From: matthews@eecs.ucdavis.edu (Thomas W. Matthews)
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: DCI recordings survey
Date: 27 Aug 92 17:15:21 GMT
Organization: Division of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Davis

Readers may recall my posting, "DCI Recordings Survey" last spring. The 
responses were rather sparse, probably due to my asking for way too much 
detail.  However, more than one respondent said that 1984 was a great 
year for the recordings of the finals;  unfortunately I don't have those 
recordings  Another frequent comment was that the pit sound was too 
loud.

IMO, an unrealistically loud pit sound has been a *serious* flaw in many 
drum corps recordings.  That awesome, huge sound of a full sized drum 
corps just cannot come through on a recording where one xylophone or 
one cymbal is audibly equal to fifty horns.  From comments posted about 
the 1992 DCI broadcast, I infer that a loud pit sound is once again a 
problem.  I should point out that the television broadcast audio is not 
exactly the same mix that is put on the compact discs; so the discs may or 
may not have the same problem.

I would like to hear from interested readers what they think about the issue 
of pit sound balance.  As you listen to a recording, imagine yourself at a 
competition and seated in your favorite spot.  Then evaluate whether the 
pit sound is realistic.  If you mail or post a comment, please be sure to 
specify whether its about the television audio or a compact disc, and which 
year.

The audio and video recording of a drum corps performance would be
challenging even under the best of conditions.  The situation at the
championships must put incredible pressure on the crew responsible for
the production, and I appreciate the results of their hard work.
There has been a steady imporvement in the overall technical 
quality of the broadcast each year since 1988, except that (IMO)
the 1991 audio (both TV and CD) had too much pit sound.  If a
number of people feel that 1992 has the same problem, then perhaps
the program producers will do what they can to improve it next year.

In case anyone's interested, here is an explanation of the difference 
between the television audio and the compact disc audio (as far as I 
know!)  :

1.  The television producers feel that the aural perspective
should match the visual perspective.  When a the screen shows a
close-up picture of a soloist, the sound of that soloist needs to
be emphasized.  Hence, there is a person on the sidelines running
around with a shotgun (highly directional) microphone trying to
get in front of each soloist.  As far as I can tell, this soloist
mike is not mixed into the compact disc audio, only the TV
soundtrack (as it should be).  There are three potential problems
in attempting to do this:  the solo mike can be late, then we
hear the soloist fade in;  there may be a pit instrument between
the soloist and the shotgun mike, then we hear that pit
instrument emphasized as well; the soloist may be picked up
nearly equally by the special solo mike and by the fixed mikes,
then we get multipath sound.

2.  The television audio may need to be compressed either during
recording or when relayed to the various stations.  This
compression, if done correctly, would do the best job possible of
squeezing the wide dynamic range of the performance onto a
channel of limited dynamic range.  The compact discs and the 
hi-fi audio tracks of the videocassette should not require any 
compression.  Compression is like an automatic record-level control
(which many consumer video decks have). 

3.  The television audio has advertised "Dolby surround" in the
past.  This process attempts to provide the listener with two
rear channels in addition to two front channels.  I have been told
that the goal of using Dolby surround on the DCI broadcasts was
to put some crowd sound behind the listener, to increase the
realism.  Unfortunately, the sound that is supposed to come out
of the two rear channels is not completely isolated from the two
front channels, meaning that the listener must put up with an
increase in crowd sound, especially if he/she does not
have a Dolby surround decoder.  I haven't heard a DCI tape played
back with a Dolby surround decoder and rear speakers.  Is it worth the 
trouble?

Thanks,

Tom Matthews
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps