Sneauxdog Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 I have a question. I'm going to show my ignorance here, but you have to learn somehow! I went to a DCI show in Lafayette, LA this past summer. I had what I thought were "good" seats (40 yard line - about 15 rows up from the field). Most of the time when the horns were playing, I couldn't hear the battery. I could hear the pit instruments just fine. The horns were just much louder than the drums. Are the battery drummers holding back? Are they told not to play "too loud" and overpower the horns? They certainly weren't doing that! This seemed to be the case for all of the corps that performed. Was I just in the wrong place to hear the battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-Swiss Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 I was at the same show, an I had no trouble at all hearing the battery. I was on the side 1 40, 24 rows up. I don't know what could have prevented you from hearing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenorsForWorldDomination Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 I really hope this doesn't become a debate about modern drums not being heard. I have never had a problem hearing any drumline in DCI or DCA. Sometimes yes, drumlines are forced to play a lower dynamic in order to blend, but even then you should be able to hear them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneauxdog Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 I really hope this doesn't become a debate about modern drums not being heard. I have never had a problem hearing any drumline in DCI or DCA. Sometimes yes, drumlines are forced to play a lower dynamic in order to blend, but even then you should be able to hear them. I guess that was more my question. And I guess I exaggerated a bit in saying that I couldn't hear the drums. They just got drowned out quite a bit. I could tell that they were playing, but often the drum sound was indistinct because they were much lower in volume than the horns. An interesting note: At that show, the biggest crowd reaction came during the little battery features. People LOVE to hear the drums! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08Hawkeye Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 a few more rows up could have made the difference. standing in front of my high school's pit i could barely hear the battery solos over the band members screaming (p.s. I did NOT design it..) - but up in the tower it came across pretty well. freak occurance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbdrummin Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 IMO, it's a factor of how the drums are tuned and what kind of drums they are playing on. For example........ Lines that uses Pearl & Yamaha drums seam to create a better sound then the every so popular and inexpensive Dynasty drums that most corps are using these days. Although, PR made those Dynasty's sound like a million Bucks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiltieBD3 Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 I'm going with you were sitting to low. Drums may have been tuned high. Staging usually plays a role here as well... Basically it could be any or all the things mentioned above. I'm curious, what Corps' are you referring too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneauxdog Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 I'm going with you were sitting to low. Drums may have been tuned high. Staging usually plays a role here as well...Basically it could be any or all the things mentioned above. I'm curious, what Corps' are you referring too? Yeah, maybe it was where I was sitting. Generally, the drum volume seemed low (conpared to horns) for all of the corps that performed. There was one corps though (I can't remember which one - they were using Pearl and there were only a couple corps using them) where the drums were considerable higher in the mix. Maybe it's my hearing a bit too. After 30+ years of playing, I've lost quite a bit of my high frequencies (and those snares were tuned pretty high). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccieboy Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Sorry...but I have to throw in my two-cents from the perspective of someone who survived the '70's (no, i never took lsd). Drums today are tuned way too high in general. And bass drums in particular. The term "battery" is from the military...big guns...low and loud. Everything goes in cycles. Currently, we are in this crank-until-it-sounds-like-a-table-top mode. The problem is that drums sound choked and just don't resonate (you can't hear them). I can't really even hear them when I'm in the parking lot and standing 20 feet away...they sound like cardboard boxes. Listen to some old '70's drum corps recordings and you'll see what I mean. Low frequencies are omni-directional...it shouldn't matter where you sit. Someday we will return to the days when drums resonated and you heard nice low-tones from the bass drum section. Okay, already...everyone can play 24th note runs...I'm impressed...but, how about a little musicality? I'm just sayin'....I don't think you are ignorant...quite the contrary...I think your gut is trying to tell you something...you are very insightful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stryfe Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 (edited) Drums today are tuned way too high in general. And bass drums in particular. I agree. Drum corps has become way too musical. Balance sucks. The drums get tuned high so that the sound is more precise and so that it blends a lot better. If you're looking for the actually boom with sustain, you'd best look to the pit. The sound is still on the field, it's just not marching around anymore (and anyway, two of that would be overkill). And old bass drums may have been louder and had more sustain, but new (not actually new, but let's play) bass drums have the precision to be able to play much more impressive things that sound good and add a more complex, precise and admirable rhythm to the corps, and they can still play simply. Sure, they no longer have much resemblance to a concert bass drum. And they haven't for a very long time. But there are still concert basses on the field to provide that sound. The activity evolved, evolves and always will evolve. 24th note runs I lol'd. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024... Anyway, as to the original poster. Often the exact rhythm of the battery will be hard to hear over a corps, but their presence will be known. That's fairly standard procedure and as far as I'm concerned, is just good balance (and it's less of the battery playing moderately/softly than hornlines playing fully). But if you had a lot of trouble hearing them at all, probably sitting too low. Pits can be quite powerful. Edited January 11, 2009 by Stryfe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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