2014 Use of Electronics

[cixelsyd]

The questions to ask are:

1. Is everything in the mix audible at all times?

2. If not, why not?

3. What's to be done?

"Audible" is setting the bar WAY too low. But you knew that already, as the remainder of your post indicates:

These are the issues addressed in professional live sound situations. Technology changes, but musical principles remain. Balance and blend continue to be sub-par for most corps as they attempt to integrate synthetic sound with acoustic instruments.

There are signs of improvement, however, as both designers and adjudicators become better informed.

[cixelsyd]

Your best chance at hearing acceptable sound would be sitting in the GE judge's lap.

Or in the luxury box one deck below the judges at Lucas Oil, as that's where DCI set aside space for the corps' sound guys control the mix.

Until we start evaluating the sound quality throughout the viewing area, instead of just where the judges sit, "we" are not going to get acceptable sound.

[ironlips]

Until we start evaluating the sound quality throughout the viewing area, instead of just where the judges sit, "we" are not going to get acceptable sound.

I completely agree. In any professional sound reinforcement situation, the house mix should be maximized for every seat. In this regard, drum corps and marching bands are still performing at an amateur level.

We hold them to a much higher standard as instrumentalists. That is not yet matched in the use of either amplification or electronic sounds. It may never be, given the time restrictions of competition, which preclude any meaningful sound checks.

Still, the situation can be dramatically improved if there is incentive to do so. If the quality of experience delivered to the audience is insufficient motivation, impact on scores may very well provide that.

[actucker]

I completely agree. In any professional sound reinforcement situation, the house mix should be maximized for every seat. In this regard, drum corps and marching bands are still performing at an amateur level.

We hold them to a much higher standard as instrumentalists. That is not yet matched in the use of either amplification or electronic sounds. It may never be, given the time restrictions of competition, which preclude any meaningful sound checks.

Still, the situation can be dramatically improved if there is incentive to do so. If the quality of experience delivered to the audience is insufficient motivation, impact on scores may very well provide that.

You go ahead and call up a professional sound team and ask them if they could set up in a venue the size of even a high school football and guarantee that every single seat in the house gets good sound. Oh, don't forget they have about 5 minutes to do ALL of their set up. Oh, and they are also mixing electronic instruments against DIRECTIONAL brass instruments, so they're shooting at a moving target any time the brass changes facings. OH, and I almost forgot, they only can use equipment that would fit on a truck, so you're talking about maybe 4 different locations for speaker placement max.

Good luck with that.

[HockeyDad]

You go ahead and call up a professional sound team and ask them if they could set up in a venue the size of even a high school football and guarantee that every single seat in the house gets good sound. Oh, don't forget they have about 5 minutes to do ALL of their set up. Oh, and they are also mixing electronic instruments against DIRECTIONAL brass instruments, so they're shooting at a moving target any time the brass changes facings. OH, and I almost forgot, they only can use equipment that would fit on a truck, so you're talking about maybe 4 different locations for speaker placement max.

Good luck with that.

....which is why they shouldn't be doing it in the first place. But the powers that be were in a hurry to make drum corps into just another band show. yay

[perc2100]

The use of synthetic, artificially produced effects, does turn the corner for Drum Corps in performance competition however ( without taking a position here on whether this is neccessarily a " good " thing or a " bad " thing, here ).

This is because a single " adult sound engineer " is now more important and worth more points to be had in performance competition than a single youth performer, performing on their brass, percussion, or with their Guard equipment.

Anybody here disagree with this observation ?..... and if so, could you explain to us why you do not share this assessment ?

I'll bite:

adults control balance and a bit of volume. Members still play the instruments; members still even mostly control volume via touch-sensitive/weighted synth keys, synth volume, percussion dynamics. Pretty much the only thing "adult sound engineers" do is strive to balance what comes out of the speakers to the rest of the ensemble (i.e. the ensemble still drives the dynamics).

As an example, look at what Cavaliers' marimbas did last season. Not only was the an AMAZING visual presentation/idea/performance, but musically those guys were AWESOME! The "adult sound engineer" who made that happened took a TON of time to implement proper EQ'ing to insure there was no funky audio phasing side-to-side because of how spread out the instruments/players are from each other. The members still achieved that effect via visual performance & musical performance; they still nailed the 16th note runs, the lush legato double latterals, the specific placement of the marimbas, etc. All the adult did was ensure the best possible sound for the audience.

Ditto Crown's amazing piano soloist those years he was featured so heavily; that member played amazingly well and the adult just made sure his sound was a blended as possible. Discounting the entire front ensemble performance by saying the sound mixer is more important is extremely disingenuous, if not extremely naive. I'm sure the vast majority of music/percussion tapes are focused on member performance and not volume coming out of the speakers.

Also, it's no coincidence that things have improved balance-wise since DCI let staffers control the sound board and took that out of the members' hands who were also playing music. By taking that extra responsibility out of the members hands (and properly putting it in the hands of someone in a MUCH better position to get a true 'read' of the balance), things improved. Short of making DCI a performance opportunity that stays in the same theater perpetually, there will ALWAYS be a need for a sound engineer due to different venue acoustics, environment acoustics (cloudy vs clear skies vs extreme humidity etc) and other things. The "adult sound engineer" strives to ensure the sound the audience hears is the best possible mix, and that's not a bad thing. But on the flip side, it is FAR more important that members perform well, as it doesn't matter if we hear the marimba crystal clear if they're still dirty!

Edited May 8, 2015 by perc2100

[perc2100]

I completely agree. In any professional sound reinforcement situation, the house mix should be maximized for every seat. In this regard, drum corps and marching bands are still performing at an amateur level.

We hold them to a much higher standard as instrumentalists. That is not yet matched in the use of either amplification or electronic sounds. It may never be, given the time restrictions of competition, which preclude any meaningful sound checks.

Still, the situation can be dramatically improved if there is incentive to do so. If the quality of experience delivered to the audience is insufficient motivation, impact on scores may very well provide that.

But on the flip side of that, there was also ALWAYS drastic difference depending on where one sits in a stadium. If I get a seat outside the 25's, there are going to be weird phasing phrases when the corps is spread, volume issues, funky balance issues depending on corps drill staging, etc. Drum corps has NEVER been about 100% best sound from ever seat/area in the stadium and it would be impossible to achieve that

[perc2100]

I think you're speaking from a more technical POV.

I'd have answered the question Bluecoats as well. To me at least it seems they're more creative in their use of the electronics. Crown, Cavies and BD all seem to do amplication pretty well (in that it doesn't reach out and scratch the blackboard) -- it's unobtrusive.

And Crown still has one of my favorite uses of electronics ever -- ballad in 09 where Nick Starr played the celeste patch in the middle. Always was breathtaking how quiet an entire stadium could be in that moment.

Maybe, but it's undeniable that the effort Cavaliers took to achieve what they did was FAR beyond the "find a cool synth patch to blend with the brass" that most others do. Bluecoats have always impressed me with their use of electronics, and I would say that Cavaliers have also always utilized electronics in a cool way: both blending in obtrusive and not obvious ways, and also using cool voicings when electronics are front & center. While I marvel at the technical aspects of Cavaliers last year (which, IMO, many people don't realize the effort involved with making that seem as effortless as it looked), Cavaliers utilized electronics (not just amping to be technical) in a way no one has done before that I know of. I agree with the other stuff you point out. and the corps you name are clearly at the front of the pack. Last year especially IMO Cavaliers did amazing work with electronics that no one has done before: work that involved marimbas hitting dots and taking clear movement pathways, players completely nailing the musical phrases ALWAYS, and the staffers to ensure there was no funky phasing, utilizing different effects, reverb, etc. on their board. No other electronic effect in DCI utilized all of those different aspects before

[MikeD]

Until we start evaluating the sound quality throughout the viewing area, instead of just where the judges sit, "we" are not going to get acceptable sound.

That has never happened, as far back as you can go. Drum corps has always sounded best close to where the judges sit.

[Kamarag]

You go ahead and call up a professional sound team and ask them if they could set up in a venue the size of even a high school football and guarantee that every single seat in the house gets good sound. Oh, don't forget they have about 5 minutes to do ALL of their set up. Oh, and they are also mixing electronic instruments against DIRECTIONAL brass instruments, so they're shooting at a moving target any time the brass changes facings. OH, and I almost forgot, they only can use equipment that would fit on a truck, so you're talking about maybe 4 different locations for speaker placement max.

Good luck with that.

I'm with you on everything but the brass facing part. The fact that the brass section is made up of directional instruments makes mixing the audio easier, not harder. Additionally, brass sections almost exclusively face the box...which is where the mix is ultimately made from (and when they do not, it's generally for effect...facing backfield or in some either direction).