Browse content similar to 09/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to the start of the new series. I'm in Cambridge. | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
This is what is coming up tonight on Inside Out. | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
Going dry, I agreed to give up alcohol for one month. Find out if | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
I stayed dry for December. We also hear the dangers of | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
drinking and how many of us drink dangerously high levels of alcohol. | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
Apple is probably one of the biggest threats to the nation at | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
the moment. -- alcohol. And the man who made the unusual sounds of | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
behind the biggest names in rock music. | :00:38. | :00:48. | |
:00:48. | :00:59. | ||
These are the stories from where we I bet like a lot of people, you are | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
on the wagon for January. Lots of those over in data at Christmas and | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
then pledged to spend the next month detox -- detoxing. But what | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
if somebody asked you to lay off booze for December? That is what | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
happened to me. Most of us think that drinking is not a problem and | :01:16. | :01:24. | |
we forget that it can be dangerous. As a social experiment, I was asked | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
to have a dry December. Good morning, it is Saturday. I | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
hope you are well. I may be a radio and TV presenter, | :01:32. | :01:39. | |
but my life is like most other people's. I go to work, spent time | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
with my family in and when I have a few moments of despair, I like to | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
relax. For me, that means heading to the Norfolk coast for a bit of | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
surfing. Also like most people, I enjoy a drink, not excessively, but | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
I probably have one or two glasses most days. But is it doing the harm | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
and could I live without it? To find out, I was challenged to | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
abstain for a month, but not just any month, the month we are told to | :02:10. | :02:16. | |
eat, drink and be merry, December. All will be the hardest part? | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
Christmas Day. Coming out with you guys will be difficult. Christmas | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
has always been a traditional thing. Nick's birthday, we go out and | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
combine a Christmas and birthday event. Then it is Christmas Eve, | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
Christmas Day, Boxing Day and year's Eve. You are starting to | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
think about it more now! We will come round tomorrow evening and | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
pick up the four crates of beer in your laundry room. The most | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
difficult thing is when you have had a busy day at work and you feel | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
like sitting down and having a nice cold drink. It will be an | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
interesting social experiment to see if a regular guy like him who | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
enjoys a beer with his friends can pack it in for a month. But there | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
is a serious message behind the challenge. At I would say that | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
alcohol is one of the biggest threats to the nation. Around one | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
in four adults are drinking above the recommended guidelines. The | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
rise in the liver disease is well reported and a lot of people do | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
associate alcohol with harming deliver. But I don't think a lot of | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
people understand all realise the impact that it can have on the rest | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
of the body. So what effect has alcohol had on | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
my body? Has social drinking already affected my health? Since | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
giving up for a month is partly a sign to the experiment, I went for | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
a check-up. What tests will you be doing? | :03:46. | :03:54. | |
for blood count, and a liver test. So how many samples of blood we | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
have to take? Just two bottles! Habit of the bottles? Could you | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
give up drink for one month. don't drink, I have never drank. | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
Why is that? It has just never been something I like. I am doubly so I | :04:13. | :04:20. | |
have never feel -- felt that I needed to drink to have a good time. | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
Do you see more people coming here thinking they may have a problem | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
because they drink too much? Absolutely. A long time ago, it was | :04:27. | :04:33. | |
never like that. Now, it is so much more stressful, the society, and | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
there is a lot of pressure. Yes, absolutely, people tend to go home | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
and have a drink. David, tell me about how much you | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
drink a day. D a drink regularly? would say I probably drink a bit | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
more than his recommended. It is sometimes a 20 or 30 units in a | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
week. Over the week, I mainly drink beer, maybe a bottle or two, a | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
glass also of wine at the weekend. A look to your observations and | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
results. -- I looked at your observations. Your oxygen level in | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
the blood is very good, 97 %. Your pulse rate is 52, which tells me | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
that you are probably very active and exercise regularly. It | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
indicates a very good, healthy heart. My slight concern is your | :05:29. | :05:37. | |
blood pressure which was slightly rapes to -- raised the someone of | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
your age. Alcohol can affect your brain, your heart, your liver, your | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
pancreas, bones, skin, nerves. It can effectively damaged all of your | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
system. Be government's chief medical officer recommends men | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
should drink no more than three or four units of alcohol a day, with | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
two or three for women. One unit is the equivalent of half a pint of | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
the West End beer or a shot of spirits. But a report out today is | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
urging the government to review the guidelines and people should be | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
advised to take at least two alcohol-free days a week. But for | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
me, it is not two days, it is an entire month. Luckily I am not | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
alone: I will be joining other BBC presenters in abstaining from drink | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
during the festive season. I have not had a month without | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
alcohol since I was 18. I have no idea what to expect. It could be | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
really hard for really easy. not sure that easy would be the | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
right word. I have given up for a month before, it was two years ago, | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
but not in December. Bearing in the -- bearing in mind when December is | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
the time people go out for a drink with Christmas parties, Christmas | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
Day with the family, you want to take the edge off. There is a | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
reason why you do not see these people for the rest of the year! | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
We have all met up the night before going on the wagon to give each | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
other moral support. As the only father, Dave is destroyed. Once he | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
has put the baby to bed, I have friends who are parents and they | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
just run to the fridge! But I was in for a shop: I was also meeting a | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
forensic photographer arm was about to discover what my face could look | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
like a fight drank heavily for the next 10 years. | :07:36. | :07:45. | |
No way! No, come on. That is not right. This is a worst-case | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
scenario. If you carry on drinking a lot for the next 10 years, that | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
is how you will look. I am 34 now so that is what I will look like at | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
44? You could be. You have health warnings telling you not to drink | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
too much, but when you actually see the effect it can have on me | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
physically, that is far more powerful than a just thinking about | :08:06. | :08:16. | |
:08:16. | :08:35. | ||
It is the 1st December. It is the morning after the night before. I | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
sound a little rough, I look a little rough. I consumed one too | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
many beers last tonight. I saw November out with a bang and I have | :08:44. | :08:52. | |
a headache now. Drink three December, he we come. Not a moment | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
too soon. My first job was to face up to my | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
demons: Just how much to why drink in one month? There was only one | :09:02. | :09:12. | |
:09:12. | :09:13. | ||
way to find out. It is all here. OK, that is not much more than the | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
recommended amount of alcohol for a man over a month, not much more, | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
bearing in mind it is Christmas. When it is laid out like that, it | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
is quite shocking. You don't want to see your empty | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
bottles either, do you? This experiment is very interesting. I | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
think a lot of people revolt their social lives around alcohol, going | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
out at dinner, meeting up for a drink, so it would be good for | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
people to take a step back and see what life would be like without | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
alcohol. Waking up without a hangover could present so many new | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
opportunities. I love that song, it is so | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
Christmas the, so ridiculous as well. Wizzard: I Wish It Could Be | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
Christmas Every Day.. Talking of Christmas, I am a few days into not | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
drinking for accent -- of December and I have support for -- from | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
someone who listens to the show. Thank you for saying you will give | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
up alcohol just like I am. I have never done anything like | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
this in terms of not taking a drink in December. When I realised you | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
were doing it, I thought it was a good idea. Also, I would like to | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
shed a few pounds and the lack of alcohol certainly goes a long way | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
towards that end. How are you feeling mentally? I'm starting to | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
get a bit tetchy. My wife did say last night that she found me a bit | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
irritable when I would not have been before. It is having the same | :10:47. | :10:53. | |
effect. Honestly, I feel like I'm getting my nap about things that I | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
would not have been before. -- wound-up. Maybe it is withdrawal | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
symptoms, but I am feeling wound up a few days later as well. I'm at a | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
Christmas party. I thought I would be OK, but I am | :11:10. | :11:17. | |
fed up, to be honest. Anyone else is having a drink. My wife is | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
abstaining as well, so she is not drinking. But look, everyone is | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
having a drink. Would you like a drink? Everyone keeps saying that, | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
would you like a drink? A just a soft one. Everyone keeps saying | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
that, I don't want to drink. They keep waving away -- the wine and | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
beer in my face. I knew this was going to be tough so I just have to | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
get on with it. It is sad but I need a drink to feel buoyant, I | :11:46. | :11:56. | |
:11:56. | :11:59. | ||
thought I would be OK, but that is And a few people were not very kind, | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
they kept coming up and asking him if he wanted a drink. And also I | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
did have a glass of white wine. That is the only one though. | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
The Friday before Christmas and I am off out for the annual pre- | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
Christmas drinks with the guys. It is also one of the guy's birthdays. | :12:15. | :12:25. | |
:12:25. | :12:26. | ||
The first year I am the designated Merry Christmas. And the Inside Out | :12:26. | :12:35. | |
crew. I thought that it would be much easier than it has been so far. | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
There have been a couple of points that I wanted a drink to be honest. | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
I think they are surprised that I've done it. Most people have a | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
drink in December and let their hair down. December to me has | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
always been the end of the year, so have a drink, almost to reward | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
yourself getting through another year. I think for a lot of people, | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
there is a picture portrayed in the media that alcohol consumption is | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
the norm and not something that is a problem. But people do need to | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
have a think about drinking patterns. Physically, I feel much | :13:12. | :13:20. | |
better, I do not wake up feeling like I've had a drink. I have a | :13:20. | :13:27. | |
clear head and everyone around me Time for my toughest challenge yet, | :13:27. | :13:35. | |
a whole day surrounded by other people celebrating and drinking. It | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
is Christmas Day. I am wearing one of my new presents. I have come to | :13:39. | :13:46. | |
my aunt and uncle's house and everyone has been drinking all day. | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
But I've not had a drop. Quite difficult at times, but mostly not | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
too bad. Last night was quite difficult being Christmas Eve. I | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
was out in my home town and one of my brother's friends gave me a beer | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
which I couldn't drink. That was difficult. But I'm nearly through. | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
It is nearly 6. Not long to go. And that's Christmas Day out of the way | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
and only six more days to go. It is the 30th of December, nearly | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
the end of dry December. Two days ago, I came back to get my last lot | :14:21. | :14:31. | |
of blood samples taken. Time to Good to see you. I can't believe a | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
month has flown by. How has it been for the past month without alcohol? | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
To be honest with you, there have been some trying times. Six or | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
seven times, I did find it hard. The good news is that I can see you | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
have lost a fair amount of weight in the time. It's amazing. I didn't | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
think I had a lot of weight to lose, but I have lost about half a stone. | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
What has been the most significant change in my health? I am very | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
impressed with the reduction in your blood pressure. Interestingly, | :15:06. | :15:14. | |
after four weeks, it has come down quite significantly. We normally | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
have to consider drugs to bring it down. That is an extraordinary | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
result. I did not expect a month without alcohol to have such an | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
impact. With my blood pressure down to such an extent, I would have had | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
to take regular medication to achieve the same results. It is the | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
end of dry December. Gone midnight. It has been made pretty easy by the | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
fact that my wife gave up drink with me. Well, she had two glasses | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
of wine that I know about through December. In the New Year, I'm not | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
going to drink as much as I used to. But you wouldn't grudge me a drink | :15:54. | :16:03. | |
right now. Well, I hope not. I will just say, Happy New Year. Mission | :16:03. | :16:13. | |
:16:13. | :16:30. | ||
Doesn't taste as nice as I remember it! I was really surprised about | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
that. Two people who follow me on Twitter reckoned that if I can give | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
up booze for December, they can give it up for January. There is a | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
special programme on BBC Four on Wednesday night, 100 Years of | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
Boozing. If you think there is something we should investigate on | :16:44. | :16:54. | |
:16:54. | :16:55. | ||
Back in the 1960s, music was being revolutionised. Bands like Pink | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
Floyd and The Who were using the most amazing sounds to enhance | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
their music. The sounds were generated by the first computers | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
and they were made by composer Peter Zinovieff. He's still making | :17:07. | :17:17. | |
:17:17. | :17:18. | ||
These may seem like weird sounds to some of us, but this man has made a | :17:18. | :17:28. | |
career of making music from unexpected places. It has led him | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
to work with some of the biggest names in the music industry. What a | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
machine. This is marvellous. It is terrific any chance of starting it? | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
I should think there is, yes, shall we try for you? That would be great, | :17:38. | :17:48. | |
:17:48. | :17:51. | ||
and can I record it? Why certainly, Peter Zinovieff is a composer, but | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
the way he creates his music is far from conventional. | :17:54. | :18:04. | |
:18:04. | :18:08. | ||
from conventional. The start-up was incredible and I | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
think there are going to be lots of little bits which will have their | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
own individual sounds, so I'm going to listen to parts and put the | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
microphone as a contact microphone on various parts and see what we | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
can assemble from that. Most people who visit the Cambridge | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
Museum of Technology do so because of a fascination with the past. But | :18:26. | :18:34. | |
Peter is a pioneer, a pioneer of the future of sound. | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
Putney, where Peter Zinovieff has a hobby that's strictly for boffins. | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
He keeps it in his garden shed and it's called Digital PdP 8/S. Yes, | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
it's a computer and it has a hobby too composing music. | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
Back in the 1960s, Peter was one of the first people in the world to | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
realise electronics would change the sound of music for ever. And | :18:57. | :18:59. | |
the inventions he created transformed the way a whole | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
generation of musicians worked. was originally a geologist and I | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
studied at Oxford University and there I had a sort of band with a | :19:06. | :19:14. | |
biscuit tin. It was an experimental band and so the biscuit tin led | :19:14. | :19:24. | |
:19:24. | :19:24. | ||
towards electronics. So I think it was an obvious transition. Geology | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
to biscuit tin to electronic music - that's what happened. | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
In the early days, Peter's biggest challenge was to find ways of | :19:30. | :19:36. | |
controlling all the sounds his electronic devices were creating. | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
There was only one solution a computer, something that was not as | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
easy to get hold of as it is today. So I got the first computer which | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
was a PdP8s 4K of memory, that's 4,000 bits of memory compared to | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
God knows how many trillions now, and it was the first computer in a | :19:52. | :20:02. | |
:20:02. | :20:02. | ||
private house in the world. Peter helps with the ideas, but the | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
actual performance is all Digital's work. Its latest piece is called | :20:05. | :20:15. | |
:20:15. | :20:19. | ||
Everything is tuned up and now it's over to you, maestro. | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
In 1967, Peter achieved a musical first a sell out concert at | :20:22. | :20:29. | |
London's Queen Elizabeth Hall performed entirely by a computer. | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
The next item, Partita For Unattended Computer by Peter | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
Zinovieff is a true live performance in the sense that no | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
magnetic tape is being used at all. Furthermore, the computer has a | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
choice at various stages in the procedure and the piece therefore | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
comes out different every time it's played. The performance you are | :20:48. | :20:56. | |
about to hear is therefore unique BLEEPING AND WHIRRING. | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
The first live performance by a computer was very strange indeed | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
and when I think of it, what I really remember is the huge amount | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
of schlepping, carrying these huge great machines and wiring them. | :21:05. | :21:15. | |
:21:15. | :21:16. | ||
they were very important these concerts. Electronic music does | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
excite me very much. I'm basically a scientist as well as a musician | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
and so I like to get to grips with the scientific aspects and also | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
because the degree of experimentation and the freedom I'm | :21:26. | :21:33. | |
allowed in electronic music is very great. | :21:33. | :21:40. | |
So explain how this would work then. Real sounds have got inside them an | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
enormous amount of complexity and so you can analyse, go deep inside | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
them and find sort of hidden secrets. | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
DISTORTED VOICE. This composition, Bridges To | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
Somewhere And To Somewhere Else was created by Peter for a giant sound | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
sculpture. The first part of it takes a | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
recording by Bela Bartok of a folk song which he did on a wire | :22:05. | :22:14. | |
recorder in the late 1930s. So then I resynthsised his voice. I took | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
out the elements of it, re-made it into a trumpet and then used this | :22:17. | :22:27. | |
as a basis for a sort of orchestrated piece. Although | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
Peter's passion is his experimental music, his claim to fame is for | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
helping create something that was to revolutionise the world of music | :22:33. | :22:42. | |
synthesisers such as the VCS3. It's quite strange that he will be | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
remembered for something he never really set out to be remembered for. | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
The design and building of the EMS synth was really a way to raise | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
money so he could fund his studio and the development of his avant | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
garde music. He had these wonderful computer based systems, not just | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
years, but decades before anybody else had thought of using computers | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
in this way. So this is the legendary VCS3. How | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
does it work? It's a superb creator of sound effects and sci- fi movie | :23:15. | :23:20. | |
type of sound effects. Then it started being integrated into the | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
rock music of the time, so a very famous sound which could have come | :23:23. | :23:29. | |
off a science fiction movie sound track. | :23:29. | :23:38. | |
INTRO MUSIC PLAYS: "Silver Machine" by Hawkwind. | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
Bands of the time, bands like Hawkwind started adopting this and | :23:41. | :23:49. | |
You can create sounds out of the VCS3 which would have been very, | :23:49. | :23:57. | |
very hard to generate in any other So all of these different panels on | :23:57. | :24:05. | |
the synthesiser have particular For example, I can increase the | :24:05. | :24:15. | |
:24:15. | :24:25. | ||
Change the tone to make it brighter And there adjust the signal to | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
create the types of sound we want. As well as the VCS 3, there was | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
also a more portable version the Synthi promoted as being the answer | :24:35. | :24:43. | |
to all your musical needs. This is a very old Synthi A. It was the | :24:43. | :24:53. | |
:24:53. | :24:57. | ||
second model we produced. So then I can get an effect using a joystick | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
as a voltage control. Paul McCartney and The Who, Pink Floyd | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
especially had a lot of these. I suppose the best example might be | :25:03. | :25:13. | |
:25:13. | :25:14. | ||
Dark Side Of The Moon. There were some incredible effects in that. | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
That's perhaps the most famous single example of these machines | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
being used. The Synthi A had a little built-in keyboard and it was | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
the first sequencer I think. I just plugged this up and started playing | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
one sequence of it and Roger immediately picked up his ears. | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
That sounded good. A series of notes played in slowly, triggering | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
a noise generator and oscillators and then just speeded up, you know. | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
There you've got it, basically. And in particular, they used one of the | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
EMS synthesisers for the track On The Run which used a sequencer to | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
drive that constant de-la-de-la sound and then added sounds on top | :25:46. | :25:56. | |
:25:56. | :25:57. | ||
But there were a lot of other bands experimenting with them in | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
different ways. Brian Eno in Roxy Music was using it for sound | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
effects. Tangerine Dream on the more electronic European scene were | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
using them for effects. David Bowie dabbled with them. | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
I wasn't very interested in pop music. And so one of the worst | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
things was when people came with these huge lots of tapes that I had | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
to listen to and I wanted to get on with my own work. For you, this was | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
a means to an ends, if you like, really? It was. You are quite right. | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
Every time a pop group bought one of these, I thought, what research | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
can we now do? And in the main studio, lots of composers, like | :26:34. | :26:36. | |
Stockhausen or Harrison Birtwhistle, people would come and work without | :26:36. | :26:44. | |
having to pay, with their compositions. So it was a free | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
studio in that way, but finance was derived from selling these machines, | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
yes. Despite being years ahead of the game, EMS studios went bust in | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
1979. For years, Peter gave up composing electronic music, it was | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
simply too expensive to buy the equipment. And that could have been | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
the end of the story. But 30 years on, EMS synthesisers have achieved | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
almost mythical status and the arrival of powerful home computers | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
has allowed Peter to return to what he loves most pushing forward the | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
frontiers of electronic music, including his latest work based on | :27:09. | :27:19. | |
:27:19. | :27:21. | ||
the Victorian gas pump engine. what I've done is take the end of | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
the engine where it slows down because there's a marvellous sound. | :27:24. | :27:33. | |
Look, let me play it to you. LOW-PITCHED GRAVELLY TONES. | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
So the thing feels it's falling and falling in pitch. It isn't really, | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
it only falls a little bit and gives the appearance of falling, | :27:41. | :27:43. | |
but because it's slowing down, because the loudness is changing | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
the whole thing, it sounds like you are descending into terrible, | :27:46. | :27:56. | |
:27:56. | :28:02. | ||
It's a very emotional sound. who would have thought that you | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
could create such beautiful sounds from a pump engine? It's wonderful | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
what you can get from almost anything if you go really deep into | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
the sound itself. Maybe every orchestra should have one? I think | :28:13. | :28:23. | |
:28:23. | :28:24. | ||
The wonderful, haunting sounds of Peter Zinovieff. I'll be back next | :28:24. | :28:34. | |
:28:34. | :28:35. | ||
When is a village green not a village green? It's about | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
protecting our green space, a piece of land that we have loved and used | :28:39. | :28:42. |