Why Aren't Crowd Reactions Like They Used to be?

[Michael Boo]

1981/1982 shows??

Stu mentioned that not many had heard the music before, and 1981 and 1982 was six and seven years before anyone marching in 2008 had been born. Even a pre-teen fan remembering those shows would have been about 40 in 2008. Anyone younger than that would be kind of doubtful to remember, and so the music would still be very new to them.

[Ghost]

2008: Regiment - Spartacus (crowd goes BALSTIC especially when announced as grand champion).

May have been louder when BD announced second.

[Quad Aces]

Stu mentioned that not many had heard the music before, and 1981 and 1982 was six and seven years before anyone marching in 2008 had been born. Even a pre-teen fan remembering those shows would have been about 40 in 2008. Anyone younger than that would be kind of doubtful to remember, and so the music would still be very new to them.

I understand what you're saying Mike, but the comment that Stu was responding to was that shows are too obscure these days with music that not a lot of people have heard before. I don't think that Spartacus is obscure or that it's valid to say that not many people have heard it before when the same corps did it in a very iconic show two years in a row (although granted BITD).

Just my own $.02...

[Ghost]

Maybe for all of us it is the fact that we have played our CDs, tapes, DVDs, VHSs, Blu-Rays, too loud for too long and our hearing is starting fade!

And marched with a corps that had a large brass section. Welcome to the tinnitus club!

[ohbaby]

It might come down to two simple reasons. IMO.

1) Crowds are smaller

2) Maybe it is a combination of the dome drowning out the crowd and also the fact that the microphone placement and mixing might lower the levels of noise that the crowd may bring to the recording.

[MikeZ]

It might come down to two simple reasons. IMO.

1) Crowds are smaller

2) Maybe it is a combination of the dome drowning out the crowd and also the fact that the microphone placement and mixing might lower the levels of noise that the crowd may bring to the recording.

Ding, ding, ding, on # 2. Listen to the recordings of Vanguard the past two years. You almost cannot hear the Vanguard yell. I know it was done, and done loudly, but something about the microphone placement is lowering the crowd noise.

I also think the way that Lucas Oil is built in 6 levels hurts the crowd noise. I don't know why, but the segmentation of the audience seems to have had an effect on the noise.

Or maybe everyone is correct and drumcorps is essentially dead. I'm not buying that, but if it makes you folks feel better to think that way, then knock yourselves out.

Z

Cheered like crazy numerous times in 08,09,10,11, and 12.

[Stu]

1981/1982 shows??

So what; it was played by Regiment twenty-six years ago then placed into a vault! That does not mean the music from Spartacus wasn't obscure music to most of the people in the stands twenty-six years later in 2012; many of which were not even alive in 1981! To solidify my point here are a few more 'top' corps charts that, if played today, would also be obscure to the fans of of today: Pauper in Paradise, Spectrum Novum; Green Soul; Bajour; McCoy's Exit; need I go on?

[Grandpa]

I have been on my feet for modern corps but it's more for the technical achievement, whereas in the past it was for that AND the emotional impact.

[MikeN]

I think stadium design has a huge impact on the recordings, and it seems LOS is fairly good at swallowing up crowd sound. Good for the recordings, as it means you can hear the corps better, but bad for comparing corps across years. Especially when comparing recordings, you're at the mercy of the engineeers. (See 1995, 1996.)

Of course, show design has changed as well. We've matured from a peak-peak-peak type show to one with many more valleys in there as well.

Also, don't minimize the effect of the shifting audience over the years. As the music has become more sophisticated and the typical marching member is much more now a trained specialist than ever before, these people (and their parents) with a lifetime of concert etiquette are now sitting in the stands. More highbrow, if you will. Trained audiences know when to clap, and can generally hold it in.

Corps bringing down the house still happen, of course, but I think we as fans know when we are supposed to clap, we know the shows will have moments where we aren't supposed to, and ... yeah, that stadium does kind of suck up sound.

Mike

[JimF-LowBari]

Also, don't minimize the effect of the shifting audience over the years. As the music has become more sophisticated and the typical marching member is much more now a trained specialist than ever before, these people (and their parents) with a lifetime of concert etiquette are now sitting in the stands. More highbrow, if you will. :smile:/> Trained audiences know when to clap, and can generally hold it in.

Thinking of the percentage of people at our local show who never were in a corps or even played music I can see this point. Just get the feeling that todays crowd is more "impress me with your talent" than "entertain me with the music" like BITD.