The Barry Cole trophy for 1998 went to Peter Jones, one of
the stalwarts of the Cardiff & District Recording Club and also one of the
driving forces behind the South Wales Talking Magazine.
His entry this year, entitles "Flying on Sunshine", depicts very clearly a
fund raising event to provide money for more talking books. The recording provides
a fine description of the blind and partially sighted people who literally took to
the air in light aircraft to help raise the money needed.
The recording had everything a good documentary should have. Lots of different
voices giving their experiences and their fears of the flight. There was also a good
account of the background sound creating the atmosphere that made listeners feel
that they too were flying with them.
Peter went up as well with his recorder, so he said, between his feet (good job
they didn't loop the loop!). The tape is a good example of what can be done with a
little forward planning. This year Peter has definitely excelled himself, even by
his own standards, and produced a worthy winner.
Second Prize Shared
One of the two entrants to be awarded second place was first time entrant
Michael Waterford, whose entry consisted of two short songs.
The recording equipment was kept very simple: a pair of microphones fed directly into
a Revox A77, giving a very clear and well balanced recording of the performance.
Contest judge Tony Faulkner said that he had taken into account that this was a very
basic set-up that had been used well to give a very pleasing result.
The other joint second was another of Cardiff Recording Club's orchestral recordings.
This year it was the "Pines of the Appian Way", the final section of Respighi's fine and
descriptive work entitled "The Pines of Rome". The music depicts the spectacle of the Roman
Legions marching along the Appian Way towards Rome. It builds up to a monumental climax,
with a very large orchestra with the strong timpani beat creating the incessant footsteps
of the soldiers as they get nearer and nearer. It must have been quite a job to set the
levels just right as the dynamic range of this music is so great.
Get Recording NOW and make 2000's Contest even better!
Now is a good time to think about making some recordings
for next year's contest. Don't put it off until it's too late.
Let's make 2000's contest better than ever. Even if you do not win you will receive
a judging sheet with some constructive criticism to help you improve your efforts.
Who knows? You might even win!
Happy recording!
