NeutralNovice Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Personally, there are soo many shows that I would love to hear a studio-recorded version. And I would totally BUY all of my favorite shows. I know that I can pull live performances off videos and create an mp3 out of it, but I feel that quality suffers a bit---and couple that with the noise from the crowd. Don't get me wrong, I love the sounds of cheers but sometimes, I would just love to listen to a studio recording alone. Do you think DCI should require studio recordings to sell? I mean, at least to me (though I know nothing about marketing), I would guess that they'd make a fortune off selling studio recordings of shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrownLeadSop Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Require? No, that would need subsidizing as some corps would not make back the cost that it takes to record/master/sell the tracks in the first place. Crown sells studio recordings every year, but I don't know how well they sell (I know many of the members buy them - my 09 CD is one of my most coveted drum corps artifacts). For some reason, I thought BD and Cadets sold some, too, but I could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabrefan62 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Studio time isn't cheap...that's my guess as to why you don't see more of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeatty89 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 In the late 90's the Cadets used to be professionally recorded at the beginning of the season. It wasn't in a studio but the quality was still very high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewsquared Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Require? No, that would need subsidizing as some corps would not make back the cost that it takes to record/master/sell the tracks in the first place. Crown sells studio recordings every year, but I don't know how well they sell (I know many of the members buy them - my 09 CD is one of my most coveted drum corps artifacts). For some reason, I thought BD and Cadets sold some, too, but I could be wrong. Blue Devils still do it as well. The quality of both Crown and BD is very high Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) In the late 90's the Cadets used to be professionally recorded at the beginning of the season. It wasn't in a studio but the quality was still very high. Same with BD. I have their 2003 CD somewhere. Most of it was parking lot/encore performances from over the years. The actual show recordings were done very early, if not during camp season ... which was a bummer when compared with how the show sounded finals night (not just the performance, but the arrangement). It's a nice idea, but the the studio recording process is hard enough when it's only a handful of people. To get an entire drum corps to do it late-season -- eating into coordination rehearsal time -- sounds like very expensive torture. Great learning experience, etc ... but not worth it, IMO. Edited June 25, 2014 by ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) I believe you can find a recording of the Cadets 2009 West Side Story show that was recorded in a stand-still position at a football stadium with excellent recording equipment. Some footage of that might still exist online. In the 90s the Cadets and Blue Devils sold some CDs that contained both corps, but not all of that was studio recorded. Most of it was the same stuff DCI did from finals. Phantom Regiment did a studio recording of a holiday tune one year (93?) but I forget which tune. I remember hearing it and thinking how good it sounded. The best thing a corps can do is NOT go into the studio, which is the wrong acoustic setting for that many brass and percussion. They should record in a stand-still position at a football stadium with good acoustics, or in some amphitheater or outdoor setting of that sort. You setup 2 to 3 recording mics for each section, in closer proximity about 10 to 12 feet high, a stereo pair (next to each other) in the center about 40 feet back (20 feet high behind the DM), and then another stereo pair about mid-way back in the theater or stadium, with the 2 mics further separated by 20 to 30 feet and 10 to 12 feet high. You then mix the mono channels (close mics) with the 2 stereo pairs to obtain clarity in articulation and tone, yet to also hear the full ensemble balance. There are lots of mixing options here, but this can produce a really nice recording. You can do several things with percussion. Put them behind clear plastic shields and stage them well behind the brass, and place the percussion mics behind the plastic shield so they don't pick up the brass sound. This also allows the pit to be up front, and if you can put plastic shields behind the pit so the brass doesn't "bleed" over as much, then your pit mics will do well. But even this would cost some serious cash. You need the space, time, recording engineer and helpers, and you are paying for time. Edited June 25, 2014 by jwillis35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris ncsu Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Cadets put out pre-season CDs every year. Usually recorded outside to avoid drum echo issues, but with decent equipment as far as I know. Narration, if there is any, often dubbed over it I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfirwin3 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Blue Devils still do it as well. The quality of both Crown and BD is very high Quality is very high... but those early season recordings always sound "early season". The Devils used to have an open air recording at the pavillion performance in Concord. That was a more realistic live atmosphere recording... standstill so the balance was consistent and playing was pretty clean. Still was early season though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrownLeadSop Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I know we recorded during Finals week in 09 - that's the CD that I love. We also weren't in a studio, but parked in Memorial Stadium at IU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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