NIGHTFLY3000 Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 OK, I love the Blue Devils and have for over twenty three years. They are the best that drum corps has to offer year in, year out, win or lose. They smoke at brass, perrcussion, guard work, drill, everything but oration. 99.8% of the world can't match what they do on the field until they introduce narration. Over half the population could rehearse the narration and provide the level of performance that they had this year. Not to knock the guy, but the idea in and of itself is not special or unique. Until they audition for this position, they will be mediocre at best with oration. I would love to see this show and the creativity that would blossom out of the lack of a narrator (even if he was embedded in the scene you were creating). How would BD show/tell me that they are starting their show at the end of the dance competetion without narration? How would BD show/tell me the stories of the dancers competing without narration? That was the beauty and challenge of drum corps. Let's see BD do that! The entire narration seemed like it never evolved from the first idea on table. Narration for this show was a cop out and the easy way out. Now if they insist on continuing this medocrity, then please address the second issue of the poor sound quality (BD is not the only one with this problem, anyone with singing or spoken parts have this problem). Get a real sound system that really projects and doesn't overmodulate or distort and no more sharing the keyboard speaker amp with the narrator. I presume they are not using sub par instruments so as long as they insist on using amps, make it sound great or shut it off. It's absolutely embarrassing to hear this great sound from the corps and then this disembodied sound from the pit that makes the whole thing sound like amateur hour. I will credit BD with at least providing a speaker amp for each keyboard as it helps maintain the directionality of the pit. Of all the set ups, this one seems to be working the best, but there is still a long way to go. I hope their trip to Europe was awesome, but they finished fourth because the show design was half baked and that begins and ends with the narration and amplification. Nightfly3000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbc03 Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 OK, I love the Blue Devils and have for over twenty three years. They are the best that drum corps has to offer year in, year out, win or lose. They smoke at brass, perrcussion, guard work, drill, everything but oration. 99.8% of the world can't match what they do on the field until they introduce narration. Over half the population could rehearse the narration and provide the level of performance that they had this year. Not to knock the guy, but the idea in and of itself is not special or unique. Until they audition for this position, they will be mediocre at best with oration. I would love to see this show and the creativity that would blossom out of the lack of a narrator (even if he was embedded in the scene you were creating). How would BD show/tell me that they are starting their show at the end of the dance competetion without narration? How would BD show/tell me the stories of the dancers competing without narration? That was the beauty and challenge of drum corps. Let's see BD do that! The entire narration seemed like it never evolved from the first idea on table. Narration for this show was a cop out and the easy way out.Now if they insist on continuing this medocrity, then please address the second issue of the poor sound quality (BD is not the only one with this problem, anyone with singing or spoken parts have this problem). Get a real sound system that really projects and doesn't overmodulate or distort and no more sharing the keyboard speaker amp with the narrator. I presume they are not using sub par instruments so as long as they insist on using amps, make it sound great or shut it off. It's absolutely embarrassing to hear this great sound from the corps and then this disembodied sound from the pit that makes the whole thing sound like amateur hour. I will credit BD with at least providing a speaker amp for each keyboard as it helps maintain the directionality of the pit. Of all the set ups, this one seems to be working the best, but there is still a long way to go. I hope their trip to Europe was awesome, but they finished fourth because the show design was half baked and that begins and ends with the narration and amplification. Nightfly3000 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, they did not really smoke at brass, guard, percussion OR visual this year. The highest they got in any caption was 3rd, and 5th in percussion and visual. In fact, the caption that hurt them the worst was visual GE. None of those captions have anything to do with narration. BDs problem this year was a poorly designed show that was executed at an extremely average level. I agree that the way they used narration was one of the design flaws, but that's only the tip of the iceburg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGHTFLY3000 Posted August 19, 2005 Author Share Posted August 19, 2005 Fair Enough :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapRegTimp04 Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 (edited) Actually, they did not really smoke at brass, guard, percussion OR visual this year. The highest they got in any caption was 3rd, and 5th in percussion and visual. In fact, the caption that hurt them the worst was visual GE. BDs problem this year was a poorly designed show that was executed at an extremely average level. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> uh, who said placement determines whether you smoked something or not? my pit smoked our show...phantom (the 3rd place corps, in case you forgot) smoked their show...and to say that bd executed their show at an "extremely average" level is just asanine.... although i do agree that their show was weird...and probably could have been better planned (and as mentioned before) told more of the story without mr. yowza Edited August 19, 2005 by CapRegTimp04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommySopranoContra Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 These two years were very experimental for a lot of prestigious corps. Santa Clara Vanguard 04 used amplification and it came out well. EXTREMELY WELL. Blue Devils 04 used amplification and it came out very well. Blue Devils 05 used amplification and it didn't come out well. The Cadets 05 used amplification and it came out very well. *Side note, Phantom Regiment used Jazz instead of Classical and that came out #### well. So in conclusion, it's way to harsh to just ban amplification. If a corps wishes to use it, let them. (In my opinion) But if it comes out bad, it's not DCI's fault, it's the corps' fault. And by that it will be reflective of their audience appeal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 yowza. as for 04 BD and SCV i'll say it caused balance issue when I saw them, so to me, that's not working well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommySopranoContra Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 yowza.as for 04 BD and SCV i'll say it caused balance issue when I saw them, so to me, that's not working well. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> SCV 2004?! With the garden machines smell little peeps? BALANCE issues? Now I didn't recall anyone making huge posts about them using small sounds last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGHTFLY3000 Posted August 19, 2005 Author Share Posted August 19, 2005 I have to respectfully disagree with the "2005 Cadets amp experiment working extremely well." Yes, they won and yes it seemed the crowd enjoyed their vocal percussion moment, but let me say two things about that. #1: Their sound was so awful and distorted I think it might have been the worst of the night in terms of technical sound quaility. #2: How cool would it have been to hear the battery or the entire corps for that matter do that exercise? Or better yet, how about the best drum line of the year (according to judges) just plays those bars? Would that have been a standing "o"? I guess we'll never know but I wish we did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommySopranoContra Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 ... It's not that hard... I don't think it would have been. The hard drum phrases usually can't be drumspoken that well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 SCV 2004?! With the garden machines smell little peeps? BALANCE issues? Now I didn't recall anyone making huge posts about them using small sounds last year. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> many times when the corps played backfield, key parts drowned out the brass book. I saw it mentioned more than a few times in reviews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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