This radio programme allows us to eavesdrop as a father and his 10-year-old son bond over a succession of increasingly fiddly electronic experiments – at the behest of the manual they connect wires, transistors, capacitors and diodes to create an array of weird and wonderful crackles, beeps, buzzes and other electronic noises. Harking back to the bygone days of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop in feel, variations on these sounds form the basis of the musical score that underpins the piece, playfully oscillating between real and imaginary spaces. As improbable as it seems, the outwardly dull schematics and diagrams open the doorway to a world of fun, exploration and the joy of discovery.
Father and Son: Andrew and William Deakin
Voice of the manual: Anne Marie Copestake
All sounds (except the bubbles) were generated from the Maxitronix 130 in 1 Electronic Lab Kit.
This programme was first presented in London at the Sound Bank launch and has since been aired on Resonance 104.4FM, Basic FM, Soundart Radio and across the Radia network. It was also included in ‘The Last Days of Analogue’, an online art project documenting the demise of analogue technology.
‘130 In 1’ was a Sound Bank commission produced by Mark Vernon for ‘In the Dark Radio’.