Dallas Campbell demonstrates the way the Tardis take-off sound effect was created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop using an upright piano and a coin during his introduction to BBC's The Sky at Night Question Time on 2021-09-19.
The first rule of explaining how the tardis sound effect was made from scraping a key along a piano wire is, never actually explain how Brian Hodgson processed the piano string scrape into the actual tardis sound effect rather than just a recording of a key on a piano string.
@@VineFynnIt’s reversed but there’s some quirky processing done to it. I tried to recreate it, I actually showed it to Brian and he completely shot me down 😂😂😂.
@@stabbityjoe7588 Very famoulsy heard at the end of the legendary episode: "Turn Left": ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XXcsFUZxGy8.html
It’s fascinating how so many iconic sound effects were the result of musical strings or steel cables. Not only the TARDIS here, but the blaster sound effect from Star Wars was used by striking a steel cable. And Godzilla’s iconic roar was made by rubbing a resin-coated glove over the strings of a double bass.
I heard bbc mention this behind the scenes in 1963 Doctor Who & I thought that was an excellent idea it’s gold brilliant sound ever the sound of the Universe the best ship of alllllllll time the TARDIS😁😁😁😁
The Radiophonic Workshop used someone's house keys (though I grant the difference between that and a coin should be fairly scant), and I'm pretty certain that the sound recorded received additional electronic processing. I've been meaning for a long time now to field-record keys on piano bass strings and have a play in my plugin library to see how close I can get.
Piano strings are fairly tough, so the BBC might have discovered that keys get damaged (and thus no longer work properly) after a few scrapings. A coin would be cheaper to replace and the more even playing surface might have given better control. Good luck with your recording project!
@@beckoning-chasm You don't use the bit that goes in the lock on the strings. You hold it by that end and use the bit you normally hold to rub the strings.
@@HugoGojibiter Yeah, but coins have value, and I have a lot more old keys hanging around my foley locker than coins. When I need to make coin sounds, I use old fender washers LOL.
@@DaveDexterMusic i don’t think it was cynical at all. things are made differently now than they used to be. different episodes, the tardis sounds different. sometimes it’s got a grinding sound, sometimes there’s a cloister bell. sometimes it shudders like it’s having trouble materializing. it’s an old ship. computers let us edit sound in a way we never could before. there’s nothing cynical about acknowledging that.
honestly, I think that's why the audience aren't with him when he does the Tardis thing. Hard to be excited about a familiar sound effect when you're busy processing a hate crime.
The basic 'bong'' sound used in the Doctor Who theme music to perform the bass line is also this piano, bass string being plucked and damped as on a double-bass. The sounds were recorded onto tape, made into repeating loops, re-recorded at different speeds and pitches and edited into a single tape, then re-recorded as the music itself. This has formed the basis for the theme until 2005, when the orchestral version replaced it.
Apparently literally every other TARDIS operator, ever (The Master, The Rani, etc.) makes the exact same mistake, since that "wheezing, groaning sound" was always made by every (de)materializing TARDIS on the show. This is one of several examples of former showrunner/writer Steven Moffat trying to be cute for a cheap laugh, but the joke ultimately does not bear close scrutiny. Another example; Moffatt (and/or "The Doctor's Wife" guest writer Neil Gaiman?) has the TARDIS chide the Doctor for always pushing the door(s) inward to enter the TARDIS, despite there being a sign on the outer door that reads "PULL to open". Silly old Doctor! Why can't he be as smart & sensible as River or the TARDIS herself? The trouble is, the "Pull to open" sign doesn't refer to the Police Box doors, it refers to the little panel in the door containing the phone. Moffat has three doctors in at least two episodes refer to the round things on the TARDIS interior walls as "round things" and the 11th Doctor wonders aloud what they're really called. Um, they've been called "roundels" at least as far back as the 1970s. I could go on, but I've already shown myself to be a big enough pedantic nerd and probably only five other people on the planet care about these sorts of silly nitpicks. The thing is this sort of glib laziness is weird coming from such otherwise talented writers who incidentally also happen to be lifelong Doctor Who fans.
@@SurlyInsomniac sure, but this particular joke does bear scrutiny. It’s possible that leaving the brakes on is the proper way of driving it and that’s why everyone operates it like the Doctor. Maybe the joke is that River Song, being human, is the only one who accidentally(?) figured out a way of landing that bypasses the need for brakes?
@@thecaptainseye That's some unwieldy retconning to cover one line of dialogue and of course River's pro-tip was forgotten immediately after that episode, because the Doctor continues to fly the TARDIS with the brakes on...even in situations when landing silently would be an advantage? It was a cute(-ish) throwaway line to give the nu-Who normals a cheap LOL, nothing more.
@@SurlyInsomniac Well I don’t disagree but I did like this explanation and hoped it to be considered canon. It sounds like “the brakes” more than anything else. I know it’s supposed to be the materialization sound but the “struggling” nature of the sound makes it more fitting to the resistance of a brake than anything else.
