tylerdurden

Dot book.

Hmm, Chris Hartman as snare tech... That line will eat nails by the end of that summer.

The audio quality on the CDs are fine, just quiet. You can thank reasonable mastering for that. There are actual dynamics.

Well, not too much has changed...Except for the running part. Wake up, run and find a McDonalds, slam down 3 cigarettes, then run while singing the entire show 3 times over and doing breathing exersizes. Then do it again after lunch. Hey, I still lost like 20 pounds each year, so it did me some good lol.

It would work for winter perc, but I don't know about on the field.

When were they ever not? (aside from a year or two off)

The new drum guy is the caption head from Ronald Reagan and marched Colts and BD.

Blue Stars have had a smokin' mello line since 2004.

Blue Stars started doing most of the camps in the Minneapolis area in 2004 (notice that's the year the corps doubled in size). It made it easier to get people to and from camp and they had access to better facilities, most likely at a cheaper price. Move in is still in LaCrosse, in time for the Memorial Day parade. The heart of the corps is LaCrosse and always should be.

I agree with most of that. However, the band I teach at does not allow current members to march corps. Why? Because the summer and fall seasons are connected, and we need everyone there. We have let certain members march senior corps, and a few junior corps kids off and on, but its a case by case basis. Our summer season is essential financially and performance wise for the fall field show. This is coming from a staff of 15 who all have at least 2 years of experience marching and teaching drum corps.

Why would it be a problem? Wisconsin is home to 3 Div 1 corps and 2 Div III corps (well, 3 if 'Canos come back). Most of them do OK.

Music is very compressed and limited right now. Listen to a song from the early 90's and before, then compare it to a song today. Many engineers and mastering engineers are now refusing to keep going louder, and are trying to go back to reasonable levels. The CDs sound fine to me, just turn up the volume some off and on. Its also impossible to "remix" the brass sound when you are using 2 mics. You are relying on the individual corps' dynamic control.

Oh that is excellent, too bad its down right now...Thanks for the link, I'll have to check that out when its back up.

From what I saw, this was very rare. At a good few shows, the pit equipment came on and off from the same gate. At a smaller stadium with not much track space, this can be an issue. Here's a run down of what has to happen for a sound system to be up and ready to roll- 1. The other corps has to have their stuff rolled up, disconnected, and out of the way before you can even place your equipment. 2. The soundboard has to go in the right spot, and have a power supply that is clearly marked and easy to get to. Most shows had extension cables right there, but sometimes they get moved and get lost in a mess of cables for other things on the track. 3. The monitors have to be placed properly, and the speaker cables have to be brought back to the board/rack. 4. The pit has to be setup before the pit can plug their mics into the snake (large black box with a single cable leading back to the board. Usually placed in the middle of the front of the pit). In the case of another corps having issues getting off of the field, this can take some time again. 5. Turn system on, and make sure everything is powered up properly. If the stadium has bad wiring, or too many things on one breaker, you will trip or blow the breaker out when you power the system on. Even with voltage regulators, which you need to run a proper sound system, it will still blow breakers. 6. Soundcheck to make sure everything is coming in right. This isn't even taking into account a wireless system, where a whole slew of crappy things can go wrong. If someone in the stadium is on the same channels you are on, you're screwed. DCI requested a list of frequencies for finals, thank God. My profession is studio audio engineering and live sound. I took my job this to the drumcorps field for the last half of this season. I welcome any questions about what the setup actually is, and issues that pertain to this. Despite my career choice, I was nervous about amps from day one. I'm all about them being done right, however.

wwtdd=what would tyler durden do? Ensure that each corps has a clear shot in and out of the field. Remove some of the people from the area where the power is located, like cameramen/photographers/show staff so you arn't running around people to get everything set. Make sure every stadium is up to spec on wiring, and can ensure reliability.

I also agree with that. I don't think the setup time has changed, although I might be very wrong. I tuned out for the rule proposals for the most part last year and in 2004.

The majority of the time setup was fine. Again, it sucks when the other corps is still in the way, and you have to wait to get the board in place. Its neither corps' fault.

I think that also happend to Boston a few years back at a few shows. Some stadiums can remove the seats directly above the entrance to allow for more vertical room. Some remove them, some don't.

Again, look who voted against amps? I'm not sure anymore, but did anyone vote against them when they passed? I don't mind amps if they are done right. 2006 was way better than 2004 in regards to sound. A step in the right direction is moving the board off of the field. Its impossible, and a bad guessing game to try and set levels when you are behind the amps. Even still, having the board on the track isn't the ideal location. Corps are figuring out how to do it right, and these things take some time. Especially when you only have 5 minutes of setup for something I do for at least 3 hours in a club. You wouldn't believe the factors that add in to get a proper sounding system in a stadium.

What a corps does in 2006 really isn't an indication of what will happen in 2007. New corps, new show, maybe new staff, and so on. There have been plenty of Div 2/3 corps in the past that might do very well against the top semi finalist corps (and have at finals). From what I know, you really can't compare Blue Stars 2005 to 2006. Totally different style show, many new staff members, and a lot of new marching members. The goals for a corps is totally different. Anywho, great job Academy. You guys earned it, and are a perfect example of class.

Neither is a drumline standing on the backsidelines or doing nothing during a ballad for a lot of corps. Look, if the other directors don't like the rule proposals they will vote against them. Hopkins has some interesting ideas, I like some of them and some of them I don't like. Apparently over the years a good number of people agreed with them and had them voted in. Don't like Amps? Complain to every other director that voted for them. Electronic percussion = Mallet Kats I beleive. I'm all about adding a few more minutes for setup. Would you rather have a corps fall on their face when you arn't sure everything is all good to go? There is also the issue of other corps getting out of the way. There have been numerous times that a few corps had problems getting off the field while the next corps was trying to set up. Not the other corps' fault, its just a bad logistics situation. Especially when you are entering and exiting through the same gate. There were also some power issues with a few stadiums, that took some time for the stadium to sort out. How is that the fault of one corps? The Cadet's monitors arn't even that big. Why overdrive 2 small monitors? It sounds worse than having 2 monitors and a sub for each side of the field that are outputting at reasonable levels for the system. Most of the amp issues I've seen from other corps have been from misuse and poor setups. Its going to take some time to figure out, it took WGI a while to get everything in order as well. As for going to Cali, I kind of understand his situation. I don't think he's complaining about it, he's looking at making sure corps will be able to afford a full tour plus being able to make it out there. Some corps have to go on a year to year basis planning their budget. From what I've seen, his life is the Cadets and YEA. He is just doing what he feels best for his organization. From the looks at the past 20 or so odd years, he's been doing the right thing for his organization.

I happen to know because I was there. We had to disable a few pieces of equipment to get the system running. The show organizers were also trying to figure out what was happening with the power to the stadium. Things like this happen off and on when the stadium has improper wiring or bad circuits. There was a show 2 or 3 days later that almost every corps had issues with the sound systems due to the breakers tripping. I understand your complaint though. It was a panic moment, but in the long run things ended up running fine. From what I've seen, the T & P judges have been very flexable dealing with these issues. If you are allset and ready to roll, and there is an issue with stadium power, then it is really out of your control. Amps are still only a few years old, and I'm sure there are a lot of stadiums out there that have outdated wiring.

The fault was not with the PA system. There was a power issue with the stadium.

I've been using Finale for about 5 years ago, and I almost switched over to Sibelius when version 2 came out. At the time, I thought it licked the floor with Finale. Finale 2005 isn't too bad.

"IN THE JUNK YALLS!!!!"