In the current times of the Internet and Social Media, information about new products and developments is available instantaneously. In the pre-Internet days, audio professionals relied on the audio importers and distributors to update them about new products coming onto the market that could help them in their work. Key players in this space were the sales reps who visited their customers with a briefcase full of brochures on the latest and greatest products to hit the market, maybe a demo unit, and an open order book.
One such sales representative was Graham Haynes, who represented several distributors over the years. He always exhibited good cheer and integrity – regardless of whether the customer was in a buying mood or not.
Graham has always been interested in audio. He started recording sound effects and music with portable tape recorders while still quite young. He also had some early experience working in radio, preparing radio presentations for morning radio early in his working life. However, his father recommended that he concentrate on completing his apprenticeship as an electrical mechanic; a skill set he honed in the Australian Army.
His passion for audio didn’t go away though, so after leaving his Army service he trained in business and marketing. This skill set opened up a more than forty-year career in sales across the broader audio industry, including working for most of the significant audio equipment suppliers to the industry. He eventually started his own business importing and distributing professional audio equipment.
Graham has also played a significant and extended leadership role in the development and sustainment of the Audio Engineering Society in Melbourne for more than forty years. Recently he has returned to his original trade to teach and encourage a new generation. He still uses his own equipment to record audio. Graham has made a significant contribution over a lifetime to both the audio industry and to the AES.
He has been a long-term member of the Society and has served on the Melbourne Section Committee continuously since at least 1983, as an office bearer most of that time. He held the positions of Chairman, Secretary, Secretary/Treasurer, and Treasurer. He also served on all the Melbourne Regional Convention Committees.
His contribution to the Section cannot be overstated, and he played a key role in maintaining continuity during the Section’s dormant years of the late nineties/early noughties.
He willingly stepped back into the Treasurer role when the Section reactivated in 2009.
Recently, Graham sat down (virtually) with Rodney Staples, via Zoom, to discuss his life in audio. In a wide-ranging conversation, Graham discusses his career journey.
Here is an excerpt from that video:
The full-length video conversation can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/-yQe4DK-fKM