West Lothian brass band remotely record video from their own homes during lockdown

Thousands watch 'Stay at Home' march online

The video took two weeks to make

A TOP brass band is striking the right notes with fans - after recording a video remotely to help beat the lockdown blues.

Each Whitburn Band player recorded their own part of a march in their homes to be edited together to create a special performance - with the message of ‘Stay at Home’.

And the resulting video is proving a big hit with music listeners - notching up more than 11,500 online views so far.

“It was good and a lot of fun to do,” said principal tuba player Graham Fraser, 35. “It’s a way to share with our fans and supporters a wee bit of joy at this time.

“We put it out there and it’s done really well. It’s really resonated with supporters and members of the band community.”

The 20-time Scottish brass band champions have performed throughout the UK and Europe for many years.

Currently the Scottish Open champions and ranked 11th in the world, ordinarily players would be meeting up in person for weekly rehearsals for competition season.

But the coronavirus has put paid to practice and contests so players had to think a little more creatively on how to reach their fans - with technology providing the answer.

The near 30-strong band took to living rooms, bedrooms, even a conservatory, to record their respective parts.

A shared click track - a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings - kept the tempo.

“Musically, it was quite challenging actually because the click track obviously tries to replicate a conductor,” said Graham.

“But a big part of being in an ensemble is playing with other people. You listen to others so this was difficult because we weren’t in the same room as each other.”

The individual band members’ clips were sent to percussionist and Edinburgh Napier University popular music student Ryan Bradley to work his magic in his home studio.

He stripped off the audio and fine tuned it before putting back on edited video clips for the finished article - the whole process taking about two weeks from start to finish.

The final version even includes Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ‘Stay at Home’ mantra over the Stars and Stripes tune.

“The brass band community is very niche,” said Ryan, 19. “I think it’s definitely gone beyond that community so I’m very pleased.”