dalazz

I just found a cell phone camera video on Youtube. I'm not posting it since it's against the terms I'm sure. The good: He couldn't have possibly been in a better place to be injured. It looked like it was around the left 15/20 yard line going into a company front. This was right before everyone ran into some crazy drill toward the center. If this would've happened in the center of the field, it would've stopped the show & possibly had more injuries. Staff/judge did a great job of rushing out. It's very difficult to see this. I felt myself getting pretty emotional for the guy & had to turn it off.

I work at Discovery & have worked on tons of Realty/Documentary shows for the networks. ...although I have no pull whatsoever with Dirty Jobs Producers definitely check out the Forum. They really do get a lot of their stuff from it. I would suggest bombarding the thread, and linking a few YouTube vids showing how dirty it can be. The more info the better

That's a great idea! I can tell you from experience on many TV shows that the Producers are watching the network forums very carefully for show ideas. If you want the Producers to take note... I'd suggest getting everyone you know to post to this thread on Discovery: http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/...9/m/69519744001 Maybe posting some cool youtube vids would be helpful?

nope... dot to dot.

There is no excuse in my opinion. Electrical and Audio equipment rarely "just screws up". No more than a horn may fall apart or a drumstick may break . The main reason it screws up is lack of knowledge of the operators part. Otherwise I would be in deep crap when I am doing live television shows. Now as far as the other talking points such as cost, ect... That's not my debate. It's legal, and I'm here to make it great. The "morality" of it isn't what I'm here to discuss. In a perfect world, all the corps would be given $100k in identical sound equipment, but that just isn't going to happen. I agree with you that it shouldn't be judge specifically on the sheets, but I do feel it should be influential. If something creatively doesn't work the way it's being amplified, judges should say something. Just as they would with horn or drum parts. They don't need to know the details... if it sounds bad, it sounds bad. ...or if it's cheezy and doesn't enhance the show.. you get the drift. I believe it's best for a corps to be unamplified rather than have a bunch of people who really don't understand what they are doing operating and miking. ...but that's just me... obviously. Dallas

I think one thing we all need to do is hold the pit amplification to the same high standards as everything else in drum corps. What I mean is, if there are pops/hisses/hums and crass sounds coming out, they need to be called on it and judged accordingly. Also, there is a lot of misinformation and conspiracy theories running around on this thread as well as every time this subject is brought up. I wish more people would find out more about what they are talking about before spouting things on this forum that they really don't understand fully. (then what’s the fun in forums you say?) I see people speculating about what I do and pit staffs are doing that are simply NOT true... for example: technique thrown out the window. If you’ve ever been to a rehearsal, you’d know that is just a silly speculation. If you have any questions, email me [dt@dtay.com]. Dallas

Oh... ok, then disregard. All is well again.

Are you serious? This is why I don't post here. I spend time trying to explain why we do it the way we do it and someone comes on and takes one phrase I say out of context. Did you even read my post? I said it's the recording engineer's job, not the "pit sound guy's" job to make the recordings sound great. By your logic, we should have the corps arc around the mic after finals to make the best recording possible. I do this for a living. At least respect that I **might** have half a clue when it comes to recording. I would at least do the same for you. If anyone cares to get REAL information, email me (dt@dtay.com). This is obviously not the right place to give it out.

I was The Bluecoats "Sound Guy" this year. I never operated the board (I was in the box), but I was brought in on multiple occasions to "dial in" their sound. It's never the musician's job to place mics, speaker cabinets, ect. It's the recording engineer's. Corps should not be held responsible for the quality of the recording, nor should they be asked to change their setup that they've been using successfully for the entire year. If you move the cabinets, the entire way the pit have been hearing themselves change. The mic placement on this years CD was clearly to low and close to the pit. Even when the pit wasn't amplified (yes, there are times that we actually bring the faders down) the pit was too loud on the recording. Remember, it's not ONE persons opinion on whether or not the pit is too loud... i.e. "the sound guy" The entire staff and judging community weighs in on this on a day to day basis. Judging the overall amplification level by the recording isn't fair at all. If you look closely, we are projecting the cabinets to the judges box, not the recording microphones. Frankly, I could care less about the recording. I care about the best quality of sound and balance for Madison, WI on Aug. 12th, 2006 at Row 1, Seat 21 of Section FF (which is dead center of the stadium). On a related subject.. I just finished mastering the new Cavaliers Championship Years CD where I added 2006. The recording was WAY different then 92, 95, 00, 01, 02, and 04. Way too much crowd noise and pit. Also the overall volume level was about 10db lower. The only good thing is that there didn't appear to be any compression at all. ...not that compression is a bad thing. Most of the time you don't even notice it. I did have to boost the overall presence of 2006 to get it to sound anywhere close to 2004. Anyway, I could write a book on this subject... so if anyone has any questions, email me. (dt@dtay.com) Dallas Bluecoats Amp Guy 05-06 Fox, G4, NBC, ect.... Sound Mixer

What kind of samples are you talking about? If you don't see someone's hands moving than it's obvious that there are samples. Sure, you could "trigger" samples from drum strokes and replace it with the same drum sound, but it would sound worse than miking it in the first place. You wouldn't have the velocity range (MIDI talk) to make it sound any better. ...unless you threw a few computers in the mix as well. There is no way you could get away with sampled sounds. Give me a real-world example of how you could do it. I should say, that I do this stuff for a living. I think people are going way over the top with this subject. It's not politics... There's no secret, hidden, conspiracy involved. George Hopkins/Jeff Fiedler/David Gibbs will not be sitting in the stands laughing with ominous dark lighting while mixing every nuance of their respective drum corps. Dallas Former Drum Corps Member Audio Mixer - Fox & G4 Television Los Angeles

1. Jeff... preprogrammed sounds are illegal. No one's going to be using them. It's pretty obvious when someone is using samples. 2. Half of the replies on here are just anti-amplification. That's not the point. The point is: If we are going to use amps, we need to use them correctly. 3. It's not like the staff member is some big mix-master in control over the entire drum corps. This is where people are over reacting. The kids behind the speakers cannot tell what's coming out of the speakers. This is why you wouldn't make someone mix from behind the speakers. All the staff person would be doing is adjusting for proper balance. Would you ask a theatre group to mix from the stage? A rock band? How about an outdoor amplified symphony? It would sound awful. Everyone is forgetting one simple thing. SOUND Current drum corps members are unbelievably talented and they care about the best quality sound. Someone has to be IN FRONT of the speakers PERIOD. A couple more notes: **Soundchecks are not enough. Just because there is sound coming out of the speakers before you start the show doesn't mean it's going to balance with everything else **Balance should be reflected in score. If the amps are unbalanced and sound bad, the judges should take notice. Just because we are now allowing amplification doesn't mean that we should allow it to sound awful. (Like last year) **Feedback should be just as unacceptable as a cracked note. It should also reflect in the GE score. Dallas Former Drum Corps Member Audio Mixer - Fox & G4 Television Los Angeles

That's why one part of the proposal is to allow wireless communication from the mixing position to staff at the top. Dallas Former Drum Corps Member Audio Mixer - Fox & G4 Television Los Angeles

Yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of guys out there that would love to say they marched "Soundboard" all summer Someone else quoted this earlier: "once again, the lack of logic and thinking that went into this decision is astounding." I find it ironic that people will jump to this conclusion rather than understand that obviously there is a good reason since it voted unanimously! 1. You'd never ask a Sound Person to mix behind the speakers. It's ridiculous. Whether you are for or against amps makes no difference. Since amps passed you have to deal with what they require. There is no "one setup" that is going to work for every venue, every temperature, every humidity, ect... There is no way to tell proper balance unless you are sitting where the speakers are pointing. 2. Feedback can absolutely destroy a performance and there is no way someone behind the speakers can hear it coming. Unless you put someone in front of the speakers we are going to hear a huge feedback loop in Finals that will destroy one corps performance. It's not worth it. It's not fair to put that on one kid who 1. cannot hear it coming. and 2. is focusing on playing an instrument. -In a perfect world it could be operated by a marching member, but the fact is that it would be a huge disservice to the kid who has to sit there behind the board all summer. *** now I know that your marching bands back at home did it "fine" from the pit, but trust me... it sounded terrible. It's amazing how people turn off what sounds good and bad when something is amped. Nearly every corps last year who was amped sounded absolutely awful. Dallas Taylor Former Drum Corps member Audio Mixer - Fox & G4 Television Los Angeles

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