Mark Ayres is an electronic musician, composer and audio engineer. Ayres studied music and electronics at

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

. He also worked as a sound engineer at

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...

between 1982 and 1987. As a television composer, he became known for providing incidental music on the original series of '' Doctor Who''. Ayres's work on broadcast ''Doctor Who'' was during

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the lon ...

's era as the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. ...

, comprising '' The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'', '' Ghost Light'' and ''

The Curse of Fenric ''The Curse of Fenric'' is the third serial of the 26th season of the British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 October to 15 November 1989. In it, the ancient evil ...

''. Ayres was hired after he sent producer

John Nathan-Turner John Nathan-Turner (''né'' Turner; 12 August 1947 – 1 May 2002) was an English television producer. He was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. He was also the final producer of the series' firs ...

a demonstration video containing music he had written to accompany ''

Remembrance of the Daleks ''Remembrance of the Daleks'' is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988. It was written by Ben Aaronovi ...

''. Like most ''Doctor Who'' incidental music composers during the 1980s, Ayres created the music electronically, principally using digital

synthesisers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and samplers. Ayres was also involved in the last days of the

BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electroni ...

, cataloguing and archiving their recordings for future use. As part of the BBC's unofficial

Doctor Who Restoration Team The ''Doctor Who'' Restoration Team is a loose collection of '' Doctor Who'' fans, many within the television industry, who restore ''Doctor Who'' episodes for release on DVD. The Restoration Team was formed in 1992 when a small group of ''Doctor ...

, Ayres has also done much of the audio restoration work for the later VHS ''Doctor Who'' releases, as well as many of the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

releases, and all of the "Missing Soundtrack" CD releases since 1999. Additionally, he edited the "Special Edition" of ''The Curse of Fenric'', which restored much footage which was originally cut for time, along with some new special effects and a complete remix of the soundtrack. It is available along with the original on the BBC DVD release. Ayres compiled and produced the CD ''

Who Is Dr Who ''Who is Dr Who'' is a compilation of novelty singles relating to the BBC television series '' Doctor Who''. Released in 2000, it features 18 tracks originally released between 1964 and 1973, including the show's theme tune Theme music is a ...

'', released in 2000 by Cherry Red Records division RPM. He has also contributed to the DVD commentaries for several releases of the BBC's ''Doctor Who'' range (''

Planet of Giants ''Planet of Giants'' is the first serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Louis Marks and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield, the serial was first broadcast on BBC1 i ...

'', ''

Terror of the Zygons Terror of the Zygons is the first serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was the first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 August to 20 September 1975. It was the last regula ...

'', ''

Paradise Towers ''Paradise Towers'' is the second serial of the 24th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 to 26 October 1987. In the serial, Kroagnon, the incorporeal arc ...

'', '' Dragonfire'', ''The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'' and ''Ghost Light''). He also worked with composers such as Peter Howell and Dominic Glynn on a 5.1 surround sound version for the theme tunes that comes straight out from the original multitrack recording with alterted varriations on each theme, such as a harder 'swoop' sound of the bassline for Howell and new sound effects for the opening sequenece and a new bassline for Glynn.

References

External links

Official site (archived version)
*
Restoration Team website
Alumni of Keele University BBC Radiophonic Workshop English male composers English television composers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{DoctorWho-stub