Peter Copeland

Who was Peter Copeland?

Peter Michael Copeland 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 as a Technical Operator in the Control Room at Bush House, doing 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 in 1966 where he eventually became the principal Film Dubbing Mixer, responsible for, among many other things, the final mix on David Attenborough's famous wildlife series Life on Earth.

During this time he also ran a small disc-cutting business on the side, under the name Gosport Sound Products - 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 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.