The Savage Report

The Royal Marines Band Service & RMT 2000 OR Re: Production - A WO RM's eye view
A true story by Steve Savage (aged 38.41666667ish)

 

The Editor stopped me in the corridor and asked if I would put pen to paper - well, finger to keyboard - and give the waiting world another legendary insight into a topical Band Service subject.

This time it was decided not to be a personality based article, but one highlighting the Band Service's involvement in the Royal Military Tattoo 2000. Not about the actual marching up and down bit, but about the 'Behind the scenes' stuff without which there would have been no show.

It was obvious that I would need to speak to one or all of the 'main players' involved in order to get the gory details, but with the PDM being fiendishly busy, the Corps Drum Major in a meeting and the Staff Arranger now being based all on his own in Norton Manor Camp - shouldn't he therefore be referred to as the Lone Arranger?, I was lumbered with having to go and speak to Ken Peers again. Those readers who have followed my tales will realise that my continued lethargy towards going to chat to Ken involved coffee, or the lack of it. Anyway, cheerfulness under adversity and all that, I grabbed a crayon and one of those grease-proof toilet rolls - stationery is a bit of a problem - and I set off in search of Ken, who I found safely locked away in his padded recording suite. As I was greeted by Ken, I was aware of his wry smile and a faint whiff of the heavenly elixir of life. Could this be happening? Had he finally produced the goods and got some coffee on the go? I didn't have long to find out.

'Coffee?' enquired Ken as smug as a really smug person. I explained that despite the fact that it had taken two Blue Band issues for him to take the hint and get the kettle on, a coffee would be more than welcome and he went to make it so. During the next few moments Ken appeared a little more agitated for some reason. 'Err… ah… um… I don't suppose you've got a cup, have you? 'He wasn't nearly so smug now, in fact he was just 's' and no 'mug'! Ken doubled away smartly - or as smartly as Ken could - to the RMSM Offices and promptly stole one. Coffee was eventually served and the addition of a choccy biscuit calmed me down and we were ready to go.

Before I start on the main subject matter, I should give you some very brief background information. RMT 2000 was the brainchild of the creative producer Major Sir Michael Parker, who saw it as an opportunity to show off both the history and the future of the Armed Forces in a way that had never been done before and would more than likely never be done again - 1000 years of the Defence of the Realm in 90 minutes. A formidable task ahead, Dougie Squires was employed as the artistic director, and Caribiner production company were brought on board to make the entire event happen. Experts in the fields of lighting, sound, pyrotechnics, etc were also brought in to ensure that all the technical aspects went without a hitch. Major Parker also had a huge team of behind the scenes administrators in place to ensure that all participants, some 1800 in number, would be fed, watered, accommodated and transported from A to B where and when required.

The initial hurdle the producers had to overcome was the venue itself, Horseguards Parade. The delicious, crunchy gravel that we have all come to know and love was unsuitable for many of the various proposed serials, so a 220m x 150m arena platform was constructed over the hallowed ground itself. This was then covered with a thick layer of a 'user-friendly' substance that resembled a mixture of sand, silicon and what looked like minced tights! An 800 guest hospitality suite, which included the Royal Box was erected at the St James's Park end and in front of that, and down the two shorter sides, 12,000 tiered seats were set in place. The back drop was the Horseguards buildings and a 120 meter long 'wall', which contained 16 rotating doors from which the participants could enter, was specially constructed and cleverly painted to blend in with the surroundings. Gigantic sound and lighting systems were also rigged, providing more audio and visual support than your average Pink Floyd concert, and two mobile video screens the size of Belgium were brought in to finish off the job. This baby was gonna be huge.

Now, back to the plot.

Could Ken tell me about the Band Service's input into the production of RMT 2000?
His little eyes lit up, he swept back his rapidly greying hair, leant forward and then spouted nonstop for the next two hours. This was obviously a subject that Ken considered to be the same as him paying more than £1.00 a pint - very dear to him. After a plethora of meetings concerning the storyline, a script was drawn up containing over 180 serials, all of them timed to the second and with a rough guide as to who was doing what, where and how. To this end the Staff Arranger, Mac McDermott, was tasked to compose and arrange music for the majority of these said serials. Bearing in mind the 90 minute running time, Mac effectively wrote a complete 'film score'. Each section of music was written within the exacting time parameters depicting the particular scene or mood - some as stand alone scenes
and some requiring links to the next one. The musical score was outstanding and an amazing accomplishment, the extent of which really can't be given justice to in just one paragraph.

The original concept was to have the music not only live, but in order to produce a 'surround sound' effect, piped through the huge speakers
at the same time. Ken, and the sound team from Delta Sound, foresaw problems with this due to the 'human' factor of live musicians. The idea was tested at Whale Island, when Portsmouth Band played live against a pre-recorded backing track. Their fears were confirmed. When the Band countermarched away from the speakers they got out of time, and as it was a cold, wet day, the tuning was a real issue too. In fact some of the tuning problems were so bad that one of the bass players even noticed! The original concept being so problematic, a new plan was agreed upon and involved the setting up of a computerised 'time line', a means of running both the live and pre-recorded elements to strict time. This also gave the sound design team the ability to move alternately between the two during rehearsals
to realise the best result. It would also trigger all the video clips, pyros and lighting effects etc. The 'surround sound' effect would now be produced by strategically
attaching 40 live mikes to specific musicians within the Massed Bands - an option that actually worked extremely effectively.

With this 'cunning plan' in mind, the next stage was to record all of the music. Ranks from Portsmouth, Dartmouth and Plymouth Bands joined together and laid down the entire score over three recording sessions. Additional recordings of pipes, choirs and solo vocalists were made, and the sound track completed by the addition of the voice overs and sound effects. The problem here was that now the sound track had been set in concrete and there was no time for further recordings, alterations to the script had taken place. This meant Ken had to edit the sound track to fit the new script, a difficult task which involved visually aligning all the various elements perfectly on acomputer screen and paring them down electronically. The knock-on effect here was that the actual musical score needed to be edited in order to match the new sound track. Over the three months that it took Ken to computerise the time line and sound track, he realised that there was still no room for error, so the team decided to split the show into four 'chapters'. This way there would be a short 'fudge factor' between each one to allow for any unforeseen circumstances such as a bolting horse or a broken down vehicle. These breaks were very short and the PDM would still need to keep perfect time or the show would get out of synch. To aid the PDM, Ken created a 90 minute 'click track' which ran in perfect synchronisation with the time line, which was then piped through an ear-piece worn by the PDM. It must have been a nightmare to put up with for 90 minutes, as I tried it out for about 20 seconds and it did my head in. The trouble was it was more a 'ping' track rather than a 'click' track with a higher pitched ping on the first beat of each bar which, apparently, is the accepted professional method. It was akin to listening to one of those old video tennis games and was almost painful. Over the top of the 'click track', the PDM received guidance from either Lt Col Hills or Wg Cdr Wiffen - the PDMs of the other two Services - as to whether he needed to speed up or slow down to remain in tempos; after all, if 600 marching musicians decide to get faster, there ain't a lot you can do about it. And, if that wasn't enough, the PDM also had to follow the score! It was therefore incumbent on every member of the Bands to adhere rigidly to the tempos, particularly when they were marching away from the PDM. Once the rehearsals were complete and everyone was happy with all the technical aspects, Ken handed over the sound production to Paul Keating - Gloria Hunniford's little boy - of Delta Sound. The final on-site issue for Ken to deal with was that his audio system was different to theirs and so the soundtrack had to be 'laid off' to two of their MX2424 digital hard drive players and directly run from there.

Having successfully achieved all this, and with the show all ready to go, Ken ended a gruelling 122 hour week and retired to the relative calm of the Sgts Mess at RAF Uxbridge for a few well deserved pints - of rum and coke - and a lie down - on the floor! Having been suitably refreshed and rested, and with his spleen well and truly vented, and my ears well and truly bled, Ken set out to complete his final task, that of producing a CD of the show. The immediate problem here was that the show was ten minutes too long for the CD, so he had to edit the soundtrack down to time without losing any of the continuity. Again this was not an easy process, but the master was eventually 'cut' and the CD will be available very soon.

Another major contributor was WO1 Bugler Andy Bridges, the Corps Drum Major. Not only was he responsible for much of the RM Bands' administration and logistics, but as the senior Drum Major on parade, he sweated blood in order to 'choreograph' the movements of all the Bands. Again, this was easier said than done as he had to ensure that they were in the correct positions, within the allotted time scales whilst avoiding galloping horses, moving vehicles, exploding pyros or over-paid actors. This was certainly no normal 'up-and-downer', as the time scales meant that there were often non-musical step-offs and halts, and the limited space often led to some swift unconventional drill movements but it all looked incredibly effective in the end. Through the incredible hard work of these and many other people and agencies, Major Parker achieved his goal. The show was a resounding success, but amazingly there were a few critics. I read some of the articles and felt that these 'shining wits' wrote nothing constructive but were just happy to 'bad-mouth' the Armed Forces and all involved. These critics were but eunuchs in a harem, i.e. they saw a lot of things going on, they may even have felt able to pass comment on performance, but they damn well couldn't do it themselves.

The Royal Military Tattoo 2000 was a show unlike any other which should not have been missed - unlike the deposits made by the 100 or so horses - the outcome of which is plain for all to see. Major Parker earned a knighthood, the production team earned a huge amount of credibility and the Armed Forces earned the respect of the Nation. We have every right to be proud of the Royal Marines Bands' involvement in this show because, although these few paragraphs barely touch on their hard work and effort, if it wasn't for the extraordinary talents of Mac and Ken, the diligence of Andy Bridges, the patience and dexterity of the PDM, and the true professionalism of ALL of the participating RM Bands' personnel, RMT 2000 would never have got past the 'good idea' stage.

To sum up in a musical fashion - I think you'll know the tune,
This bold man, had big dreams needed help from Royal Marines With a Click Track, Andy, Mac, PDM and Ken; What would've happened without them? Having patted each other on the back one final time, the conversation drifted towards the fact that Ken had recently bought some new equipment for the recording suite which he offered to show me up and running. Always keen to be blinded by science I watched in awe. I've never seen so many lights, diodes, screens, sliders, switches and other associated bits and pieces. Ken showed me the unique features and tried very hard to educate me as to their purpose, but like a Bandy with a map, I was lost. Slowly drowning in this sea of technical jargon, I decided to head for the door before my own 'drive' became 'hard' or my 'digitals' became 'interfaced'.

I'll tell you, it's no wonder he works on his own. The Royal Marines Band Service's unique sense of humour always becomes more apparent during testing engagements such as this.

Here's a few of the many humorous quotes overheard during RMT 2000.