Question for critics of the synths/electronics

[soccerguy315]

Pits should be amplified, but they are way too loud, all of them. I'm not sure why they haven't had any success balancing with the other musicians on the field, but they haven't. They need to figure it out.

This is the worst part.

Since they still break 19s in the captions, maybe they don't worry about balancing the pit, since it apparently doesn't affect the score.

[Jeff Ream]

We're poor college students who live in the middle of West Philadelphia...no one has a car up here. Makes for terrible drum corps viewing situations. Taking SEPTA back from West Chester University at 11:30 at night is NOT an experience I would like to repeat any time soon.

get new friends

[Jeff Ream]

I'm pretty surprised by all the people who are saying things to the effect of "suck it up" in regards to changing mallet percussion technique for outdoor playing. I marched with an excellent percussionist, who was pursuing a career as a professional percussionist, who PERMANENTLY AND IRREVOCABLY DAMAGED his wrists because he was forced to play with dangerous and irresponsible technique to be heard. He has to change his whole life because you want him to hurt himself to uphold tradition? Maybe I'm missing something, but that sounds like a bunch of crap to me.

Pits should be amplified, but they are way too loud, all of them. I'm not sure why they haven't had any success balancing with the other musicians on the field, but they haven't. They need to figure it out.

Synthesizers seem both ridiculous, not to mention anti-traditional, and an interesting innovation if they would ever be used in an interesting way. Colts this year seemed to have the least stupid use of synths, but imho all other uses were unneeded, intrusive, unmusical, and a slap in the face of the old school drum corps community. I'm not saying they couldn't be effective, because there is no way that anyone could know something like that. However, I am saying that with one exception all uses so far have been ineffective.

Design teams owe it to the fans to achieve higher levels of artistic success with synths in order to justify their use. They pushed for them, got them, and then proceeded to use them in a fashion that the majority of fans (or rather the tiny portion of the fans that have ever heard of DCP, which is seriously a fraction of a percent and the sooner you all realize that the happier you will be , see I'm already smiling) strongly disliked. They should use them for something effective, or choose not to use them, and I think that with some time they will. Hopefully not too much time.

i agree with a lot of what you said...but pits still beat the #### out of the boards.

yes the truly guilty party are the sound guys, who usually looked like the just rolled off Jeff Spicoli's VW bus

as for synths...outside of sound effects, it's just one low end rumble after another and doesnt balance well

[Jeff Ream]

Since synths are this new, maybe design teams are still getting used to incorporating them into their shows? If you think they have promise but haven't been utilized fully yet, how about giving it a few years?

BS. we kept hearing how all these creative geniuses had years of experience with them in marching band.

just like amps.

so, dci will say whatever to get it passed, then accept whatever once it's passed. problem is the whatevers are drastically different

[oldschooldbc]

I'm not sure there really is such a demand. A high percentage of DCP members maybe, but how many people is that in reality?

The Top 6 certainly don't want a new circuit. DCI works for them, and the rule/instrumentation changes have largely been made at their request. The design & instructional staff want all of the changes so that DCI will become more like the WGI and BOA circuits that they also participate in.

At the other end of the spectrum, we can assume that the management of groups like Pioneer are aware of alternatives like Open Class and DCA. As an economist would say, their revealed preference is to be a 20th place corps in DCI World Class rather than a more competitive group in a different circuit.

DCI started because a significant number of corps wanted a different circuit, one run by and for the corps. Where's the evidence that any world class corps today want something different?

I only see one realistic option for a new tour to get started: the show promoters. If they want to opt out of DCI, and form a new tour, it may work.

If people stop coming to the shows, aren't there aren't enough ticket sales to turn a profit, then these folks may just want to start an alternate tour.

The show promoters aren't doing this for the fun of it. They are in it to make money. And if DCI continues to alienate much of its core fan base, then this scenario could take place. Regardless of DCI's intentions, you can't have a drum corps circuit without shows - and for that, you need show promotors.

Then, it will require real leadership, for DCI to reform itself quickly. Or, I see a window of opportunity, for a new circuit to open up.

[Jeff Ream]

This is the worst part.

Since they still break 19s in the captions, maybe they don't worry about balancing the pit, since it apparently doesn't affect the score.

[SoundmanG]

Those people have professional sound engineers doing work for them. Drum corps amps and synths get some volunteers, a few staff who might know something about amplification since they did it for their band and about five minutes before a show.

There's a big, big difference there.

I agree 100%.

What exactly is the "audition" process for the sound person in a top 12 drum corps?

(IMO) Until the sound/amp person is required to have the same relative skill set as that of a marching member we will be stuck with decidedly mediocre sound amplification.

[MoonHill]

I'm pretty surprised by all the people who are saying things to the effect of "suck it up" in regards to changing mallet percussion technique for outdoor playing. I marched with an excellent percussionist, who was pursuing a career as a professional percussionist, who PERMANENTLY AND IRREVOCABLY DAMAGED his wrists because he was forced to play with dangerous and irresponsible technique to be heard. He has to change his whole life because you want him to hurt himself to uphold tradition? Maybe I'm missing something, but that sounds like a bunch of crap to me.

I've marched with over two dozen different excellent percussionists, three of whom are pursuing careers as professional percussionists, who managed to play their keyboard instruments plenty loud without ever utilizing any technique that damaged them in any way.

I guess your anecdotal evidence is more compelling than mine, though, since I don't have an awesome bit of guilt-assignment in mine.

Sounds like the problem is the technique he was being taught, not the particulars of whether his instrument was amped or not.

[Kansan]

One of the common complaints I've seen here about synthesizers (or guitars, basses, samplers, etc) is that the volume can be turned up without any extra effort from the performer, as opposed to acoustic instruments. However, what about the micing of the keyboard instruments in the pit, or brass soloists? Sure, they can produce more sound through physical effort, but so can most electronic instruments/patches. Anything that's miced can be turned up quite a bit by just changing settings on a mixer. Why is this only considered a problem for purely electronic instruments?

I'm not trying to make this a "gotcha" topic, I'm genuinely curious to hear what the critics think. It may just be that the people who've voiced this concern also want no amps at all, I dunno.

You probably know alreadythat if a person does not like the Synth, they probably don't like the rest of the "electronic bundle".

[rosski47]

Or nine snares in the concert hall? In all my days of playing in indoor settings, I never saw the snare part doubled, much less multiplied by nine.

That's weird, I wasn't aware that a marching snare is an orchestral instrument.

And for that matter, I wasn't aware that a marimba is not an orchestral instrument.