Field Electronics - How much is too much?

[Jeff Ream]

I disagree. I do believe the financial implications are going to spur some serious conversation at the DCI meetings this year.

It's not as expensive as one thinks.

[dcibrando]

my thoughts:

- soloists shouldn't be playing downward and away from the crowd... put them back up front... I understand mic'ing certain things but when it comes to the soloists overpowering the entire hornline (like Bluecoats did in the closer in Atlanta), that is too much

- when we are trying to figure out if what we are hearing is recorded or being played live, that crosses the line. The one section at the end of the opener bluecoats had going down the line and back up again used to be all played... they cut out the part going back up the line and just played a recording... I thought that went too far personally

[MikeRapp]

It's not as expensive as one thinks.

The hardware is increasingly more affordable. The qualified people to run them, not so much. Look at the resume of the fellow who is in charge of Bluecoats' electronics...

[mingusmonk]

Anti A&E folks argued that spending would become exponential and that trying it would mean keeping it. The toothpaste won't go back into the tube.

Also, folks put Bluecoats as an exception to a lot of the blending problems. But the reason they blend and balance better us their willingness to commit to a professional setup and team.

I agree with Lance. Not changing. Got to make the best of it.

[afd]

It's too much. I really can't tell what is mic'd and what is real. When electronics was introduced I never thought it would include a 60 plus horn line needing to sound louder.

[MikeN]

I'm perfectly fine with our digital future - when it works. We were very close to having a champion that didn't have electronics working through the whole show all three nights - how do you make a CD or DVD of that without splicing multiple performances together?

I know nothing about how the sound setups work - do corps need more time to enter the field, or is there a standard sound rig that could be put up by DCI and left there for every corps to use? How can the circuit help the corps?

Mike

[CrownBariDad]

You heard it here first: I predict in about 10 years tech will have advanced to where everyone on the field can be mic'ed (cheap & disposable) and they can mix and route everything thru an app. Folks who hate amps and synths can listen to the unplugged sound from the field. The rest can get the full experience listening to the app and as loud as you want it.

[Lance]

it means you can't tell the acoustic from the electronic.

almost zero purely acoustic brass moments from bloo this year.

that's not being subjective, it's stating a fact.

it got rewarded big time, and i expect it to be the trend for most corps if they want to compete in the future. hoping klesch and a few other brass arrangers can continue to write brass books that can compete without going the full bloo "percussion ensemble with brass accompaniment" route. we'll see.

[Kamarag]

You heard it here first: I predict in about 10 years tech will have advanced to where everyone on the field can be mic'ed (cheap & disposable) and they can mix and route everything thru an app. Folks who hate amps and synths can listen to the unplugged sound from the field. The rest can get the full experience listening to the app and as loud as you want it.

That can actually be done now, and it's not nearly as expensive to do so as you'd think.

[Hrothgar15]

almost zero purely acoustic brass moments from bloo this year.

That would mean that a brass soloist would be playing into a microphone, or synthesized brass would be playing, the entire show. Was that the case?