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Volume level of the World Class Corps


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I'm surprised no one has mentioned that loud and in-tune really go together. Out of tune can be loud, but also crass. When a line is playing in tune, the overtone series is going to kick in and expand the perception of sound. Out of tune will get those overtones fighting each other and a certain amount of volume cancellation is going to occur.

As far as loudest I've heard, Spirit in 1980 is right up there. From the front row at prelims in Birmingham they almost fried the VU meters on the SuperScope recorder I....um....WASN'T recording prelims with...kinda. JUst wanted to know how loud they were. Yeah, that's it.

I like to record kinda on the "hot" side. Spirit stuck the VU meters enough that it took them a few seconds (literally) to return to normal reading. And I had already set the levels with a decently loud brass section. (North Star? SCV?) Spirit was phenomenal. A lot of that volume had to do with the arranging. Jim Ott was a genius. He wrote the majority of his charts in the power range of the brass voices. Not a lot of squealing/high register charts from him. Each instrument was written to take advantage of their volume and power range, so that it was there when needed.

Garry in Vegas

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I'm surprised no one has mentioned that loud and in-tune really go together. Out of tune can be loud, but also crass. When a line is playing in tune, the overtone series is going to kick in and expand the perception of sound. Out of tune will get those overtones fighting each other and a certain amount of volume cancellation is going to occur.

As far as loudest I've heard, Spirit in 1980 is right up there. From the front row at prelims in Birmingham they almost fried the VU meters on the SuperScope recorder I....um....WASN'T recording prelims with...kinda. JUst wanted to know how loud they were. Yeah, that's it.

I like to record kinda on the "hot" side. Spirit stuck the VU meters enough that it took them a few seconds (literally) to return to normal reading. And I had already set the levels with a decently loud brass section. (North Star? SCV?) Spirit was phenomenal. A lot of that volume had to do with the arranging. Jim Ott was a genius. He wrote the majority of his charts in the power range of the brass voices. Not a lot of squealing/high register charts from him. Each instrument was written to take advantage of their volume and power range, so that it was there when needed.

Garry in Vegas

In 1980 at Michigan City when Spirit was finished the announcer (he was the one that used to drag out the names like "Bllluuuue Devvvvillllsss') said 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the windows here in the press box just got a new crack'. and a drum corps urban legend was born.

They were real loud.

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The loudest thing I've ever witnessed in Drum Corps...was not a Drum Corps! When all the corps were standing on the field at finals and Blue Devils were announced as 2nd place....I literally had to cover my ears they hurt so badly. Couldn't believe the rawr of that crowd! Besides that, I'd say Cadets 2005 and 2007 and Crown 2009 are the loudest moments recently to really blow me away. OOH! SCV 2001 also knocked my socks off! The very first hit after the pit playing the lullaby and silent drill still gives me chills! Man I love Loud!

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The loudest thing I've ever witnessed in Drum Corps...was not a Drum Corps! When all the corps were standing on the field at finals and Blue Devils were announced as 2nd place....I literally had to cover my ears they hurt so badly. Couldn't believe the rawr of that crowd! Besides that, I'd say Cadets 2005 and 2007 and Crown 2009 are the loudest moments recently to really blow me away. OOH! SCV 2001 also knocked my socks off! The very first hit after the pit playing the lullaby and silent drill still gives me chills! Man I love Loud!

LOL. That must've been epic being on the field. I wish I was there to witness it because I had a friend who told me his camera speaker couldn't take the loudness of the crowd on the field XD

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The loudest thing I've ever witnessed in Drum Corps...was not a Drum Corps!

The loudest thing I have ever witnessed WAS drum corps.

1999 championships in Madison - They had every brass player from every corps (not just the top 12) play America/O'Canada. :smile:

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The loudest thing I have ever witnessed WAS drum corps.

1999 championships in Madison - They had every brass player from every corps (not just the top 12) play America/O'Canada. :smile:

Nah...that was loud, but doesn't come close to the sound that came out of the crowd that Saturday night! A few of my friends who had cameras with them have video of it and they lose focus because they had to cover their ears! It really was the loudest thing ever!

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"The loudest thing I've ever witnessed in Drum Corps...was not a Drum Corps!"

I met her.

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"The loudest thing I've ever witnessed in Drum Corps...was not a Drum Corps!"

I met her.

HAHAHA

I see what you did there!

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