UK - The Mountbatten Festival of Music utilised two DiGiCo Quantum 7 consoles, supplied by Terry Tew Sound & Light. Over two days, Zen Broadcast not only captured the event for live streaming, a DVD and album release mixed in their Outside Broadcast (OB) truck by sound supervisor Andy Deacon, they also delivered immaculate sound in the hall, mixed by Ben Milton, with precision monitor mixes handled by Bill Birks. The engineers used two DiGiCo Quantum 7s in the house and a DiGiCo SD7B in the truck to deliver crystal-clear sound to audiences, across a variety of platforms.
A military gala event held in London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Mountbatten Festival of Music raises funds for Royal Navy and Royal Marines charities. The first Mountbatten Festival of Music was held in 1973, as part of the Royal Academy of Music’s 150th anniversary appeal and has been on the bill ever since. With over 50 years of performance, it is one of the Royal Albert Hall’s longest running returning shows. The performances feature the Massed Bands of His Majesty’s Royal Marines in a spectacular celebration of pageantry and skill. Over two days, the bands performed to sold-out audiences at the iconic London venue, accompanied by special guests and solo artists appearing on stage and via the big screens.
“This OB truck is built around the SD7B, and before that, the SD10,” Deacon explains. “DiGiCo just works for us. We set the truck’s racks to the lowest Optocore ID and they become the sync source, this means everything on the Optocore loop will automatically clock to the truck. Running the network in this way delivers an elegant solution for a show of this size.”
To maximise fundraising, the production and creative teams smash out three shows in two days, completing a recording session before the first show to facilitate a commemorative album. Working long hours to ensure the show happens is something that the whole team feels passionate about doing, as Milton and Birks continue.
“Getting this show in front of the audiences in such a tight timeframe requires dedication from everyone involved, especially the bands,” Milton recalls. “Terry Tew Sound & Light provide the Quantum 7s for the whole production run, so we keep the same consoles from rehearsals in Portsmouth right the way through to the Royal Albert Hall. This means we are fully prepped once we get to the venue, saving valuable time.”
“The console-to-console comms help to streamline things, too,” Birks continues. “I take 90% of the inputs individually, but there are some channels that I don’t need, until someone suddenly does! A quick call or message to Ben and they’re available to add, it’s brilliant. Restructuring to add or take away inputs or outputs is all very intuitive and useful for organising the console layout.”
Using a DiGiCo SD7B console for the broadcast and recorded elements not only keeps the audio workflow simple, it also improves the experience for all engineers. Using DiGiCo consoles provides a recognisable workflow, simplifying and widening the possibility of engineers from any background being able to quickly adjust mixes.
“We have three OB trucks, each with different consoles, but the DiGiCo truck is the one we use most often,” Deacon expands. “The DiGiCo console is just a nice desk to work on ergonomically, it sounds great, plus it’s a good size and price point. Ultimately it has the flexibility that we need and when we have guest engineers from a live or theatre background, they’re always really glad to see it. On multiple solo-artist shows like these, it means any engineer can easily make any adjustments their artists may need.”
“The show has really developed over the last few years and it is now much more involved. We had 12 singers this year who were not used to using in-ears, but they just got on with it,” Birks says. “With a bit of support, we managed to keep everyone happy. Most of the band hadn’t used in-ears before, either, so getting them used to that environment and seeing them keep their ears in for the duration of the show is a good sign.”