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Amping the brass line


  

211 members have voted

  1. 1. We've amped the pit to allow for more subtle technique, we've amped some soloists to better balance with the rest of the corps. If corps started miking the entire brass line to improve balance, allow for better technique, etc, would you support...

    • Sounds like a great idea! I think it would improve the experience for me.
      4
    • If corps want to try it, more power to them.
      25
    • I would support it if better equipment (PAs, mixers, mikes) were used.
      11
    • I would complain about it, but let's be honest, I'm not going to stop going to shows because of it.
      86
    • Terrible idea! It would bother me so much, I think I would stop going to shows.
      85


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I don't see this stuff going away. If anything, I suspect we will see a concerted effort in educating and training the judging community on what is happening with electronics. Ensuring that they are assessing what they are experiencing in reality with a level of expertise on par with the corps design teams.

Edited by mingusmonk
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5 minutes ago, mingusmonk said:

I don't see this stuff going away. If anything, I suspect we will see a concerted effort in educating and training the judging community on what is happening with electronics. Ensuring that they are assessing what they are experiencing in reality with a level of expertise on par with the corps design teams.

Well said. THIS is where discussions should be going. Saying the corps are doing well solely due to electronics and are being "morally deceitful" is just plain silly..  Let's not slight the kids live efforts, which are incredible across the board in 2017. Let's educate ourselves and others to make this an enjoyable activity for everyone. 

Edited by trumpetcam
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On 6/30/2011 at 0:43 PM, bawker said:

Not a fan here.

If you've got 80 horns, you really don't need it.

Smaller Open Class groups could do it, I suppose . . .but I have a feeling that the sound quality would suffer badly. If you're the Blue Saints, you're not supposed to be as loud as the Blue Devils. :tongue:

 

On 6/30/2011 at 0:58 PM, TRacer said:

Somewhere, off in the distance, a '79 or '80 Spirit of Atlanta brass vet just read this topic and lost all control.

Or any Madison vet up about 1995.

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11 hours ago, NakedEye said:

it is really, really noticeable (to me - someone who is not usually keyed in to the nuances of a hornline) that a small ensemble is playing most of the difficult parts of the music with the help of amplification, while the rest of the horns are adding filler.

Heck, that didn't start with amplification. That's a time-honored DCI arranging tradition for the last two decades or so. Go back and listen to the 2009 Blue Devils. I still maintain (as a brass player) that is the easiest ensemble horn book ever to win DCI. That show was visual, percussion, and soloists.

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53 minutes ago, trumpetcam said:

Saying the corps are doing well solely due to electronics and are being "morally deceitful" is just plain silly..

As Albert Freedman said at the end of Quiz Show, "It's not like we're hardened criminals here. We're in show business."

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Drum corps as a musical medium stopped being about the deliberately constrained and intentional instrumentation once band instruments were allowed in 2000. At this point I've basically accepted that, as long as what the corps does is effective, whether or not something is acoustic is such a foreign concept to concern itself with. Drum corps will only become more "anything goes," not less. That's what the member corps have chosen in terms of direction. 

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1 hour ago, Hrothgar15 said:

Drum corps as a musical medium stopped being about the deliberately constrained and intentional instrumentation once band instruments were allowed in 2000. At this point I've basically accepted that, as long as what the corps does is effective, whether or not something is acoustic is such a foreign concept to concern itself with. Drum corps will only become more "anything goes," not less. That's what the member corps have chosen in terms of direction. 

cant disagree, I am all for "anything goes" no governing rules for the activity,  just mike all horns and drums and blast the hell out of the audience, just so  its clear that this is ok for all and is an accepted adjudication standard for horn and overall judging.  (as seems to be the case already in the void of no stated standards now)  And by the way, do this with as few playing members as possible (what ever fewest acceptable would actually mean) This might actually give talented smaller corps a chance to compete against larger member corps

Edited by brians
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1 hour ago, trumpetcam said:

Well said. THIS is where discussions should be going. Saying the corps are doing well solely due to electronics and are being "morally deceitful" is just plain silly..  Let's not slight the kids live efforts, which are incredible across the board in 2017. Let's educate ourselves and others to make this an enjoyable activity for everyone. 

I don't agree. If a corps is trying to hide what is going on then it is deceitful and since I don't use the phrase morally deceitful I will use the term Audio Doping. 

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18 minutes ago, brians said:

cant disagree, I am all for "anything goes" no governing rules for the activity,  just mike all horns and drums and blast the hell out the audience, just so  its clear that this is ok for all and is an accepted adjudication standard for horn and overall judging.  (as seems to be the case already in the void of no stated standards now)  And by the way, do this with as few playing members as possible (what ever fewest acceptable would actually mean) This might actually give talented smaller corps a chance to compete against larger member corps

I don't think so because it becomes another "arms race". Gold rules and smaller corps will not be able to pull that off as good as the large well funded ones. 

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14 minutes ago, E3D said:

I don't think so because it becomes another "arms race". Gold rules and smaller corps will not be able to pull that off as good as the large well funded ones. 

not necessarily, a good mixer in the long run could save in members, horn, transportation, costs etc... a good mixer can make a 30 person horn line sound like and be just as impactful as an 80 person line, especially with samples etc...

Edited by brians
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