manager.

    A senior studio executive, Desmond Briscoe, soon realised the tall, quiet, auburn-haired Delia was not only enthusiastic, but enormously creative and talented. He invited her to join their experimental and innovative Radiophonic Workshop in 1962, where she was to stay for over ten years.

    One of her first assignments was to realise one of the first electronic signatures ever used on television: Ron Grainer's score for the new science fiction series, Dr. Who. Delia, and her engineer, Dick Mills, had to create each sound from scratch; they were on the cutting edge, though Delia had no way of knowing how influential her work at the Radiophonic Workshop would become."


  5. #5
    Member gearHed289's Avatar
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    Great post, thank you.

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by olivetti View Post
    and in 1960 she landed an opportunity with the BBC as a trainee assistant studio manager.
    Bebe Barron had her beat by four years.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Bebe Barron had her beat by four years.
    The more I think about, there were many before her. But I feel that for most people (in Great Britain at least) her Doctor Who theme may well have been their first introduction to electronic music. I can't imagine Mr & Mrs Joe Public 'getting down' to the latest Stockhausen or Messiaen. However, the Doctor Who theme would have perhaps been their first "what the fuck is that?!" musical moment.

    The Floyd were known to visit the BBC Radiophonic Workshop where Delia Derbyshire was based, and a lot of Floyd's 68-70 output (Heartbeat Pigmeat, Small Furry Animals etc) is similarly influenced by 'Musique concrète' or whatever you want to call it. Then of course there is the VSC3 and the tape loops all over Dark Side and the middle section of 1974's 'Raving and Drooling' is basically the Doctor Who theme tune.

    I agree she may not have been the first, but certainly one of the architects of the sound we all love today, and not often 'a chick' gets a mention on this forum.

  8. #8
    She was (and her music still is) great. Although the soundtrack is somewhat less important to the "newer" generation of Dr. Who series, her input was part of what attracted me into watching those old reruns on Super Channel back in the 80s.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  9. #9
    Member Since: 3/27/2002 MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER's Avatar
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    that Dr. Who theme was definitely groundbreaking

    very cool that it was created by a female artist
    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

  10. #10
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Was Walter Carlos active before her?

  11. #11
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Was Walter Carlos active before her?
    No. Carlos's first (student) compositions were 1964. And, your hidden implication that Carlos' gender dysphoria somehow makes her a "woman pioneer in electronic music" is somewhat disingenuous -- although Carlos began living as a woman in 1967 she couldn't afford the surgery until 1972.

  12. #12
    I understand Delia hated synths, and the Radiophonic Workshop’s switch from old-fashioned magnetic tape composition to the newfangled EMS Synthi-100 was what prompted her to jump ship. She contributed to the White Noise album An Electric Storm as well.

    When did Pauline Oliveros do her first electronic pieces?
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

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    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Was Walter Carlos active before her?
    Don't you mean Wendy?
    Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)

  14. #14
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    No. Carlos's first (student) compositions were 1964. And, your hidden implication that Carlos' gender dysphoria somehow makes her a "woman pioneer in electronic music" is somewhat disingenuous -- although Carlos began living as a woman in 1967 she couldn't afford the surgery until 1972.
    I actually didn't even think of Carlos' gender. I think of her as a woman, and struggled a bit to remember her pre-op name. But it's moot since she started later.

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digital_Man View Post
    Don't you mean Wendy?
    No, I meant Walter since we were talking 1960s.

  16. #16
    Great stuff!
    "Always ready with the ray of sunshine"

  17. #17
    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    No, I meant Walter since we were talking 1960s.
    On her website Wendy is still referred to as "her" even before the gender change. Not once is "Walter" mentioned on there. You yourself said you think of her as a woman so why mention her as Walter? Maybe it's just me but that just seems wrong somehow.
    Last edited by Digital_Man; 12-16-2014 at 11:08 PM.
    Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)

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    but she used to be Walter Carlos. It says so on the Switched On Bach album
    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

  19. #19
    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    [but she used to be Walter Carlos ]

    Hey I used to wear diapers, hold on to a teddy bear and wear footy pajamas.

    But anyway, you are wrong. The original vinyl had no performer credit listed on it. I'm pretty sure all current pressings of her material say Wendy.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-On_Bach
    Last edited by Digital_Man; 12-17-2014 at 01:21 AM.
    Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)

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    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

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    I've seen this same argument more than once on this very site. It's just not that big of a deal. Anyway, I sure love the full version of "Timesteps" and "Country Lane" from "Wendy Carlos' Clockwork Orange", and "Sonic Seasonings" has some nice stuff on it, too. Glad those got reissued on CD by Eastside Digital in 1998. I found her other albums like "Moonscapes" and "Beauty in the Beast" to be interesting and technically brilliant, but kind of cold and sterile because of the modern synth sounds.

  22. #22
    Can’t we have a discussion about Wendy Carlos that doesn’t descend into a bunch of sophomoric transphobic bullshit?

    Anyway, I thought this was a thread about Delia Derbyshire.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  23. #23
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    ^ it's Digital Baby's fault.

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    Lets not forget the other two of the Holy Trininty at the BBC Radiophonic workshop in the 50s and 60s though, John Baker and Brian Hodgson. And later on jazz man and egghead David Cain.

  25. #25
    You can't re-invent the past. George Lucas tried that. The person who created the Clockwork Orange soundtrack had a pair of yarbles... Right-right droogs?

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