Around eighteen members assembled in the Shenley Church
End district of Milton Keynes for the 2002 AGM Weekend. Friday night was
a "noggin and natter" in the bar and an excellent dinner in the Carvery
Restaurant. The following morning Mike Dickins got the proceedings off
to a flying start with a talk on the "Recording of History" illustrated
with broadcast clips and recordings going back over a century.
At the AGM itself the three Council Members standing for
re-election were unopposed. For technical reasons the
Constitution could not be changed to reflect the
new name, but the meeting agreed that the Federation would henceforth
operate as the British Sound Recording Association.
An Extraordinary General Meeting will be held during the
Autumn Get-together to complete the formalities.
The new logo will also be finalised by this meeting.
The final judging for the Federation
Tape Contest was held after lunch. Ten entries were played, two
having been disqualified for exceeding time limits. Mike Dickins won
with a revealing interview with a wartime glider pilot. Heather Myers
was a close second with a montage of sounds and interviews from a
country fair. A music recording by Robin Bester was third.
A surprise guest was local sound recording expert,
Mike Skeet, who brought along a collection of interesting bits of equipment
to pass around including a new Phonic mixer and dummy head microphone
which provided an astonishing demonstration. One exhibit which was too
delicate to pass around was a Swedish Pearl microphone containing
two pairs of back-to-back cardioid capsules which offer a wide variety of
configurations. Mike's home-made control box was designed to be carried
round on his motor cycle and contains two Mini Disc recorders.
The rest of the session was devoted to a work shop given
by Martyn Lycett and Jim Purcell on Cool Edit Pro and Wavelab respectively.
Sunday's activity was a visit and guided tour of Bletchley
Park, the wartime code breaking centre known as "Station X". One
day just isn't enough to see everything but the tour covered the main areas
and we were left to explore the rest at our leisure. The site houses some
exhibits not associated with Bletchley's wartime activities, including a
model railway museum and the national Cinima Technology Museum. Enigma
machines were well in evidence along with the Britich equivalent and the
rebuilt Colossus computer.
Full marks to FBTRC Hon. Sec. Martyn Lycett for organising
a top class weekend. Those who didn't make the effort to attend have only
themselves to blame! Next year we look forward to a trip to the seaside
when Gordon Furneaux invites us down to Torquay for the first AGM of the
British Sound Recording Association.
