Pizazzman

Not sure who all, but it’s too many!

They don’t have the high or loud chops of BD hornlines of the past though.

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Shoot dang, Vanguard is good!! I love seeing them back at this level! Just like Cavies though, do something crazy visually at the end before you park, the music is begging for some fireworks after those stages meet at the 50!

Cavies need to be running at the end with that kind of music! The music is begging for it and what they have is purely functional to get them into position for the big curvilinear company front at the end. Get a move on guys!

To me, the softer endings create a deeper emotional effect when done right. Look at Vanguard 2000, big firey “ending” followed by a tag that gives you major goosebumps. I don’t think an ending has to be one way or the other to be “superior,” what matters is how well it’s done.

LOVE that Boston show! I hope they can keep this design team together because they’re doing awesome things!

Something I keep noticing is that after all these years of amplifying the front ensemble and soloists, is nobody has gotten the balance between amplified and acoustic sounds right on a consistent basis. Most noticeable is that the FE almost always too loud in soft moments (backfield or piano hornline dynamics and solos). Aside from any issues with musicality is the fact that it distracts from the music and show and brings attention to the technology because it sounds so unnatural. Unless the intent is to present an electronic voice of some sort or feature the FE, the overall balance and effect should mimic that of an acoustic ensemble sound. The technology shouldn’t draw attention to itself unless the desired effect requires it in a specific moment. I havent been on the design and education side of the activity for a few years now, but I would love to see DCI bring in som big time sound designers from other activities and provide more workshop opportunities for designers and staff that are accessible for all corps in order to better integrate the electronics (and other tech). I know some similar things have been done when the directors meet in the off-season, but I would love to see more extensive high level professional development opportunities for staff members from all corps and think it would really elevate the activity and experience for performers and audiences alike.

Holy smokes Mandarins, good on ya!!! What a show! So much growth in design and performance, I’m really excited to see if they can keep it pushing all the way to the end. It’ll be something special if they can!

Some great drill writing for Crossmen. Awesome to see them moving while playing the technical stuff instead of just standing still. Puttin’ the fast fingers and feet together!

With the newer style uniforms in DCI, someone really needs to teach the hornline men about dance belts....

I usually enjoy Colts' shows and this is no exception...but come on, if the horn line isn't loud enough, just teach the dang horn line to play louder. I hate the area mics and the corps that are using them don't sound better for having used them. Just teach the kids to play! Even BD's horn line doesn't sound as good as they have historically and they don't have that signature sound that we all know; the amplification is crutch even at their level of ability and the quality of sound from the hornline as a whole suffers. I'm all for using things that improve the experience for audience and members, but area mics do neither of those things. Also, get off my lawn!!

Sheesh, I really don’t see what the judges are seeing with BD (or maybe why the judges don’t see what I’m seeing). Don’t get me wrong, BD is plenty good, but compared to Coats, there was so much dirt throughout the show and the hornline is way behind as well. That score is a real head scratcher to me.

I know this has been hashed out elsewhere, but I’m really not a fan of area mics and BD seems to be using them to compensate for some big (by BD standards) issues in the hornline. When I heard them live, they really struggled to maintain balance and tone when playing at upper dynamic levels and seem to be satisfied to back off and just let the sound system do the work instead. They still perform well, but I guess I’m just missing the days when they didn’t need the hornline amplification to sound great.

This is unrelated to the performances, but does anyone know what happened to the field? That grass always looks perfect or close to it and it looks like they had a bunch of it actually die.

That head is from a couple years ago. I guess they're out of bass heads right now

Voctave is all first class professional singers and yet one of the best sound systems in DCI made them sound...meh. Adds credence to the comment that corps are using second rate audio equipment.

Crown has plenty of great things going for them and moments of the show are really cool, but the overall flow and pace of the show is....awkward. Hopefully some of the gaps get filled in and changes streamline some of that, but I worry that there’s too much to fully fix. The drill is particularly odd at times with strange and ineffective spacing...though, I’m not a fan of most of the drill writing that’s going on in DCI right now. It’s all functional and not at all artistic or visually pleasing. Here’s hoping it’s just a fad we grow out of.

So are they adding NFL hashes or something? Looks like the painted ones are college and they put down tape ones inside them...weird.

Awful long time to dress an arc...

Exactly. Strike that. Reverse it! Lol

Ugh, the staff really didn't tune the brass very well today. You have to tune way sharp outside before you come in to the cool air.

Well that's a pretty big disappointment!

This is an aside from everything, but does anyone have any idea how in he world BD is getting their equipment and trucks over to the East Coast in time to do their next show?? Seems like quite the ordeal!

*Submit to DCI-rule change, effective summer of 2015. New scoring system to add up to 125 points to add capacity for increasing scoring. The old 100 point system is no longer adequate as top 7 scoring is projected to exceed current declining sanity levels. Probable causes: something in the Bay Area water and global warming...probably.