Seventh and Sixth Floors

There was a total of ten studios on the sixth and seventh floors and they were collectively known as the 'Productions Group'. All were designed by Wells Coates. It was in these studios that plays and large feature programmes were produced. Enough facilities were provided for two productions to be underway at once. The technique of using several studios, the outputs of which were mixed together in a remote room, had been developed at Savoy Hill and used in regional centres and it would be used in BH until the war years when the production departments were evacuated from London.

In Broadcasting House in 1932 the two 'Dramtic Control Rooms' were on the eighth floor. The box to the right of the page has links to photos and a description of the equipment in these rooms.

Perhaps the most interesting studios in the Productions Group were those which were used to produce sound effects.

Effects Studio 6D
The largest of the effects studios was 6D. It was 23' x 19' x 19' high, 8,300 cu. ft. and had a dead acoustic. Looking into this double height space were the two gramophone effects studios, 6E and 7E, one above the other. The floor plan shows how the various items were arranged in the studio.



Here's how the 1933 "BBC Year Book" described the area:

"The dramatic effects studio is as exciting as a magician's cave, and indeed would be taken for such by a savage. For one machine makes thunder; another howls like a February gale. Two neat boxes produce electrical noises; a tank, the prattle of a stream or the roar of a waterfall. A rotating table in the middle has a surface divided into six compartments made of different substances for various percussion effects. The floor has a concrete area and a wooden area for different footsteps. One corner is dedicated to railway noises. All this apparatus is housed and disposed with extreme neatness and compactness. Two microphones suspended from the ceiling and operated by two long jointed arms can be placed beside any 'effect' while it is in operation. Even a layman can enjoy all the ingenuity and efficiency of these contraptions, but it probably requires a specialist to appreciate to the full the apparently effortless success of Mr. Wells Coate's achievement."

In the next photo (right) we are still standing by the door, but now looking diagonally across the studio. A thunder sheet was in the recess to the left of the far corner. The door in the back wall led to a storage area. Electrical effects run along that wall.





above - The table, with its six different surfaces not only rotated but could also be raised and lowered. A wind machine stands behind it and the area of concrete floor can be seen. The suspended microphones left the floor free of stands and cables.

right - The Duke of Windsor was an early visitor to 6D and he is seen here in 1932 watching the classic horse footsteps effect being created - though not with coconut shells!

The equipment was generally in laminated wood, cellulosed a light mauve-grey, with tubular steel supports and fittings, some in anodised aluminium alloy and others stove-enamelled a dark grey. The flush plywood doors were veneered with Australian walnut, grey-brown in tone, and the skirting was ebonised hardwood.




Effects Studios 6E and 7E


In the two gramophone effects studios six turntables were provided, four for 12" records and rotating at 78-80 rpm and two for 16" discs which ran at 33 1/3 rpm (but were coarse groove). The outputs were combined on a six-way mixer.

Admire the attractive curved window and woodwork - and wonder why no one thought of providing space for a script! There wasn't much space to play with, though: 6E and 7E were 12' x 8' x 9', 860 cu. ft. and untreated acoustically. The curved windows were double glazed and the metal-work was anodised aluminium alloy. The central sliding frame allowed communication between the studios and 6D. Below is a view of 6D from 7E.



Effects Studio 7D

In accordance with the policy of providing facilities for the production, or rehearsing, of two independent plays simultaneously, two studios were provided for the provision of effects. 7D was a smaller version of 6D at 13' x 12' x 9', a volume of 1,400 cu. ft..

Studio 7B


It seems that there are few pictures of the other studios in the Productions Group, probably because they were not completed in time to appear in the 1932 book of pictures. Here, though, is 7B, which, like the similarly sized 6B below it, was intended for speech in plays and for piano music. They could also be used for talks which required piano illustrations. 7B was 19' square and 9' high (3,200 cu. ft.) and had a reverberation time of 0.6 seconds.

The other studios in the Productions Group

7A had a dead acoustic for speech in plays and was used in association with 6A. The microphone output was fed to the mixer in the adjacent 6A listening room. Within a couple of years it was being used exclusively by the Empire Service. 13' x 13' x 9', 1,500 cu. ft.

7C also had a dead acoustic for drama use. 19' x 19' x 9', 3,200 cu. ft.

6A (right) was the largest studio in the Productions group, occupying two floors. It was 36' x 16' x 18', 10,000 cu. ft., with a reverberation time of 0.85 seconds. It could handle three microphones which were mixed in its listening room on the seventh floor. A microphone in 7A was also available to the mixer.

6C was again used for speech in plays and was 19' x 19' x 9', 3,200 cu. ft., with a dead acoustic.

Listening Rooms (Seventh and Sixth Floors)


Corridor and Waiting Area (6th floor)


Music Control Cubicle (7th floor)




Lines Test Room and Telephone Switchboard (7th floor)



Control Room Battery Room (6th floor)


above left - The batteries for the high tension supply to the amplifiers in the Control Room and, above right, those powering the relay-switches and signal-lights.



Rotary-Converters (mains driven DC generators) and Switchgear for charging the Control Room batteries. It's not clear where these pictures were taken, but it's presumably the room at the north of the building marked as 'Motor Generator' on the floor plan.

Ultra-Short Wave Transmitter (7th Floor)



Later - Studio 7A used by the Empire Service

Following test transmissions from the Marconi Works at Chelmsford which began in November 1927, the Empire Service began transmitting from Daventry on 19th December 1932.

Six days later King George V gave the first Christmas Message, speaking from Sandringham.

The new service required extra studios and 7A seems to have been rebuilt and used exclusively by the Empire Service by 1934. A new studio was later built on the fourth floor.