drumcat Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 First of all, got the bundle, LOVE IT! Thank you so much for getting this out so quickly, I have been wearing out the CDs that I burned already. Question: Where were the mics in relation to the speakers? I only ask because just about all of the sound effects / spoken word, etc. sounds like it is somewhat muted, as if the speakers were actually behind the mics. Not complaining AT ALL, as this allows me a clean listen to the horns and drums, just wondering really. What say you drumcat? There are a couple of things here... I might even give an opinion or two this time... The difference between APDs and the mastered CDs are few, but significant. The files I receive are direct mixdowns of the 4 mics that are about 30 feet up on the 35, 50 (in a V), and other 35. Most other mics are really pulled back. For the DVD/Blu, they actually have 24 different tracks to pull from. This includes endzones (think BAC), shotguns (solos), amps (they had two mics on those), LFE mics, crowd, etc. For APDs, I don't even bother with crowd anymore. I have them mix the cleanest, non-ambient track I can get *on the spot* at finals. It took a couple extra days because the files I got on-site had software rendering glitches, and had to get them re-done. This mix generally has the amplification picked up somewhat indirectly. It's also close enough that it seems like the pit is direct, but those instruments are mostly non-directional in sound while speakers are always directional (conic) to some degree. Yes, I was a pit kid long, long ago in the pre-electricity era. Insert dinosaur *rawr* here. The physics involved are complex, but the end result is generally you have resonator tubes pointed nearly at those mics, and they get much better keyboard sound because of their location. This makes some of the ambient and transient sound less direct. Think goo and echo. These are tough to control, so in post, I do my best to balance realistic sounding bass drums with, say, a bass patch. Since there is a lot of crossover, it's tough at times. Same with the transients in the octaves above primary brass chords; they get in the way of metals, like cymbal crashes. Any sound engineer will tell you when things that are the same-ish frequency get recorded together, they can't be teased apart. You can add reverb, but you can't remove it, etc., etc. As for CDs vs digital, I won't say what it's worth to have a collectible, have a disc in hand, or have the freedom to not be bothered. I am one of those people that have gone all digital, but I can assure you I have an entire bucket of just DCI CDs in the basement. Maybe someday it'll see ebay, but in the meantime, it's a backup of a backup of a backup. What I can tell you about the mp3s we do; we thought long and hard about what we do. First, we don't do wma anymore. That ship sailed when we stopped doing content-rights stuff. Bleh. Since then though, we have been selling very-high rate mp3s. We do this because everything plays mp3s. I've seen refrigerators that play mp3. OK, i jest, but not by much. Second, we'll always do a "full spectrum" mp3. If you've ever heard a 128 and said "sounds like FM", you're right. Both mp3 and FM radio will actually chop off entire ranges of sound to save space. (that's how telephones work -- 400-4000hz because of how copper oscillates, but I digress) Anyhow, our mp3s are usually 320kbps, or very high rate variable encoding -- around ~260kbps vbr when needed. There's probably 1 person in 100 that can pass an A/B test with an mp3 at that rate and a wav file of the original -- and I bet there are a bunch of them here. But the benefit is it is very "transparent" - there's a window there, but you can't see the window much at all. 128kbps = bugs on windshield. :) But as for compression as in level-compression (mp3 = file compression, volume mashing = level-compression), I do very little of that. We maintain as much dynamic range as is reasonable. It's not excessive (1992 CDs anyone?) but we are all trying to maintain the integrity of the show, as presented. Someone asked earlier about FLAC, m4a, etc., and maybe one day. But that won't happen any time soon... maybe m4a will eventually get that accepted, but it hasn't yet. So yes, the thing that wins out is ultimate compatibility. When is the last time you saw an audio device that didn't play mp3? We make the best sounding mp3s we can, and while that's not perfect, it's really good. Fraunhaufer MP3 codec in Adobe Audition, and then I use iTunes for meta-tagging. And @SoundManG, the audio guys get everything in 48k 24bit, and they're considering making the upgrade to 96k next year. Archival is and always will be taken very seriously! As for me, I'll take digital over vinyl, but I get the vinyl thing. I just prefer nothing over "warmth". Warmth to me is just noise, but that probably belongs on a different forum. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 I take it back. Refrigerators can play mp3s. http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/topic/RSG309AARS/XAA *smh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Flores Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I take it back. Refrigerators can play mp3s. http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/topic/RSG309AARS/XAA *smh* WHY!!!! If only FN has a nifty Android or iPhone app, like BD or Madison, that would be awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I take it back. Refrigerators can play mp3s. http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/topic/RSG309AARS/XAA *smh* Can you get the Fan Network on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherM Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 This dinosaur joined the 21st century, purchased the bundle, figured how to download and sync, and I now have an iPhone full of drum corps! Winning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywhopper Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 (edited) Question: Where were the mics in relation to the speakers? I only ask because just about all of the sound effects / spoken word, etc. sounds like it is somewhat muted, as if the speakers were actually behind the mics. Some speakers were right in front of the mikes (Crown and Troopers), some were offset, but most were behind the speakers, yes. This worked well for lots of corps. Phantom had too much synth in the mix for me, which I noticed on many of the earlier streams, and even live it was too loud--it covered a couple of great parts--but on the APD it's barely audible. Hey, there's mellos and mallets playing in these sections, what? Thank goodness. Edited August 25, 2011 by skywhopper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdnmello Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I just purchased the quarterfinal bundle and went to download load them . There are no file sizes listed and when i click on a corp to start the download i get an error screen. Anyone else having this problem ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeeJay Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I just purchased the quarterfinal bundle and went to download load them . There are no file sizes listed and when i click on a corp to start the download i get an error screen. Anyone else having this problem ??? I just had the same problem. Looks like the whole DCI site might be having issues today. I hope they get it fixed soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdnmello Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 It's up and working now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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