Post by tony on Aug 29, 2022 22:47:34 GMT -5
Everybody's talking about A&T vs Southern... I think A&T vs Alabama A&M makes a much more interesting conversation. AAMU might be the closest thing the swac has to us... they're known for playing with control and musicality without sacrificing power. They're a small band for the swac but when it comes to brass they have more of everything than we do except tubas... From a clip of their fan day and a bad instagram video of us, it's 16 tubas vs 21, 22 trombones vs 18, 14 euphos vs 7, 10 mellos vs 7, 28 trumpets vs about 18.
Here's a clip of us and them playing in the stands... no microphone shenanigans, same bad but realistic acoustics, same everything.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IQNvGHhi5I
A couple of things I notice immediately... We sound WAY better. Our arrangements are WAY better. But lets look a little deeper...
Around 1:00, it's just AAMU Tubas and Trombones. Bones are clear as day. At 1:35, the trumpets come in, and the trombones take the volume down. I think that was a mistake - that type of phrasing always sounds better to me with heavy chords. That's what people liked about the old interpretation of velvet rope. That's what they liked about the band room clips that came out the end of last season. Southern does it all the time. But that's up to the director.
Anyway, we come in at 2:40. With a little more than half the numbers our trumpets sound WAY better. Nice job Scream Machine. But it's the trombones that's getting me... I've seen 12 bones set off car alarms ten feet away. But I can barely hear them. Yes, I understand balance, but there's room for a lot more sound before it becomes a problem. At 3:30 it was really obvious - trumpets were clear, euphos and mellos clear, tubas clear, trombones were more felt than heard. If they weren't playing you'd notice but none of the overpowering sound that AAMU was bringing at 1:00. And before you ask, no, 4 more trombones is not enough to make a difference when you already have 18. If they brought full power there you wouldn't hear a peep from anybody on a Southern video or anywhere else.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not asking to change the sound philosophy. As a whole it works, and I wouldn't want to to change very much at all, especially not on the field. But small tweaks in the right place and the right songs can make a huge difference. Everything isn't about money, or recruiting, or feeder schools...
Here's a clip of us and them playing in the stands... no microphone shenanigans, same bad but realistic acoustics, same everything.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IQNvGHhi5I
A couple of things I notice immediately... We sound WAY better. Our arrangements are WAY better. But lets look a little deeper...
Around 1:00, it's just AAMU Tubas and Trombones. Bones are clear as day. At 1:35, the trumpets come in, and the trombones take the volume down. I think that was a mistake - that type of phrasing always sounds better to me with heavy chords. That's what people liked about the old interpretation of velvet rope. That's what they liked about the band room clips that came out the end of last season. Southern does it all the time. But that's up to the director.
Anyway, we come in at 2:40. With a little more than half the numbers our trumpets sound WAY better. Nice job Scream Machine. But it's the trombones that's getting me... I've seen 12 bones set off car alarms ten feet away. But I can barely hear them. Yes, I understand balance, but there's room for a lot more sound before it becomes a problem. At 3:30 it was really obvious - trumpets were clear, euphos and mellos clear, tubas clear, trombones were more felt than heard. If they weren't playing you'd notice but none of the overpowering sound that AAMU was bringing at 1:00. And before you ask, no, 4 more trombones is not enough to make a difference when you already have 18. If they brought full power there you wouldn't hear a peep from anybody on a Southern video or anywhere else.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not asking to change the sound philosophy. As a whole it works, and I wouldn't want to to change very much at all, especially not on the field. But small tweaks in the right place and the right songs can make a huge difference. Everything isn't about money, or recruiting, or feeder schools...
