ALMOST 400 people packed out St Mary's Church in Monmouth on Saturday as colleagues, friends and family gathered to mark the passing of Otto Garms, chief technician at Rockfield Recording Studios.

Familiar faces from the world of music, including Pick Withers from Dire Straits, Verden Allen from Soft Ground/Mott The Hoople, the musical Martinez brothers, studio engineer Dave Charles and studio owner Kingsley Ward, swelled the expected attendance until there was, literally, standing room only in the church.

Tributes were led by Leon Rizzi (stepson), and Rob Morris (friend), while a touching and humorous poem, 'Ot' was read by Mary Daisley.

During his tribute Otto's stepson, Leon Rizzi, spoke of his step father's respect for family values, and his unmaterialistic nature and added: "Otto wasn't the best recording studio technician in the country, he was simply the best recording studio technician in the world."

Afterwards, a cavalcade of cars followed the hearse to the Forest Crematorium at Yew Tree Break near Cinderford, before around 200 mourners reconvened for a reception at The Bridges Centre in Monmouth, hosted by Otto's widow, Sandy.

Here a display in the reception area charted Otto's life from his childhood on the family farm in Germany, through his days as a bass player with local bands in south Wales in the early 1960s, to his joining the staff at Rockfield in 1973, when his legendary tenure as a studio technician par excellence began.