Making "Making Magic"
by Pip Madeley

It started on July 14th 2007. PS Audios producer Si Hunt got in touch with me asking me to go down for the recording session of MHT on July 28th to record cast interviews with a view to putting together a 'Making Of' feature for the CD. I was delighted to say yes, as I was well aquainted with recording and mixing audio, having presented my own little internet radio show during 2005. The first thing that crossed my mind was equipment - I didn't have any! So, during the week before recording, I bought myself a good quality Philips microphone and a handy little Olympus dictaphone, and began writing questions for the cast members.

Saturday 28th July came along, and the recording proved to be great fun - everyone was in high spirits, and apart from Kathy and Paul's unavoidable late arrival, it all went to plan. After a substantial amount of recording had taken place, we all took a break and took a walk down to a nearby enclosed field, to take photos to be used for the cover artwork and website. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and as we stood around in the heat, I began interviewing Andrew Clancy and Ant Williams. Around fifteen minutes later, I looked at the microphone and noticed something... it wasn't switched on. Sheepishly, I flicked it to the on position, and after we all had a good laugh, we continued recording on the way back to HaRpi Towers. This has been edited (removing the bits where we had to stop to cross rivers, pass trains and jump over mud) and is presented as an bonus extra on the first disc. If you're wondering why it's called the 'Lost Interview', it's because I couldn't find it for ages, and it only re-appeared once I'd finished editing the 'making of' documentary.

Although a nifty device, the dictaphone disappointed me somewhat, as the sound quality wasn't as clear as I'd hoped. I waved a fair bit of Mark Ayres-style magic on cleaning up the recordings, but it was clear that I couldn't base my whole documentary around them, they were just too poor-quality and it would drag the whole piece down. So, during late August, with only two weeks before my deadline, I sent e-mails round to a few members of the cast, asking them to spare a little time and record some answers to questions I'd prepared, from the comfort of their own homes. Luckily, a few were able to help out, and so I recieved some very enjoyable interviews from Si Hunt, Si Hart, Steve Alexander, Andrew Clancy and Wayne Jefferies. Andrew was particularly great, giving long, detailed and most importantly entertaining answers, some which sadly had to be left out of the finished programme. Dave Tudor and Martin Penny were also enthusiastic to contribute, but sadly time ran out and they were unable to help out. Maybe next time!

With the deadline looming, I began work putting the whole thing together using Audacity, a freeware audio editing program which is pretty simple and effective, apart from when it decides to crash. Si Hunt had sent me a batch of out-takes from both recording sessions, so I chose the best ones and edited them together into what would become the end of the documentary, using 'All You Need Is Love' from The Beatles remix album 'Love' in the background. Si had also sent me some deleted scenes which I had intended to include in the documentary, but as work progressed I realised there wouldn't be enough time for them, and so I saved them as a web-exclusive for the micro-site.

For the clips of 'Step Inside Love' and 'Surprise Surprise' by Cilla Black, I turned to YouTube - thankfully the audio quality was good enough for inclusion. On hearing the 'Surprise Surprise' theme tune and hearing the lyrics 'the unexpected hits you between the eyes', I started laughing at the thought of Bonham shooting Cilla between the eyes, and so I edited a couple of gunshots and one of his trademark laughs in for comic effect. Choosing the documentary's theme tune was a difficult decision - Si had used a great version of the Dr Who theme for the 'Making Keepsake' documentary, but I'd recently got hold of a high-quality MP3 of the cheesy-but-highly-lovable theme from The Doctor Who Years tapes, so I simply had to go with that instead.

The editing took around a total of ten hours, much of which was taken up recording my links and going through the interviews and cutting lots of 'erms' and 'ahhhhs' out, which I'm sure the interviewees are pleased to know. The documentary was originally meant to be narrated by P-Bal, but sadly he was unavailable when I needed him (what a superstar!). So with no alternative, I had to be brave and take on the role of presenter myself, and spent an afternoon recording narration. To avoid 'popping' on the recording, I covered the microphone with one of my socks. That's showbiz. Thankfully nobody was around to see that! I approached the links in chronological order, which is why when you listen to the documentary, you'll notice I start off very professional but quite frankly humourless. I soon relaxed and began to have a laugh with it, but even so, I think next time (if there is a next time), I'll rope someone else in to present.

At twenty five minutes (and one second, bah), I thought the documentary was well paced and it all came together nicely. It was fun to do, I hope you enjoy it and I'll be glad to do it again if asked!

Pip.