Live coverage from the San Carlos service, attended by veterans and currently-serving soldiers, was sent via satellite and fed into live coverage of the service taking place at the Horse Guards in London's Whitehall.
For senior sound supervisor Tim Davies, there were a number of important considerations, since the crew would be working in arduous conditions, with limited electricity supply. High on the list were reduced freight costs and equipment reliability.
As the hub of his signal chain he chose a Light Viper, lightweight fibre optic digital audio snake from Kelsey Acoustics. This was configured as a 32 x 8 system, enabling it to handle all the live and FX mic feeds, sends and returns.
Said Davies: "We needed an easy system to operate and wanted to save on rigging and man-power, not to mention truck space and reduce the amount of multicores we used."
However, BBC Outside Broadcasts did take multicores for signal distribution from the Light Viper. Anchored in the farm's tractor shed at the top of the hill they set up a communications system with San Carlos Military Cemetery 200m away at the bottom (which they covered with a 300m Lite Viper drum). From there they ran the multis to the various points where the FX mics were situated.
The audio feeds included speeches, a military band and a choir. Davies explained: "We had 16 mics coming up from the cemetery and we returned an IEM feed to the MD of the Royal Marine Band, with a click track, so he could play in time." Davies's crew were also taking a feed from London to the PA, as the production team cut between pictures of San Carlos to footage from the Horse Guards, mixing in stereo as the main memorial went out live on BBC Two.
(Jim Evans)
