The Brian Hodgson and Desmond Briscoe Reel-to-reel Tape Collections

15 Oct 2024

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library has recently acquired two new early electronic music collections for the creative arts archives.

Stored on reel-to-reel tapes, these personal collections of Brian Hodgson and Desmond Briscoe are perfect accompaniments to the Delia Derbyshire archive that attracts so much interest from researchers, musicians and fans.

Desmond Briscoe was a composer and sound engineer, and co-founder of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. He worked on some of the earliest electronic effects ever broadcast by the service and managed the workshop until 1983. His collection also contains a series of papers, including a fascinating letter from Delia Derbyshire, with new details about her life in Cumbria.

Brian Hodgson was a composer and sound engineer, joining the Radiophonic workshop in 1962 as the original sound effects creator for Doctor Who, devising the distinctive sound of the TARDIS. Hodgson founded Unit Delta Plus with fellow electronics musicians Delia Derbyshire and Peter Zinovieff, an organisation to create and promote electronic music, and their compositions were exhibited at several music festivals. He was also involved in the foundation of the Kaleidophon studio in Camden Town, which produced electronic music for London theatre productions. Derbyshire and Hodgson’s collaborations were hugely influential in the development of electronic music throughout the 1960s.

Unfortunately, the collections had not been stored in ideal conditions, and there were serious issues with mould on both the boxes and the tapes. Jessica Smith and Laura Caradonna-Snow in the Collection Care Team have provided invaluable support and assistance in re-housing the tapes in secure bags and boxes to contain the collections safely until they can be cleaned.

Happily, the entirety of the Hodgson collection, and a proportion of the Briscoe collection has been digitised, so the Rylands can provide access to them immediately via a secure listening device in the Reading Room.

Reel-to-reel tapes are significantly more challenging to preserve than paper: they require specialist conditions, as they degrade at a far faster rate. To ensure that these recordings aren’t lost, the Team hopes to digitise the remaining tapes themselves, using a Studer tape machine purchased by Special Collections.