gearwonk Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 So your memories of performances are ticks? That's not exactly the best way to approach the activity, don't you think? Memories are memories, I didn't say they were favorite memories. It's just weird to do a double take on something you're already familiar with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearwonk Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 You just proved my point; thanks!!! For DCI you apparently value the competition over the art, thus you want to hear and see the Finals performance of a corps as it was competitively judged on Finals night, warts, clams, and all as opposed to the best and cleanest recorded version possible. For DCI, if there were no competition there would be no art. Otherwise, what's the incentive to spend six months perfecting a show? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 (edited) For DCI, if there were no competition there would be no art. Otherwise, what's the incentive to spend six months perfecting a show? Ok then; by your own contention which is that it takes the competition within DCI to give the performers the incentive to create the art, means that: a) you must not consider non-competing musical acts (which perform strictly for charity) like the Lt Dan Band or the multitude musical acts like it, as art because they do not ‘compete’; and b) you do not recognize the attempts for those groups like the Lt Dan Band to perform as perfectly and qualitatively as humanly possible as they can, again because they do it for charity and do not ‘compete’. Edited January 16, 2014 by Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearwonk Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 Ok then; by your own contention which is that it takes the competition within DCI to give the performers the incentive to create the art, means that: a) you must not consider non-competing musical acts (which perform strictly for charity) like the Lt Dan Band or the multitude musical acts like it, as art because they do not ‘compete’; and b) you do not recognize the attempts for those groups like the Lt Dan Band to perform as perfectly and qualitatively as humanly possible as they can, again because they do it for charity and do not ‘compete’. C'mon - Lt Dan Band? What were the first two words I wrote? "For DCI..." Would DCI exist if it were not a competition? It isn't art for art's sake, it's the art of perfection. Not achieving perfection, which is impossible, but working toward that goal. The goal isn't to raise money for a charity, or to enlighten an audience with Mozart, it's to win that trophy. I still say it's a mistake to try to equate DCI competitions with live concerts, because a professional band that performs the same set night after night has to find a way to keep it fresh for themselves as well as the audience by adding surprises here and there, whereas for corps members, the last thing on their minds is changing any aspect of the performance to keep it interesting for themselves - they have to be very selfless in that regard. Their singular goal is perfection, which, on a daily basis over the summer, can be mind-numbing for a performer but achieves a group level of perfection that can only be appreciated by an audience that can see and hear everything that's going on. And sometime after the culmination of that process, a producer decides, "Well, that just wasn't good enough" - that's the grey area that I wonder about. Yeah, with me, the competition's the thing, the concrete results of all that effort - not whether or not it was "perfect." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Aces Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Ok then; by your own contention which is that it takes the competition within DCI to give the performers the incentive to create the art, means that: a) you must not consider non-competing musical acts (which perform strictly for charity) like the Lt Dan Band or the multitude musical acts like it, as art because they do not compete; and b) you do not recognize the attempts for those groups like the Lt Dan Band to perform as perfectly and qualitatively as humanly possible as they can, again because they do it for charity and do not compete.Gearwonk wrote "For DCI", not "For all musical acts". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Aces Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Gearwonk wrote "For DCI", not "For all musical acts".We were probably hitting submit at the same time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Would DCI exist if it were not a competition? Yes; DCI could exist without the competitive element. It would exist 'differently', and remember what we call quality has many variables as well as many definitions depending on what we value; but yes DCI could exist as an art form, and a qualitative one at that, without the competition. Again it would just be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 honestly given all of the hacking due to licensing, i stopped buying, so it means nothing to me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 So as one of the said editors, I thought I'd add a few things. First, equipment colors recordings. For example, in certain buildings, I'd apply certain specific equalizations on audio. I'd match the audio as closely as I could to "reality" as I perceived it, but there are always differences. Second, I haven't seen anyone complain about how corps who are smaller/quieter are mostly raised in volume to levels that make it comfortable between corps. No one notices this, but based on how recordings would come out, certain small corps would be annoyingly quiet, and others annoyingly loud - if you left it as is. The stereo separation, the solo mics, the editing... there's so much more manipulation than what is really noticed. The questions would be "is this a historical record of one night" or is it an "artistic product"? Well, if it's just a record, the product would suffer to a point where many would ask why it's done that way. But the real question should be, "why *shouldn't* DCI put out the best possible product?" The best answer to that is it's a competition - and in reality, that would cost sales. Take the other side to its logical conclusion -- if you should record it with no edits and no changes, do you have a set microphone brand? Do you have only two mics, or four, or twelve? Should you not edit the overall volumes even though it makes snare shots exceptionally dynamic? (See: Cavaliers 1992 CD; that one shot that goes to -0dB whereby the rest of the discs are all set to that *as* zero.) It's all an interesting debate, but it all comes down to putting the corps "in the best light". That's the best for DCI, the best for the corps, and that is the guiding principle. It will be for the foreseeable future. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearwonk Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 (edited) Second, I haven't seen anyone complain about how corps who are smaller/quieter are mostly raised in volume to levels that make it comfortable between corps. Edited January 21, 2014 by gearwonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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