Words by Jim Ottewil

“Trying to use broken technology in innovative ways to create new sounds has always been at the heart of the Radiophonic Workshop,” laughs Mark Ayres, a member of the workshop’s current incarnation. 

Since their inception, this many-limbed, multi-generational gang has led the way when it comes to sonic envelope-pushing and extra-planetary beeps and bleeps. Launched in the late fifties to create incidental music and sounds for BBC radio and then TV, the workshop’s influence has gone into orbits far beyond their original ambitions. From iconic themes and effects for Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to collaborations with the Beatles and Pink Floyd, the group’s musical fingerprints are all over popular culture. Now, their latest project, Latency, see them making history by transforming the internet itself into a shape-shifting musical instrument. They’ve come up with a way of using the internet’s lag when it came to data transferral to explore a unique form of improvisation. 

“I was working on a couple of projects in lockdown and asked Bob [Earland, fellow workshop member] if there was a way of sending audio over the internet,” recalls the workshop’s Paddy Kingsland, the composer behind The Hitchhiker’s Guide, numerous TV series and mainstay of the KPM library.  

“He came back and said: “Well it’s always going to be challenging as there’s always going to be latency”. It all started from there.”

Lockdown has meant that we’ve all had to significantly adjust how we live and work, including the Radiophonic Workshop. 

Most of the past year has seen many of us familiarising ourselves with Zoom and relying on the strength of our broadband networks to connect with each other. While this has had its challenges, the workshop instead saw these restrictions as an opportunity, coming up with this audacious creative endeavour. 

“Bob came up with this brilliant idea where he could connect everyone’s home studios and we’d send audio to each other,” explains Paddy of the origins of Latency. "I’d play in response to someone else, then I’d pass my performance on to the next member of the group, so setting up this musical loop,” explains Paddy.

An improvised performance of ‘Latency’ was broadcast via their YouTube channel last November to mark Delia Derbyshire Day. This annual event celebrates the workshop’s pioneering female creative and arranger behind the Doctor Who theme. She would surely be appreciative of the ingenuity behind this latest work, adopting and furthering techniques she used before her passing in 2001. 

“The delay of latency means you get this sound effect reminiscent of the old days of the Radiophonic Workshop when we’d have a tape going between two machines,” Paddy says. “We’d get an appreciable delay, then feed it back round the system so the sound constantly grew and evolved.”

By its very nature, ‘Latency’ is inspired by a technological glitch. But during early forays, poor internet connections would often mean that members dropped out of the performance and the loop would have to be set up once again.

Kieron Pepper, live drummer with the Prodigy and now a member of the workshop, says that the more players were added to this chain, the greater the room for a mishap. 

“One of the main challenges was controlling the performance’s sound,” he explains. “Feedback can be cumulative so it could end up becoming a big mess.” 

Bob Earland’s role was critical to the success of the project, acting almost as captain of the ship, filtering and applying effects to the various moving musical parts, and guiding the performance forward. 

“I’d hear something Paddy had done, then I’d apply delay or reverb and manipulate the sound before it would get sent back,” he says. “So everyone would be receiving a slightly altered version of what they played originally.” 

“Most important was the volume control,” he continues. “This helped me subtly change how much sound was sent back into the loop - there was a sweet spot where it would slowly fade off into nothing but if it was too high, then it’d get louder every time it went round and become really chaotic.”

The age-old maxim of less is more was adopted as the workshop progressed through numerous rehearsals in a bid to effectively manipulate these sounds. The final performance was one cut back from some versions which spiraled for more than 15 minutes. 

“We had to leave things out rather than put them in,” says Paddy. “It’s an old saying, but the sparser you played, the more effective the whole piece became.”

Composer and Radiophonic Workshop archivist Mark Ayres agrees: “With every project we do, we try to build a scaffolding (a phrase used by workshop member Peter Howell) on which we hang things. But we try to make everything as simple as possible. They then take on a richness of their own due to the limitations we’ve imposed or how we’ve treated them.”

‘Latency’ is the latest product of a musical family with many years of experience and a large roll call of past and present members. The likes of current members Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland, and Roger Limb all worked in its first life before the workshop was officially closed in 1998. It didn’t open its doors again until 2009, but this time in a live form, performing at London’s Roundhouse. The gig was such a success that they’ve taken the project out on the road, playing numerous events and festivals. It continues to evolve and grow. 

“You’ve got to remember that with the workshop, we all used to very much work on our own back in the seventies and eighties,” says Roger. 

“But working together like this is something we’ve slipped very naturally into - doing this ‘Latency’ show is an extension of that. Still, it’s something completely new compared with the old days.” 

Latency nods to their past, drawing on their thirst for repurposing old gear to construct a new musical future. 

“At this point in history, the internet can be classed as old technology,” explains Mark. “And this is something the workshop has pursued since its inception in 1958.”

“When it was first launched, it was given two rooms at Maida Vale Studios and the key to the store's department which was full of these bits of equipment that didn’t quite work properly. That’s what excited us all about this project - you’re taking something that is traditionally seen as a problem and using it in such a way that it becomes an advantage. It’s about finding ways to turn something undesirable into something extremely creative.”With a reputation steeped in equipment, the workshop has often had the chance to call on a vast array of musical gear to bring their ideas to life. But with Latency, due to the nature of lockdown, the various members had to use whatever they had in their homes. 

“I’m used to playing a big kit using samples and synths on the side,” says Kieran. “I had to strip this down and fit it into the little cabin where I do a lot of my writing. I used a Microkorg and other different instruments to make sounds. I like to mix between organic and computers - but we’ve all got our go-to equipment.”

“I still make music on analogue kit,” adds Mark. “I love transistors and vintage gear. It always amuses me when Peter comes to my studio, he’ll come up with something quickly on his laptop which will blow your mind, and I’ll be left fiddling with my synths.”

This blending of new tech alongside older methods means they can stay true to the sonics they’re known for while enjoying the benefits of digital. 

“For our live show, digital control is essential as is the processing which is just so much quicker,” continues Mark. “When Dick created the ‘Doctor Who’ theme with Delia, it took them three weeks to come up with two and a half minutes of music. You couldn’t really work like that anymore.” 

Another important aspect was the choice of DAW. Some of the bigger challenges were around sending audio and aligning everyone’s workstations. Paddy believes Audiomovers was imperative in removing many of the headaches.  

“It was crucial to smoothing the process and making it so we could concentrate on the music rather than wrestling with the technicalities,” he states. 

The logistics of being in separate spaces rather than the same room also meant there were other issues to contend with. “During those first experiments, someone’s connection would go down or go glitchy and there would be lots of head-scratching,” Bob recalls. “It was harder to resolve these issues as we weren’t in the same room as each other.”

With many years of music-making in leftfield audio pastures, the workshop has plenty of advice for aspiring music makers. Peter Howell believes they should try and begin from a clean slate rather than an over-thinking style. 

“The genre is for the critic after the event, not the writer,” he states. “I always advise people to keep an open mind, otherwise you’re restricted from the start.”

For self-confessed gear heads, also have a healthy relationship with technology. “Anyone starting out in found sound or electronic music shouldn’t worry about gear,” advises Mark. “You can come up with pure magic with your imagination and the simplest of tools. Peter created a library of sounds for this film ‘Possum’ using a scrubbing brush and an autoharp. So keep it simple.”

Ultimately, connections are at the heart of what drives the workshop. While ‘Latency’ has been a brilliantly innovative way of music-making, forging musical relationships and the friendships between them have underpinned their success. 

“Collaborate, find someone you can work and knock ideas around with,” says Roger.  Music has always been something you do with people. That’s always been a way forward for me.”