Low-End Synth

[MikeD]

I know you've gone on record as being pro-woodwind but I'm curious as to how you feel on this issue?

As might be expected... I favor a staff using anything they want to achieve the sound they desire. A low end synth can enhance the totality of the sound if used well...in proportion to the rest of the sound. It can also overpower if the staff is not careful.

[MikeD]

Anyway..... Still no one is attempting to answer the question of... WHY DO ALMOST ALL THE CORPS USE LOW-END SYNTH????? All I've seen on this thread is a discussion of why we (the fans), think they sound bad, and how the judges/staffs don't care what we think...... but please, someone tell me why they even want to use them in the first place. How can all the staffs think they sound good, and this big a percentage of fans think they sound bad?

Because a DCP poll is hardly a "big percentage of fans" overall. In general, audience members want to hear a kick-butt sound, and that a low end synth is used to help produce it doesn't matter to them...IMO. They don't even think about it.

[MikeD]

I am on the record as pro-electronics.... but I have problems with the low-end synth being used to boost the low-brass sound, especially in the World Class corps, many of whom are fielding anywhere from 60 to 80 brass players.

With that many horns... and with the talent level and training of those players.... is the low-end synth "enhancement" really necessary?

What about the time-honored "use proper breath support, put air through the horn and play in tune" method of boosting a lower-brass capability?

Except it is being used to boost the low end of the sound, not the brass sound. The brass judge should have nothing to say about the low end synth...but the ensemble and effect judges should.

[Stu]

Except it is being used to boost the low end of the sound, not the brass sound. The brass judge should have nothing to say about the low end synth...but the ensemble and effect judges should.

Since the synth is in the Pit, would not the Percussion Judge also be involved in the evaluation?

[Harmonious Cacophony]

Because a DCP poll is hardly a "big percentage of fans" overall. In general, audience members want to hear a kick-butt sound, and that a low end synth is used to help produce it doesn't matter to them...IMO. They don't even think about it.

How do we know what these "audience members" think? It isn't like SCV plays two shows every night (one with low synth and one without) and polls everyone in attendance to find which version was more preferable.

[BRASSO]

Because a DCP poll is hardly a "big percentage of fans" overall. In general, audience members want to hear a kick-butt sound, and that a low end synth is used to help produce it doesn't matter to them...IMO. They don't even think about it.

We really don't know what audences think about low-end syths, one way or the other. They've never been polled. Anybody that tells us what audiences " think ", really has no idea whatsoever what they" think " on this subject.

Edited July 1, 2010 by BRASSO

[Jeff Ream]

one of the least pleasing things to hear in conjunction with music is wharrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmawobbbbbllllllleuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, and I get a lot of that from the synths.

amen

[Jeff Ream]

Since the synth is in the Pit, would not the Percussion Judge also be involved in the evaluation?

not at field level. if perc 2 was still around, then yes

[MikeD]

How do we know what these "audience members" think? It isn't like SCV plays two shows every night (one with low synth and one without) and polls everyone in attendance to find which version was more preferable.

That's why I said...IMO. That's MHO..that people in general listen and watch the various corps and react to what they see and hear without thinking about each little facet of what makes up a particular sound or move.

[MikeD]

not at field level. if perc 2 was still around, then yes

IMO the field person should be judging everything produced in the pit. If the synth player is playing out-of-time, for instance, the field judge should consider that just as if a xylo was not in time.