History, splicing tape, and babes
KeithHandy posted in Old skool, Pretty Pix, Producing, Tools, Your Soul on May 29th, 2007
Three words: untapped fetish gold. I’d imagine this is how “girls posing with cars” calendars look to an auto mechanic — except she ain’t posin’.
There are apparently only three pictures of Delia Derbyshire in existence, one of which unfortunately shows her teeth (ha ha, I’m pretending to be superficial, get it?). My question is, how did I go 37.5 years without seeing any of them, or without realizing that a female-born (non-transsexual) chick made such a huge contribution to the very craft I’m supposedly so knowledgeable about? (Edit: if the “craft” I’m referring to is “electronic music in general”, then it might seem that I’m overlooking theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore — but since instrumental mastery and tape manipulation are at very opposite ends of said craft, let’s assume I’m talking more about studio wizardry than performance.)
I finally got up to speed on all this when I watched a 60 minute documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, entitled The Alchemists of Sound. Highly recommended Mandatory viewing, despite the fact that whoever edited it got a little non-sequitur with the visual effects (such as reels on a machine turning opposite directions, unnecessary morphs, or a human face appearing in the background for no reason). If you can’t track it down, let me know, and I just might be able to do somethin’ for ya. We’ll see.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to call that mechanic I was talking about, and see how he’s coming along on my time machine.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Sounds like the reason for her near total anonimity was due in part to the industry itself making sure she stayed that way. I’m picturing a studio treehouse (U.K., circa 1959)cordoned off with ½ inch tape & a big sign written in white grease pencil stating ”No Birds Allowed”.
Men…..oh, wait..that’s us, isn’t it? Hey, if you can’t be embarrassed for (& by) your own gender, for who can you be?
Thanks for The A of S recommendation, Keith. i’ll give it a google.
and good luck with your time machine repairs. make sure you save your receipts :)
May 29th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Re: embarrassed for/by your own gender: yeah, and sometimes writing a blog post in a semi-ignorant, mock-chauvinist tone is the only way to cope with it.
In all my own time recording music, I’ve never found a use for my male equipment in the process, so I don’t know what Decca’s problem was. Of course, being of the computer age, I’ve never needed a spindle for a long tape loop…
May 29th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Ba-dum-bump *cymbal crash* :D
p.s. pardon my reaching, Keith, while my brain mentally cuts & pastes a small ‘m’ onto the end of the ‘who’ in my previous comment. the only grammar mistakes that truly irk me are my own.
i should refrain in future, from playing ‘Connect-the-Thoughts’ before my morning coffee IV drip session. i can almost hear the plaintive ‘tsk-tsk’ from Mrs. Mickle, my grade 11 English teacher, as she licks the tip of her red pen with palpable relish.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
It’s permanent, dude. The only thing I could suggest at this point is to make an even larger error, to draw attention away from the first one.
May 29th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Thanks for the suggestion, Keith. i here you.