N.E. Brigand Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) Why would Bluecoats even want to THINK about doing that ?.... if what you are doing is jaw dropping gimmicky good to most fans and judges alike, why would you want to potentially screww up a perfect thing by attempting to substitute that by playing a musical instrument during it ? That would be downright foolish to me to even want to consider THAT. I think your tongue is partly in cheek here, but let me note that when I wrote that, ten days ago, I was responding to the claim by one person, made before most of us had yet seen the show (i.e., before the movie screening), that the Bluecoats' brass were themselves bending the pitch in that sequence, with only some synthesized support, which another person compared to what the Cavaliers did in 2008. In fact the synthesizer is doing most of the work. Obviously what Bluecoats are doing at that moment is delighting audiences, and probably GE judges. Still, from a brass performance perspective, what Cavs did in 2008 is arguably harder, and it sure would be cool if Bloo's trick really been brass technique. Maybe if everyone swapped in extra-long tuning slides? (Somewhat analogous to how Renaissance horn players would switch out crooks to change keys mid song?) Edited July 4, 2014 by N.E. Brigand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precious Roy Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 In fact the synthesizer is doing most of the work. According to the latest DCI podcast, the Bluecoats brass actually provided the music sample for the sythnesizer to to bend. So, one could say that the Bluecoats brass had previously done most of the work of the synth part of the pitch bend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Thanks. I haven't listened to that podcast, but were the horns actually recorded bending the pitch themselves? (I mean, if they can really do that, why not do it live?) Or were the recorded playing a note, or a set of different notes, which the synthesizer then bends and/or blends? I'm guessing the latter. A comparison might be: have a trumpeter record all the notes in his solo, and then have a synthesizer edit it and play it back on the field at a speed faster than human lips and fingers can manage: all 256th notes, or something like that. We couldn't fairly say that he was doing most of the work. Especially since pre-recording always lowers the risk from a performance standpoint. Bluecoats GE should be high for this trick, but the brass judge shouldn't be giving them too much credit for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precious Roy Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Thanks. I haven't listened to that podcast, but were the horns actually recorded bending the pitch themselves? (I mean, if they can really do that, why not do it live?) Or were the recorded playing a note, or a set of different notes, which the synthesizer then bends and/or blends? I'm guessing the latter. I don't recall him saying explicitly, but my assumption was/is the latter as well. A comparison might be: have a trumpeter record all the notes in his solo, and then have a synthesizer edit it and play it back on the field at a speed faster than human lips and fingers can manage: all 256th notes, or something like that. We couldn't fairly say that he was doing most of the work. I'd like to see the synth form the proper embouchure to play that solo in the first place! (But your point duly noted) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographer Jim Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 My understanding from listening to the podcast and watching the show, the Coats spent a block sampling a variety of cords and voicing combinations. The sample was then run through the synthesizer to produce the final "bent" sample. On the field, the corp plays into the recorded sample, and while the recorded "bending" takes place, they intentionally decided to have the corp take their horns away from their mouths and look at the audience! ("yeah, we're not playing that - nudge, nudge, wink wink! Tilt!) Then as the note is bent back up, the corp picks it up again live. Personally, I love it. It is a fun moment that the show has built to nicely, and is a moment that audiences are already starting to eagerly anticipate. And from there they move into that wonderfully frenetic last few moments ending with the guard member doing the dive off of the end triangle! No traditional company front or full corp massing with a big cresendo cord here! (tilt!) Could they pull off this effect without synthesizer help? I have no idea (I'm not even remotely a musician), but I really don't care either. As a DC fan, I love the moment it creates and appreciate it as a creative use of electronics. This beats the heck out of any "thunderous goo" I have endured so far, that's for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 My understanding from listening to the podcast and watching the show, the Coats spent a block sampling a variety of cords and voicing combinations. The sample was then run through the synthesizer to produce the final "bent" sample. On the field, the corp plays into the recorded sample, and while the recorded "bending" takes place, they intentionally decided to have the corp take their horns away from their mouths and look at the audience! ("yeah, we're not playing that - nudge, nudge, wink wink! Tilt!) Then as the note is bent back up, the corp picks it up again live. Personally, I love it. It is a fun moment that the show has built to nicely, and is a moment that audiences are already starting to eagerly anticipate. And from there they move into that wonderfully frenetic last few moments ending with the guard member doing the dive off of the end triangle! No traditional company front or full corp massing with a big cresendo cord here! (tilt!) Could they pull off this effect without synthesizer help? I have no idea (I'm not even remotely a musician), but I really don't care either. As a DC fan, I love the moment it creates and appreciate it as a creative use of electronics. This beats the heck out of any "thunderous goo" I have endured so far, that's for sure. I absolutely do appreciate that they don't pretend to play. And Bluecoats are always the best at using electronics (although it usually takes them a while during the season to tone down the noise), so that even I, who were I in charge would heavily penalize everyone who uses a synth, generally can appreciate what they're doing. Which is true here also. Again, my point ten days ago was just to observe that an early claim that the brass was making the sound on their own was incorrect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c mor Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 I'm confused. Were the Bluecoats at Stanford? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 I'm confused. Were the Bluecoats at Stanford? It largely depends on their SAT scores. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesleyrp Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 I'm confused. Were the Bluecoats at Stanford?Yes.... I'm sure someone in Stanford has FN and watched them;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 I'm confused. Were the Bluecoats at Stanford?Have a problem with some recent posts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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