This year marks the 50th anniversary of BBC Television's Doctor Who - an institution that the Radiophonic Workshop's extraordinary music helped propel into the consciousness of the British public. To celebrate both the return of RWS and the anniversary of Doctor Who, the RWS joined a 200-strong cast of musicians for the BBC Doctor Who Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall in July. The concert, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, will also be shown on BBC television in November as part of the Doctor Who anniversary celebrations.
The RWS will also be curating and headlining a mini-festival celebrating the Workshop's legacy and their return to the stage at the London Roundhouse in November, a venue they sold out when they last played live in 2009. As well as two sets from the RWS and guests, the event will feature a recreation of the Radiophonic Workshop in 5.1-surround sound that onlookers will be able to interact directly with. The on-stage mix, FX and monitoring will be handled by the X32 console and the S16 and P16 stage units.
Other RWS events this year include an appearance at Festival Number 6 in Port Merion, Wales and other festival appearances across Europe. Their new album (featuring a number of well known collaborators and guest musicians) will be released in 2014 to coincide with a series of vinyl and CD reissues of their influential (and frequently sampled) back catalogue.
The current RWS on-stage rig consists of a Behringer X32 Digital Mixing Console, two S16 Digital Snakes, the Powerplay P16 Personal Monitoring System, Eurolive B812NEO Active Loudspeakers and B1800D-PRO Active 18" subwoofers for the entire audio distribution.
Music Group founder and CEO Uli Behringer commented, "The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was a constant source of innovation in music and audio technology. They reinvented the modern musical soundscape, with much of their work becoming as iconic as the shows for which they were created. We are honoured to be able to participate with the RWS in this important celebration."
(Jim Evans)
