Nizerifin

Well you may want to look up logical fallacies too. Usually when one makes generalizations based on the last 10 or so songs someone listened to in order to come to some conclusion about whether that person has the ability to think rationally, one will be mistaken. Furthermore, I doubt you know what dubstep is.

Whoa... since when did my taste in music have anything to do with my ability to reason and create opinions on the direction DCI should take? What we have here is a logical fallacy, often used instead of actually arguing with the points made. Good job. We don't need to keep the movies black and white, folks.

Whoa, cool your jets. Since when is censoring a good idea? The title really gets the point across.

Cavies have been dead for awhile now, ever since Jeff left. If you think the Cavie shows of the last few years have been even a fraction as innovative as the 2000-2006 shows, well, you're confused.

DCI should only have rules in place to support FAIRNESS and nothing else. Woodwinds should be allowed as well as complete use of electronics, including sampling. There's simply no real reason to prevent these changes. It's going to happen eventually, so just get on board now.

There's no reason for "fan favorite" shows to be winning DCI Finals. They're simply not the best. Think about it, how often does the top-grossing box office film win the Oscar for Best Picture? Almost never. Why? Because adults don't like that stuff. They like serious films that make them think or feel more sophisticated. Art wins out over fan favorite every year.

BD's show is way too easy this year. It was essentially perfect in Atlanta. Cadets designed a program that would require them to improve until Finals night in order to win. They deserve it and BD risks falling to third after they peaked a few days back. BD played it safe this year and they're missing out on their first 3-peat as a result. For the record, I love their show, but I recognize playing it safe and that's what I'm calling it this year. Also, Cavies have weird flow issues this year. Their show doesn't really go anywhere for awhile. Do they have the designers to win anymore?

I agree with this entirely. The synths aren't blended in with the rest of the show so it sounds like a strange foreign sound. I think the super-low bass padding is pretty effective though and typically fits the entire ensemble sound pretty well. I was really impressed with Boston's pre-show opening thing with a similar bass effect. Pretty sick. I just think that electronics can be used to really boost the overall production value of a show but right now designers don't know jack **** about synths and probably need to hire somebody that knows a thing or two about electronic sound production, buy the right equipment, and step things up a lot. Blue Devils have done well this year as far as synthetic sound production goes and I think it comes across well. Their show is very experimental like that.

The quality was pretty good at my theater and I'm a audio/video snob. Even if they're recording in HD, there has to be some kind of theoretical bitrate limit that they can broadcast from the stadium. I'm not sure how uniform the quality can be around the country with different setups at different theaters, etc.

Phantom has long been plagued with design issues and they habitually underachieve. They barely won in 2008 and have recently come to the field with a sub-par product. This is nothing new though as they were the same way prior to 2008 as well. 2005 was good but other than that? They obviously have the talent to win but their design team plays it very safe visually and conceptually. I love Phantom, but I know they can do better.

This is not an anti-synth/electronics rant. Instead, this is a matter of taste. So many corps ashamedly try to make their synths sound "natural" and like real instruments. This is stupid because synths notoriously sound fake or, get this... synthetic! Really ###### midi piano sounds and string sounds make me squirm in my seat. There are so many quality synths out there to use, but they don't sound like real instruments, and that is exactly why they are good. They sound like an original sound and can really add to the show. Instead, the corps uses a keyboard which usually has awful samples built in. Furthermore, the use of filters can really do a lot for the sound quality. The bluecoats run their soloist (later in the show) through a filter and it creates a great effect. Filters could be used on the entire pit to many great creative results. Instead the corps play it very safe and go at it with their half-###ed midi keyboards. Not surprisingly, the corps that make the boldest use of synths are in the top 3. The Blue Devils don't hold back at all and deliver a show that is ahead of its time and highly experimental. The major acts in the electro scene today prove that electronics don't have to be cheesy, shrill, or annoying. Take a listen to groups like Daft Punk, Justice, Royksopp, Simian Mobile Disco, Deadmau5... the list goes on. The production value is there and modern drum corps is severly lacking in that arena. Many don't like The Blue Devils this year, but their production value is miles ahead of the rest. If other corps don't get the picture, we may have a long BD-dominated streak ahead of us. Here's some proof. It's Daft Punk's music to Tron Legacy which will be in theaters this fall or winter. Daft Punk - Tron Legacy

I ask not in the sense of a record score (although that may be on the way) but the huge gap between #1 and #2. Right now BD is sitting up there with a 97-something and the next corps is back there in the 94 range. Also, is this the highest a corps has been pre-quarterfinals?

The design quality has dropped significantly in the past few years. This year's show is the low point IMO. Compare it to 2002 and the drop off is obvious. The eery start is great then they randomly ruin the mood and go on for a typical drum corps show. Mediocre throughout, and I'm a huge cavies fan!

I think the 2009 Blu-rays should be out there in your PS3s and blu-ray players by now, right? What I haven't seen is a review. Anyone care to give one if possible, and maybe take some screenshots? Thanks!

Simple demand/price model. Demand is much higher for top-12 vs the rest, price is much higher.

First of all, ogg is lossy. As far as getting lossless audio from the fan network, doing so is not very pragmatic because of the size of a lossless file. A high-quality mp3 has a bitrate somewhere between 192-320 kbps and a lossless FLAC file is around 700-1200 kbps, which results in a much larger file. DCI has to take bandwidth costs into account and thus would almost always choose to use a broadly-used format such as mp3 over a lossless format. When you consider quality and the average dci fan's expectations, you can assume that the quality difference with FLAC would go almost unnoticed. Plus, offering an inferior product such as the fan network downloads creates some product differentiation, pushing people to buy the CDs if they want the best sound quality.

Here's what I did: -Went Thursday to quarterfinals. Though it was comfortable and since we were fairly close (section 241, which we ordered the night before), the acoustics were fine. I could hear the boom, but it wasn't annoying to me in those seats. -Thursday night we drove up to Chicago for Lollapalooza which always, always, falls the same weekend as dci finals, for some reason. We just got back from the last show and it was amazing! For the value, this is the way to go. Quarters + 3 days of Lollapalooza (130 bands) is a great package. Why spend $150 on finals tickets when you can get 3 nights of lollapalooza for $50 more? It's the way to go :)

*post finals bump*

*bump*

On the latest field pass, Tom Blair addressed the issue of putting finals on blu-ray and sounded like he doubted that people would have interest in getting a blu-ray version of finals and followed by telling people to let him know if they did. Well, I constructed this poll to study who has blu-ray players, a desire to buy finals on blu-ray, and who has high-definition televisions. I'll probably bump the hell out of this to get a larger sample size. Personally, I am a strong proponent of blu-ray as I have seen the difference!

@nizerifin

This is an interesting question, but really it would depend on the design. Each corps really specializes in different ways and I think whoever's style matched the design the best would win. I voted for the Cavies because I just see them as the most versatile corps.

Please review the rankings from the dci website: July 9 - Aug 5 1 Blue Devils 96.025 0 2 Carolina Crown 94.667 +3 3 Holy Name Cadets 94.483 -1 4 The Cavaliers 94.075 -1 5 Santa Clara Vanguard 93.783 -1

I think that BD and the Cavaliers have championship quality shows every year, or at least in this decade. Statistically, they both average above everyone else in placement and score and do so fairly consistently. The only reason either of them do not win is because another corps simply executed better towards the end. I should point out though, that in terms of "caliber" BD and Cavaliers are always up there with the front-runner and have probably beaten the winner at some point in the season. I have provided statistics to aid my case. BD Placement/Score: 2008 - 2 - 98.1 2007 - 1 - 98 2006 - 3 - 96.55 2005 - 4 - 95.25 2004 - 2 - 98.525 2003 - 1 - 98.8 2002 - 2 - 97.3 2001 - 2 - 97.6 2000 - 3 - 96.9 Average Place = 2.22 Average Score = 97.45 Cavies Placement/Score: 2008 - 3 - 97.325 2007 - 3 - 96.350 2006 - 1 - 97.200 2005 - 2 - 97.625 2004 - 1 - 98.700 2003 - 2 - 97.250 2002 - 1 - 99.150 2001 - 1 - 98.350 2000 - 1 - 97.650 Average Place: 1.66 Average Score: 97.73

I vote Cavaliers.