Frampton79

I am a long time drum corp fan, marched until I aged out years ago. I have also have made my living since 1983 as an audio engineer, mostly studio recordings, but I have done my share of live sound mixing on tour as well. I have won many awards, one being a Grammy Award. When I heard that DCI had passed the rule allowing amplification for the pit, I thought it was the beginning of the end. Then they passed the rule allowing synthesizers.....oh boy. In the shows I saw this past season, Murfreesboro and Seveirville, I can tell you that having any amplification at all is only going to make things worse, in any stadium. Whoever is "mixing" for these corps, they will never be positioned to be able to hear and mix correctly, and they aim their speakers so the "mixer" has to over compensate for not being able to hear them. I imagine that next year they will begin placing microphones on the field and other places, thus starting what will become a sound war. Drum corps need to eliminate amplification all together. A corp should be able to "mix" themselves acoustically, through drill design and movement on the field. Adding amplification is only creating a slippery slope that will continue until everything is put through a microphone and speaker system. Drum corp, in it's initial design was not meant to be amplified. This is not evolution of the art, only a way for additional non acoustic sounds to be incorporated (voice over narration,synthesizers). just my .02 cents