Kenneth Wilkinson

Wilkinson so closely identified with the Decca sound that he retired when the company was absorbed into the PolyGram group in 1980.

[2] The company folded, and Wilkinson took a job in charge of the recorded music at an ice rink in Brighton.

[2] An attempt to volunteer for the Royal Air Force during World War II was refused because Decca was involved in top secret government research.

Decca was an early adopter of the LP album, which put it ahead of its direct competitor EMI.

[1] In the early 1950s, together with Roy Wallace (1927–2007) and Haddy, he developed the Decca tree spaced microphone array used for stereo orchestral recordings.

Wilkinson, always called "Wilkie" in the music business, was known as a straight-talking man, interested only in the quality of the work.

[1] The Decca producer Ray Minshull (1934–2007) recalled Wilkinson's methods in an interview with Jonathan Valin in March 1993: Everyone loved and respected Wilkie, but during a session he could be exacting when it came to small details.

He would prowl the recording stage with a cigarette – half-ash – between his lips, making minute adjustments in the mike set-up and in the orchestral seating.

Seating arrangement was really one of the keys to Wilkie's approach and he would spend a great deal of time making sure that everyone was located just where he wanted them to be, in order for the mikes to reflect the proper balances.

If such movement became excessive, Wilkie would shoot out onto the stage and chew the erring musician out before reseating him properly.

In all of his sessions, he never did the same thing twice, making small adjustments in mike placement and balances to accord with his sense of the sonic requirements of the piece being played.

His recordings were characterised by the producer Tam Henderson in an appreciation: "The most remarkable sonic aspect of a Wilkinson orchestral recording is its rich balance, which gives full measure to the bottom octaves, and a palpable sense of the superior acoustics of the venues he favored, among them the Assembly Hall at Waltham Forest Town Hall, Walthamstow in London and The Kingsway Hall of revered memory".

[6] Among the popular performers whom he recorded over the years were Mantovani, the Ted Heath Band, Vera Lynn, Edmundo Ros, Jo Stafford and Rosemary Squires.

[1] On retiring, Wilkinson received a special gold disc produced by Decca with extracts of his recordings.