Hans Zimmer has bought Maida Vale location where the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was based.
A new enclosed system is imminent and ive put my name down on the waiting listas my first album as a kid was a Radiophonic album and its a bit of a dream system for me.
https://ajhsynth.com/Radiophonic.html
The demos sound fucking incredible.
Anyone else interested?
Iām guessing youāll be the only person here with Ā£15,000 burning a hole in their pocket. Good for you though. Goes nicely with that Ā£70 QNexus controller 
Well im at that time of my life. Retired with one last big purchase to enjoy in a studio.
AJH stuff is really nice, I have a few of his modules.
Iām struggling to figure out whatās really āRadiophonicā about this beyond Hans Zimmer wanting one for that studio though? They had all sorts of equipment in there but notably said they never had a Moog, which most AJH stuff is based on.
Treat yourself @BuzzLightsout!
I get your point. A lot of their early stuff was tape loops. It was a unique place. More like a Science Lab. Maybe thats the link. Its a big laboratory of sound?
Thanks Tchu. Something ive never done.
Iām just surprised that Zimmer is still using hardware amidst the extensive Zebra libraries!
TBH Iād love to hear more on his teamās workflow, the unsexy stuff involved in sampling and cataloguing so the scoring āfactoryā process is as streamlined as these things go.
I think hes a bit of a Romantic dude at heart. No different than us. We go back and forth but in the end we usually prefer hardware.
Of course! The fascinating bit and applicable to my own drives would be how a music factory balances the hardware whimsy / performance accessibility with strong process so the creative drive doesnāt get bogged down in preciousness, how sketching gets done and custom libraries can incorporate the unique elements of each device to be harnessed per project (or future projects.)
Iām sure the day to day drudgery Iām seeking out (and however itās actioned through the time of new members to the shop, interns and tea fetchers) would eat away at some of the āmovie magicā, but perhaps thereās some ex employees or industry journals that might chat about it. I know there are criticisms about their formula and output but I can piecemeal process in ways that help me focus on creation over a number of arbitrary roadblocks.
Nice find. He sees it differently than most. I wonder if this may start a trend. Studios gone by the wayside resurrected.
Maida Vale was much more than the Radiophonic Workshop. It had some really nice studio spaces. Quite stupid of BBC to let it go really.
Did a recording there in the room they used to use for the Peel Sessions which had a cool sort of mezzanine floor built inside it. Was a fun afternoon!
Im jealous i would love to have gone when it was flourishing.
Judging by the miserable offerings in the subsidised canteen it was hardly flourishing at the time I visited! Did get to walk past the (very small) rooms they used for the Radiophonic stuff though.
Haha. Progress they call it!
British institutions have a habit of selling off their buildings. The NHS do it too, and then complain about lack of beds/space.
Seems amazing and compact given what it is replicatingā¦ but yeah at that price I would probably rather get 3 6u racks of wiard 300 modules or something
Theres always budget options of all gear. Im sure the cost would come down dramatically if you shopped around.
The workers and public affected by privatizing public good are rarely the people making the push (and receiving kickbacks) to do so. I suppose there are also people who also make these decisions, reap the political and monetary benefits, and complain about the implementation of their own plansā¦
This discussion with artists who were invited to participate in Zimmerās process during scoring for DUNE Part 2 might be interesting and illuminating for you.
