MikeN Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 I'm the exact opposite. I can't really listen to stuff prior to 2000-2001 now, as the modern recordings and instruments are soooo much cleaner. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) I'm the exact opposite. I can't really listen to stuff prior to 2000-2001 now, as the modern recordings and instruments are soooo much cleaner. Mike Yeah, I TOTALLY get that. The G brass sounds so bright, and often pretty shrill/harsh, on a lot of those older recordings *note* yes, I did become a DCI fan during the G bugle era, and I marched during the G bugle era. I prefer the MUCH better intonation and sound characteristics of modern brass lines than most of the G era lines. Of course the best-of-the-best sounded amazing in G, but the middle & lower ends of the spectrum sounded significantly not-as-good as they do now Edited December 3, 2015 by perc2100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shempy Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Yeah, I TOTALLY get that. The G brass sounds so bright, and often pretty shrill/harsh, on a lot of those older recordings *note* yes, I did become a DCI fan during the G bugle era, and I marched during the G bugle era. I prefer the MUCH better intonation and sound characteristics of modern brass lines than most of the G era lines. Of course the best-of-the-best sounded amazing in G, but the middle & lower ends of the spectrum sounded significantly not-as-good as they do now I wonder what some of the old lines would sound/look like if recorded with 2015 state of the art recording tech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Just wondering how far back you are talking about with the old G lines. And are you saying the problem is with the recording or the horns? Yeah have recordings going back 60+ years. A real acquired taste learning to ignore static type noise and missing high/low tones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I'm guessing it's more the recordings than the horns. I heard a ton of G lines live and never had issues with the sound. (To be fair, I've heard a ton of multi-key lines and ditto.) But the old 80's and 90's DCI stuff, when you go back and listen now, feels like they chopped both the top and bottom ends off the sound when they hit power chords. It's all harmony and no melody/bass. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tesmusic Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 I'm guessing it's more the recordings than the horns. I heard a ton of G lines live and never had issues with the sound. (To be fair, I've heard a ton of multi-key lines and ditto.) But the old 80's and 90's DCI stuff, when you go back and listen now, feels like they chopped both the top and bottom ends off the sound when they hit power chords. It's all harmony and no melody/bass. Mike I think a lot has to do with the quality of recording equipment now, mixed with the controlled environment of LOS, and not so much to do with performance equipment such as G horns, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 I'd kill for the 2004 cd's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Besides the recording issues and the equipment issues, there are bigger overriding factors resulting from having championships in the same venue every year. As a result, the recordings can have a consistent sound from one year to the next. Brass lines achieve better intonation primarily because they know in advance what the "weather" conditions will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 I wonder what some of the old lines would sound/look like if recorded with 2015 state of the art recording tech. Yeah, that would be fun to hear; I'd even be interested in someone remastering those recordings w/modern tech. I've been blown away by the Essentials Blu-rays with remastered audio; while I've gone on record to say I prefer the full audio/video package to just the audio A) I would LOVE to hear some of those older lines with modern tech audio and B) I do put on The Essentials Blu-rays while doing chores around our condo with the volume cranked to listen to the music. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Just wondering how far back you are talking about with the old G lines. And are you saying the problem is with the recording or the horns? Yeah have recordings going back 60+ years. A real acquired taste learning to ignore static type noise and missing high/low tones. If you're asking me, I'd say it's mostly the recordings, though I still maintain the middle/low achieving end (meaning, very generally, low-end finalists, semifinalists & quarter finalists) any key brass of today generally sounds significantly more in tune with better characteristic sound than the 90s, 80s or 70s era G bugle lines. I also think the top sound better, or at least there are more lines that sound almost equally great now than there were with the G era. Obviously consistently great brass lines like Star or Blue Devils, or whomever likely sounded amazing with any brass because they had high caliber players, instructors, and arrangers; I'm talking lines the next tiers down. Also, I should point out that I didn't attend DCI shows until early 1990s so my opinion on pre-1991 is based solely on various recordings, videos, etc. I'm willing to stipulate that my assessment is very likely due to recording equipment. However, hearing corps in the 1990s vs the mid 2000s live, it seems very obvious that the general characteristic sound of brass now is top-to-bottom generally better than in the 1990s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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