Jump to content

A DCI Audiophile Thread...


Recommended Posts

and 1999 is really good, I think.

You must not be a drummer! :P

As mentioned earlier, the 1999 recordings made some very clean snare lines sound very dirty, just listening to SCV's snare solo you can hear the line get clean as they march towards the centre of the field. Every drum line sounds like crap on those CD's. <**>

Overall bad quality goes to 1995 for me as well. Madison's closer could have been called suspended cymbal quintet, with snare drum, soprano and audience accompaniment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 28
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

95 - Terrible

97 - Surround sound - while crowd noise is nice, you can hear 1 guy

yelling during almost every show.

87 - I heard that the recording was done with 1 mic on the 50 - that's it.

Maybe the reason some of BD's sop. solos sound like they are

being played from a distance

88 - 94 - great

Edited by acn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember '98 was reissued after the orignal cds had some problems.

The playback speed was too fast and it sounded like everyone was taking speed. I remember getting the replacement discs in the mail but they had to cut the corps announcements short so each show would fit on the disc at the correct tempos. I gave my defective discs to a friend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The people demand a re-issue of the 1995 CD's! :P

Amen.

However, I think there's only so much you can do when the original recording is so bad. My guess is that the equipment quality/mic placement etc. is as much to blame as any mixing that happened afterwards. Still, if they could salvage something from that mess, that would be great news for fans. Maybe Tom Blair could take a shot at it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overall bad quality goes to 1995 for me as well. Madison's closer could have been called suspended cymbal quintet, with snare drum, soprano and audience accompaniment.

Now that's a bit harsh, i distinctly hear a concert bass drum... :whistle:

Edited by Vanguard07
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have all DCI championship recordings from 72 to 96. I also have an extensive collection of pre-DCI LP's going back into the late fifties. So, I have a lot of examples to choose from. I agree with 94 being a good year. I thought that they were starting to understand how to do digital right. But then came 95, which was a major dissappointment. If it wasn't for a couple of shows that I just had to have, in particular Phanton, I wouldn't have bought 96. My choice for the best though is the 72 LP. Its a shame that most of you are never going to be able to hear this recording other than as a digital conversion. The LP clearly demonstrates what anologue does well. Very natural and accurate sound reproduction. Very sweet highs. Cymbals even sound correct, as apposed to the tizzy sound usually associated with digital. 3D sound staging. I can virtually pick out the players in the space between and around my speakers. Soloists step up and sound as if they are standing a few feet in front of me (I wonder how a pit would have sounded). I've never heard digital do this other than with the help of surround. I've talked to a lot of people over the years, including Steve Vickers, who agree that the 72 LP was special. And. of course, it had some great performaces from the Troopers, SCV, Blue Stars, and Kingsmen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually the 70's Legacy recordings are quite good for the most part.

To the bad is either 75, 76 or 77 (I think 77) which was mastered at a slightly incorrect speed and you can hear it throughout the different corps peformances, especially in the exposed and solo sections.

To the good is 1978. Unquestionably one of the best set of recordings in the entire collection.

Just the opposite, and with no disrespcet to the ineffable Ken Kobald...

Haven't there been moments in the 70's where soloists were "left out" or not picked up??? Just thought I heard something about that once...

-TGB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, I'd buy a re-issue in a second...two copies, even.

Maybe Larry Rock and Tom Blair will have some free time this year... :P

Was the problem in the mixing? Do original tapes exist?

They certainly wouldn't want to use those craptacular recordings on the CD as a basis for a remastering job, or anything like that. Maybe Acheson has an official bootleg he's hiding away someplace?

Also, did they not listen to these "recordings" before releasing them? I can only assume they didn't. You can't hear that recording and think "oh yeah, that sounds GREAT! DCI fans are going to love it and in eleven years they're gonna love us for mixing it this way!"

There's only one place for the released CDs...and that's a landfill.

But I'd buy good recordings if they were offered. B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...