ComeHomeShane

Yup. Like the last poster said, it seems like every corps has atleast one mic on a tall boomstand. To be honest I prefer mic'ing the horn line over layering the sound with keyboard patches... but with phantom it was total overkill. They have a mic every 10 yards from the 20 to the 20. SCV has a small group of 12 horns that are mic'ed the entire show and can match the horn line sound with a simple mezzo forte... I can't say I'm surprised by this trend, but when is enough enough? I'm curious to find out which corps are recording the horn line and then patching it through a synth....

Quick Thoughts... Gold - Solid. Best brass sound I've heard from them. Mandarins - Surprise of the season (kinda like Academy last year). I had no idea what to expect out of their show and had not seen any videos. The whole thing felt kind of like BD lite, in a good way. Super enjoyable music, Sound of Silence arrangement was awesome! Guard stole the show for me, most of the drill didn't keep my attention. In fact, the demand seemed kind of low... I can see this show peaking early. PC - Fun show and I really enjoy their music arrangements this year. Way bigger brass presence than last year. The pit was way too loud, however. Academy - Another show I had not seen video of. TBH, it felt too over done. Last year worked because it was simple. By A Hare felt like the same idea over and over... They sell it, and the demand is there. I can see this being a late season dark horse. BK - Favorite show of the night, by far. The music actually made me tear up... beautiful arrangements. I dug the sound FX snare/mello solos. There was definitely some 'huh?' moments, but over all they're back on track. And like others mentioned, holy cow we're they LOUD! Louder than PR and SCV despite not having mics. Once this show cleans up I can see it moving up a rank or two. In fact I had them much more than >1 point from PR. PR - I'll admit, it was better than I was expecting. But it put me into that "why?" mode where I don't like the design and I just keep asking why this why that... 10-12th come finals.. really not digging the 'mic the whole corps' thing... especially since in the first minute the mics weren't turned up, then after the first impact the sound board guy cranked and all of a sudden the horn line was twice as loud. Another issue with the mics is that any form that had front to back field depth created unbalanced horn amplification... The horns up front are already louder because they're closer, and now they're also closer to the microphones... uhg... this is becoming a very slippery slope of microphoning. SCV - My favorite SCV show since Ballad for Martha. The 12 horns with wireless microphones are just as loud as the 76 member hornline... It's a little disheartening knowing the most of the difficult music is isolated to the wireless mic's brass that don't march. There's some crazy demand in this show. I'm not a fan of their costuforms... It works for bloo because they are more lighthearted and show a lot of facial expression.. With SCV they're the typical stern hard face and it's just awkward without aussies. The tipsy section didn't make much sense and all the scatter drill felt amateur compared to the rest of the show. I love how they use the props in so many different ways! I can see this show medaling. Agree, disagree? let me know.

I'll get to see them live in Tejas twice! I suspect my opinion will change...

I always think of it like this... if I forget that I'm watching a drum corps show, that corps visual design has done its job. If I'm constantly asking my self "why?" when watching a show... then I'm out of the flow and not naturally enjoying it.

I'm not talking about how well they perform it. I'm referring to content. Not trying to bash, I'm as big a crossmen fan as nearly anyone... but in my opinion, the drill has very little flow or development and almost a total lack of focal points. Most of the show I don't know where to look. Everything just feels disjointed and random. A huge step back in design from last years superb drill design. Like I said, just expressing my opinion cause I don't think I was clear the my previous comment.

may need a mid-season dose of 'keep it simple stupid'

Agreed. I love that show. The musical development of phrases and it's willingness to be soft and sparse... so good.

Well, I've only seen the broadcast and a few low quality youtube videos, but honestly I'm not a big fan of this show. Regardless, performance quality is definitely up and I'm glad bones are taking another step forward competitively. I'll be in DFW for the Denton and Dallas shows, can't wait to see Bones mid-season!

Regardless of the small panel, no close competitors, etc.... when was the last time crossmen were within 3 points of the cadets?

In a good way?

What if the Bloo baritone soloist was playing the solo poorly on purpose just so the corps has room to grow... What if the whole ballad is a hoax?!?

Thanks! I feel the same way about Bloo's prop. I was oddly expecting more than what we got... crazy to say about a prop that spans practically the entire width of a football field. I'm currently designing props for my program's show... Took hours to figure out how to mount a piece of wood to an old gong rack... after seeing bloo's stage... uhg. Musically bloo's show is already one of my all time favorites, but the drill seemed undeveloped many times. Especially between the ballad and psychopomp return, many spots felt under-utilized.

thanks. I'm a little confused by what you said about the Crossmen's brass... "the brass contribution is lackluster." Are you referring to the arrangements for brass or the performance level?

super duper review. thanks! I couldn't agree with you more about the coats... as "modern" as their show designs have been recently... in the end it is still just something cool to look at + something cool to listen to. I'm one of the the biggest cool music + cool drill = cool show advocates on this board.... so bluecoats, count me in.

I mostly agree, but I didn't get tired of the music until the last movement. I'm really impressed with their performance level. They look and sound like a big boy corps (more so than some other pre-season vids of teams that finished ahead of xmen last year). Is it perfect? Obviously not, they don't act/emote as well as the top corps. Particularly that moment in the ballad where the horns are coming through the props as if they're free or enlightened. I saw one maybe two members who's acting made it to the camera. However, I was skeptical of the Radiohead arrangement, but I it like more than I anticipated. Also, they need to move much better. It's not terrible and their marching technique is miles ahead of a few years ago, but the lack of upper body control and loss of technique at fast tempos still looks like lower top 12. I think this show can be the next step with some tweaks and getting over that bottom top 12 performance plateau.

Hmm.... I've been searching videos so much, not sure how I missed it. Knowing barigirl, I figured it was private.

Would love to see that... :)

Are you comparing videos or were you there live for both?

Yeah... TBH I thought xmen had one of the most visually interesting shows of any corps last year. I'm very concerned, but hope to be proven wrong.

Could you elaborate please?

... watched the forbidden video... I've been up to date on their show announcements, but after watching the run-through it feels like a 'cool music + cool drill = cool show' approach. Is that what it's suppose to be? If there is some type of underlying theme or meaning, it went straight over my head. Obviously they will continue to add as the season goes on, but for now...? Obviously their performance level is amongst the best.

First look at Crossmen 2017! Ed Devlin talks about the show while clips from last nights performance run. Second video is a battery lot warm-up. http://www.flomarching.com/video/1219001-ed-devlin-talks-crossmens-2017-production-enigma#.WUWWOVKZNE4 http://www.flomarching.com/video/1218979-first-look-at-crossmen-in-the-lot

After hearing Cesario hype the xmen I simply can't wait to see their show.

I guess to be expected, but "Cadets-lite" was a reoccurring thought while listening to the standstill. I did enjoy the book however.

The thing they're standing inside of must be the props! I'm intrigued by how they'll use it in the show.