UK - Each summer, the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade transforms into one of the most extraordinary performance spaces in the world. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo brings together massed military bands, cultural troupes, dancers, and special guest artists before a live audience of over 8,000 each night and a broadcast audience of millions. The spectacle is vast in scale and is both visually and musically striking, and one of the most technically complex audio challenges in live events.
For the third consecutive year, the Tattoo entrusted Auditoria to deliver the sound design for the show. Returning in 2025, the team built on two years of refinement, working closely with the production and music teams to ensure audiences experienced every note as it was intended.
Movement is one of the Tattoo's greatest strengths, but it is also its biggest challenge. Across the vast Esplanade, performers are constantly on the move, shifting formations in real time. This continuous spatial shift affects time alignment and localisation for the audience, who surround the performance area on three sides. In parallel, the control systems are kept indoors, meaning the mixing process relies on nearfield monitoring for the mix engineer and close collaboration with the sound designer and music team, who are the ears in the arena.
Add to that the challenges of weatherproofing, restricted loudspeaker positions, and the need to keep the Castle’s dramatic backdrop unobstructed, and it’s clear why audio design at the Tattoo demands careful engineering and specialist expertise.
Ethan Curry, who led the Auditoria team on site, explained: “One of the most important things about this project is teamwork. The sound design has to work hand in hand with the music direction and the performers themselves. Everyone is moving, everything is shifting, and the system has to adapt to that and make it shine. In such a dynamic environment with time-sensitive rehearsals, it makes a huge difference having built a such trust and understanding with the whole creative team.”
Auditoria worked closely with the creative team, led by creative director Alan Lane in his debut year, and the musical leadership of Nick Grace and Tom Hodge. Early conversations with the music team shaped a key creative decision for 2025, which was expanding the stage band into a stage orchestra with a larger string section and a total of 30 musicians.
Curry explains: “From a technical perspective, we refined the loudspeaker configuration introduced in 2023, further smoothing coverage across the vast grandstands. For 2025, an additional element was added to each North and South grandstand array, providing greater consistency of level and tonal balance to the rear seats. A visual impact test during 2024 rehearsals reassured stakeholders that the change would not compromise sightlines, allowing us to proceed with confidence.”
Workflow was another key improvement this year. Both FOH and monitor consoles were upgraded with the DiGiCo Theatre licence, streamlining programming across the complex session files. Music editing was handled in-house to ensure seamless playback, and TiMax SoundHub processors were used for localisation and timing, with every musician’s movement carefully programmed to align reinforcement with acoustic sound.
This year’s show also marked the return of a live narrator, with actor Terence Rae stepping into the role. The addition brought a new layer of intimacy and theatricality to the performance, requiring careful integration to ensure the voice carried naturally across the arena against the musical backdrop, while preserving the expressive dynamics of Terence’s delivery.
For the audience, the result was a rich and exciting sound experience that felt natural and effortless. The design meant that the energy of the massed bands, the subtlety of the orchestra, and the significance of the narrator’s voice all reached the audience as a cohesive whole.
Curry reflected on the delivery of the 2025 edition: “This was a really smooth year, and that comes from refining the systems and processes year on year. It feels like we’ve found a rhythm with the Tattoo, and that allows us to really focus less on the mechanics and more on shaping a really powerful audience experience. It’s a privilege to be part of a production of this scale and tradition, and to help deliver a show that feels fresh and exciting every year.”
For Auditoria, the 2025 Tattoo presented an opportunity to build on past designs while pushing forward creatively and technically. The team’s work ensures that one of Scotland’s best-known events continues to sound as spectacular as it looks.