skywhopper Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I'm curious to know what uses of electronics DCP members are loving or hating this year. I've only seen the Austin show in the theater, and I'm assuming there were aspects of electronics I missed without the benefit of hearing things live, because the amps were often mixed poorly. A couple of themes I noted among the top corps, especially the top five: sampled voices (BD, Cavies, Bluecoats, Crown, Cadets), piano or electric piano synths (BD, Cavies, Crown, others that I missed?). The voices generally bug me, but if it's limited to the pre-show it doesn't bother me so much. The Cavies playing snippets of the song throughout the show was a little annoying (actually my 9-year old actively complained about it) and the Bluecoats "What the hell am I doing here" was part silly, part obnoxious (I'm not offended by the language like some of the posters were, though). The piano sounds I go back and forth on. I liked how Crown used it this year, given the theme and the source material, and the fact that the synth part was really impressive (go Nick!). It also made some sense given BD's source material. But then again, part of the fun of drum corps is hearing familiar songs arranged for *different* instrumentation and voices. The Cadets, for maybe the first time since amps and electronics were allowed, put on a show that didn't make me cringe once. This year's show is classic Cadets through and through. What electronics they did use could easily be left out, I thought. I don't recall much synth in the Phantom and SCV shows, am I forgetting something. But this all brings me to the real reason I posted this: the Blue Stars. I love the Blue Stars, don't get me wrong. Last year's show was incredible, and I want only the best for them, but at the theatre at least, I felt like the synth work totally overwhelmed the acoustic instruments on the field. There were several minutes of guitar samples, the synth bass was overwhelming in ways I didn't notice on any other corps, but worst of all to me were two or three instances where relatively simple solo melody lines were played by obnoxious synth patches, when they were perfect opportunities for some brass solos. Seriously, Blue Stars, your brass has some incredible chops, please let us hear them. Why would you resort to synth when you could give the part to one of your talented horn players and let them really shine? I'm looking forward to seeing what other corps do this year with A&E. Is Teal Sound bringing back the electric guitar and bass? Anyone adding an electric violin? How about wind controllers for synth woodwinds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexL Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) I will agree with you on blue stars. I love the show but there were definitely times the low end synth was absolutely overpowering, and im not a huge fan of the guitar parts either. Edited June 21, 2011 by AlexL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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