Peter Michael Copeland (17 July 1942 – 30 July 2006) was an English sound archivist. From an early age he had a deep interest in collecting old gramophone records and in sound recording. In 1961 he joined the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

as a Technical Operator in the Control Room at

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...

, undertaking recording operations on disk and tape as well as Control Room routing. In 1964 he became a Studio Manager - operating studio mixing desks and playback equipment - at Broadcasting House, moving on to the BBC Regional studios at

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in 1966 where he eventually became the principal Film Dubbing Mixer, responsible for, among many other things, the final mix on

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

's wildlife series ''

Life on Earth Life on Earth may refer to: Science * Life * Earliest known life forms * Evolutionary history of life ** Abiogenesis Film and television * ''Life on Earth'' (film) (''La Vie Sur Terre''), a 1998 Malian film * ''Life on Earth'' (TV series), a 197 ...

''. During this time he also ran a small disc-cutting business as a sideline under the name Gosport Sound Products (he grew up in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

, Hampshire) - initially in his flat at Anerley, South London, and then in a small office in Bristol - doing long-playing disc copies of private recordings such as weddings (this was before the advent of cheap tape and cassette recorders) and disk mastering for subsequent pressings to be made. As BBC Bristol was the home of the Natural History Unit, he developed an interest in making birdsong and wildlife recordings: he once paid for a holiday in Australia by recording wildlife atmospheres during it and selling them to the

BBC Sound Archive The BBC Sound Archive is a collection of audio recordings maintained by the BBC and founded in 1936. Its recordings date back to the late 19th century and include many rare items, including contemporary speeches by public and political figures, fol ...

. In 1986 he left the BBC and took up the post of Conservation Manager and later become the Head of Sound Conservation at the

National Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word a ...

(now part of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

) which essentially performs much the same functions for sound recordings as the Library does for books and other publications. He was instrumental in effecting the move to digital archiving using the new techniques which were becoming available: he also did extensive research into the highly specialized and complex area of accurate reproduction of old recordings - he probably knew more about the technical history of sound recording than anyone in the country. He retired from the NSA (by then called the British Library Sound Archive) in 2002 on reaching the age of 60, but continued to act as a consultant until his death from a diabetes-related heart attack on 30 July 2006. He was still working on a Manual of Analogue Sound Restoration Techniques - a mammoth opus with sections on conversion to digital formats, noise reduction, correct methods of playing and equalizing 78rpm and other old recordings: the British Library has published this manual electronically on its website.
"Manual of analogue audio restoration techniques" by Peter Copeland His huge collection of rare and unusual gramophone records and other sound recordings has been donated to the British Library Sound Archive.

Bibliography

*Copeland, Peter. ''Sound Recordings''. London: the British Library, 1991. . *Copeland, Peter,

Jeffery Boswall Jeffery Boswall (20 March 1931 – 15 August 2012) was a British naturalist, broadcaster and educator. One of the longest serving producers with the BBC Natural History Unit (1957-1987), and the writer and presenter/narrator of many of the ...

, and Leonard Petts. ''Birdsongs on Old Records''. London: the Authors in association with the British Library of Wildlife Sounds, 1987. . *Copeland, Peter. ''Memoirs of a Record Collector and Sound Recording Engineer: The Autobiography of Peter Copeland (1942 -2006)'' Independently published, 2021. . Also available as
Kindle e-book

References

External links

ARSC Newsletter obituary and appreciations by Nigel Bewley and George Brock-Nannestad, p. 10References in British Library documentsBBC Radio 4's "Last Word'
- page for edition including a tribute to Copeland.

- Peter Copeland's autobiography {{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Peter 1942 births 2006 deaths English archivists English collectors