PopcornEater1963

And will only get better… I love this time of year. Cavaliers have never disappointed me closing out a season.

I said they’d catch Phantom by Allentown… we’ll see. Nice to see an excellent throwback to Drum Corps in the modern day setting. No acid required.

They are moving up…

Troop is going to move up! They look and sound amazing! Saw them live 6 days ago and they JUST. KEEP. GETTING. BETTER.

No, I’m congratulating him on his accuracy to date.

Congrats on your accuracy!

Spot on the money accurate…going to be an interesting run into the clubhouse.

Proud of those Green Guys! Nice new ending men! Just clean like crazy and just keep swimming…

This might explain why I hear what I hear from Cavaliers. They are only mic’ing soloists. With no shotguns.

Thanks for that info! So when I saw 16 wireless receivers in Lisle it was all tubas?

You should not only expect changes… you will see them. Not a matter of if.. but when.

They were tracking nicely from 2017-2019, grabbing 3rd in brass in 2019. I felt like the table was set for 2020. Another reason I despise COVID.

What’s your experience with correlating a live show you’ve seen with the Flo version of the same show? From doing this exercise instead of watching Nightbeat ( which I’ll now watch tonight) I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. A couple of the corps ( including my Cavaliers) didn’t sound as dynamic on Flo as they did live in stadium. And some sounded better! Including Crown, BD, and Boston. I mean they were amazing live but on the edge of overwhelming. As previously noted, Phantom needs to look at their amplification strategy as a whole. Both in house and on Flo the horn sound is a synthetic electronic veneer. They’re doing some mighty fine playing for the sound man to end up controlling what the audience hears. Folks in the lower rows probably heard real horns. I couldn’t… I was on back row 50. Even pulled out a dosimeter app on my phone. Phantom was 92 dB on the very top edge of the stadium.

Makes sense. Thanks!

Cavaliers sounded “distant” audio wise on Flo than what I heard live last night. Have no real idea why. I do know there’s no brass full ensemble mix in their PA, but not sure what that means compared to Flo mic placement/mixing.

Listening to/watching last night on Flo… It sounds better in stereo than in 5.1 Spirit and Troop we’re surprisingly close on Flo to a live read last night audio wise. This is encouraging…

Having volunteered for 5 years including 2 swamp tours, the 2019 California tour, and the 2021 run from Michigan through Minnesota, I really miss it, too. (But my 60 year old body doesn’t 😎) saw them rehearse at lunch yesterday and then from the 50 yard line back row last night. I knew they were going to have a good run after I left rehearsal. They are gaining confidence each time out. Cadets most immediately need to watch their 6… our boys ain’t gonna stop pushing! https://www.facebook.com/1321598963/posts/pfbid02kaXu3xpNS25GyyfLiqz2srhg9G4cUifKahVvQdnb4vQ1Zj6jRSEY247mXXkpi9Qql/?mibextid=cr9u03

That’s one take. Another is that it sounds like someone stuttering at 115 decibels through a gazillion powered arrays.

I left Cavaliers out of the original post because I’m a cardcarrying Homer. I enjoyed Troop and Cavaliers “sound” more than any others last night. Not focused on the book or execution. Just the tone of the hornline. I know Cavaliers aren’t mic’ing individuals. I believe they’re having soloists come to mics. And no shotgun mics. I have no idea what Troop is doing but the live sound was phenomenal. I’ll concede that the top 4 hornlines are crushing it as players…Crown and Boston sounded the most “real” from the top of the stadium of those 4. Phantom needs to re-evaluate their mic’d brass strategy from the bottom up. Just my 2 cents.

I was in a suite next door to the judges . Point taken.

Sorry! I didn’t “note” anything for some reason, but they sounded AMAZING! I had Boston #2 last night overall. Brass sounded great. Loved the whole show. I’m not sure if the tuba soli was all mic’ed bells, mixed mic’ed bells, or no mic’ed bells with a shotgun mic but it was as clear as a bell and sounded natural. Same with the “Show me the way to go home” ensemble. I went into the night thinking “maybe” for Boston winning. Devils dashed that for everyone… but Boston to me was a slight cut above Crown overall. I had Bloo on their own island in 4th. And then the 5-8 block of Phantom, Cadets, Mandarins, Cavaliers (last night). Troop will end up making that a 5-9 block in my opinion. Indy crowd will eat up Troop’s show. Then, going into the final 2 weeks I see Bluestars and Colts in a 10-11 battle. And a free for all for 12.

While I’ve got a fresh live impression from Atlanta, I’m really looking forward to rewatching the whole thing on Flo this evening to “dial in” the Flo Factor of live versus Flo. I was sitting at the very top of the stadium close to the 50. From there it was interesting to hear brass that you knew was hyper-mic’ed versus brass you knew was minimally mic’ed. Sone things I made notes to look for today while watching last night… Spirit was pretty loud! But I felt like I was getting the sound of the horns considerably more than amplified sound out of the arrays. Troopers sounded MAGNIFICENT live. Almost reminded me of some of the signature Phantom lines that always had that rich low brass texture in its DNA. I have no idea what their mic and amplification strategy was. That’s kinda the point. Cadets sounded great as well. Powerful horn line. And natural horn sound. Kinda harsh, but Phantom felt like I was listening to an electronic veneer of a hornline rather than the horns themselves. Again… I’m as far away physically from the field as you can get. Add in that opening Baritone solo had so much signal processing on it ( I’m sure by design) that it just didn’t even sound like a horn at all. It sounded like a trombone sample in a digital synthesizer. Whatever Crown is doing was freaking spectacular live. I know they use mics and tons of them. But whoever is managing live sound in the venue for them is a keeper. Simply fantastic. Bloo’s hornline was awesome too. Powerful and loud but not getting blown over by the PA representation of their horns. Devils tended to be a mix. Their hornline is clearly the best on the field this year. From my vantage point though, there are moments where the “veneer” sound took precedent over the “natural” sound. I’m actually excited to now hear these same performances on Flo tonight to see if what I heard live is discernibly different.

True. I turn 60 next month and have been going to live DCI shows since I was 15. I love modern DCI. That’s why I was there tonight. That’s why I’ll be in Indy. And I’m not against narration. I’m not even necessarily against this particular narration. But I can tell you from sitting in that stadium live tonight, that it was both stale to the crowds that have heard it all season and annoying coming through a gazillion line array speakers. I was there. I have ears.

Same. Didn’t really bug me on Flo… live tonight it was noticeable. And with the “jitter speak” even more so.

They’re already there…