Lucas Oil Stadium Director Discusses 'Sound Ideas'

[DrinkinOuttaCups]

You really do have far too much time on your hands.

Yeah, it must take forever to look at the join date underneath your username.

[MikeN]

The main reason numbers would be down would be the ongoing recession.

Location plays a very large part in attendance as well. Remember Jackson, MS?

Complaining about something that none of us has any chance of changing does no good either.

I have to disagree - they're not looking at changing the dampening for the heck of it. And they're not doing it because the corps (see the comments from the Troopers DM) or the judges (see DCI's article on the subject) don't like it - both seem to be okay with it. They're doing it because the fans who can pay upwards of several thousand dollars to attend the event don't like it, and there are enough of them to cause a reaction.

Mike

[JimF-LowBari]

The main reason numbers would be down would be the ongoing recession.

ANY reason that wound cause numbers to go down should be checked into.....

Complaining about something that none of us has any chance of changing does no good either.

Yep, didn't help when I complained to my Saturn dealer that the reason why I wasn't going to buy my 3rd Saturn was because they didn't make the kind of car I liked anymore...... That was January 2009, on Oct 2009 I got a "poor us" letter pointing the "blame finger" everywhere but in the mirror for the companys downfall..... (not kidding).

Edited December 22, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari

[tommyfromhowardst]

More fabric = the pageantry worlds answer to everything

True, or maybe we need waffles. "We must have waffles! We must have waffles forth with!" They'll dampen sound and we can bring butter/syrup for after show munch delight...

[Slow Adam]

Yeah, it must take forever to look at the join date underneath your username.

lol.

[Slow Adam]

I just work with what I am given.

And your opinion would be quite incorrect. I joined this forum during the summer while on tour.

On September 19th?

You really do have far too much time on your hands.

It's interesting how when someone disagrees, personal sniping becomes the norm.

[Rifuarian]

Camp Randall is a great stadium. I've been to finals there several times and enjoyed it. I also had no major issues with LOS either. I found both the Alamodome and Georgia Dome to be quite bad in comparison. And, some of the podunk HS stadiums this summer weren't so great either.

Compared to the RCA Dome, LOS is much, much better, that's for sure. Is it perfect, hardly. Is it the worst stadium I've been in, hardly. That 'honor' goes to the Patriots stadium back in the day.

Corps are going to have to do what BOA HS bands have been doing for years and that is design for the space where finals will be held. It will require a shift in thinking, sure, but nothing that can't be overcome.

And for those of you so displeased with the sound of LOS, don't go. It's that simple. There are plenty of other venues that are quite nice for drum corps like J. Birney Crum in Allentown, Mile High in Denver, Stanford in Palto Alto, CA to name three. No one is forcing you to attend finals, especially since it seems to have been so unpleasant.

The mere fact that LOS is working with DCI, and I presume ISSMA and BOA, to try to fix some of the issues is a good thing, no a great thing. Indianapolis is bending over backwards to help the situation and to market the event and to make DCI finals an enjoyable experience all around. When was the last time a venue and city worked so hard to get and to keep DCI finals?

As for the roof not being open, blame the corps, not DCI. They were the ones that didn't want to the roof open in the event that the roof would have to be closed due to rain. The corps were the ones that wanted the sound to be the same for all performances because, yes, obviously, the sound would change between open and closed roof.

People closely associated with BOA and ISSMA act as though it was pre-ordained by God that their finals be held in Lucas Oil. Of course, since their finals are held in November, LOS is the best stadium for the job. However, some of the people trying deflect criticism of LOS as a venue have carried over this "pre-ordained" sensibility to drum corps, and claim that it's drum corps itself that needs to change, and not the venue - as though we were locked into the stadium for eternity (which is quite possibly the plan) rather than for a decade. That kind of thinking is completely backwards.

Anyways, people who have devoted years of their lives and significant chunks of their fortune to drum corps have the right to complain if the culmination of the drum corps season isn't to their liking. Telling them "just don't go" is as ridiculous as that "America: Love it or leave it" argument. Yes, we're stuck with Lucas Oil for a while, but that's no reason to be complacent, and no reason to ignore the problem, or to pretend that there's nothing that can be done. The impact on ticket sales will most likely not be as great as some are predicting. The cheap seats will be as packed as ever with band students, friends and family of the members, and recent vets. But good luck filling all those $125 seats, because the people who buy those tickets are the ones you're telling to "just don't go".

[Jeff Ream]

You people realize you're talking about a football stadium, right?

Allow me to repeat: FOOTBALL STADIUM

LOS isn't Carnegie Hall, never will be, so there is really nothing you can do about the sound that is produced inside.

No football stadium on the planet is going to be a suitable venue for a drum corps show, period. Sure, there may be better places than others but as long as DCI puts its activity on a football field, people are just going to have to deal with all the issues inherent in trying to use a space designed primarily for one activity, football, to view another activity, drum corps.

If you really want a high quality performance space for drum corps, build it. Fund raise the money and build a purpose built venue. That's the only way to get concert quality sound. Until that happens, accept the limitations that all FOOTBALL stadiums have for this activity.

wow. and here all those OPEN AIR STADIUMS WE WENT TO WERE 100000000000% TIMES BETTER.

silly us

[Grumpy]

Complaining about something that none of us has any chance of changing does no good either.

Just like everyone that complained about the lack of quality and poor customer service concerning the DCA audio and video recordings? DCA listened, took action and next year there will be a new company providing those recordings. If no one complains, DCI and LOS live on; fat, dumb and happy until next year when attendance drops off considerably and wonders why. I believe we DO have a chance in changing things...DCI, out of one side of its mouth anyway, acknowledges that there IS a problem and that they are taking steps with LOS to address the problem; one of the biggest issues I think most on here have is that they are being extremely vague (until now) with exactly what those steps are. I'm not convinced that "more curtains" is the answer; I am also rather skeptical that DCI's panel of "experts"-I won't argue with the fact that they are Hall of Fame drum corps experts with exemplary drum corps credentials-but asking them to address acoustics in an indoor setting is ridiculous. That is not their area of expertise. Depending on where they were in the stadium, their perception of the acoustics would be just as valid as anyone else sitting in the same area (for the record, Dennis Delucia was in one of the suites with Steve Rondinaro directly behind section 240 on the 50 yd line). Others who were on the field, on the 30 yd line or high up in the press box would no doubt have a different perspective. Are they engineering experts that can determine the best methods to change that perception? If they were being asked for advice on how best to design a drum corps show to adapt to the acoustics of the stadium, THEN they are truly the experts. I would like to give DCI the benefit of the doubt on this, but I certainly hope that they can come up with something better than "hang more curtains".

[Lance]

You people realize you're talking about a football stadium, right?

Allow me to repeat: FOOTBALL STADIUM

LOS isn't Carnegie Hall, never will be, so there is really nothing you can do about the sound that is produced inside.

No football stadium on the planet is going to be a suitable venue for a drum corps show, period. Sure, there may be better places than others but as long as DCI puts its activity on a football field, people are just going to have to deal with all the issues inherent in trying to use a space designed primarily for one activity, football, to view another activity, drum corps.

If you really want a high quality performance space for drum corps, build it. Fund raise the money and build a purpose built venue. That's the only way to get concert quality sound. Until that happens, accept the limitations that all FOOTBALL stadiums have for this activity.

Obviously, every football field is not the same. Most have fine acoustics for drum corps. DCI managed to pick a truly wretched one for finals over a 10-year lease. To their credit, they have acknowledged the problem and are hopefully looking for solutions. I know it's crazy of some of us to hope that it will involve more than adding more curtains or having the judges say how wonderful everything is while at the same time going out of their way to talk about how LOS officials are completely aware of how wretched it is acoustically and the measures they're talking to remedy it...which involves more curtains and special tweaking of a mountain of amps to compensate the problems.

No need for the histrionic spiel about Carnegie Hall or suggestions of building special football fields to get a concert sound. Exactly nobody is suggesting or asking for that. I'll take having finals at the other 99.9% of stadiums that have always sounded fine.