The Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps is a world-renowned, world champion drum & bugle corps that travels between six and eight weeks each summer, throughout the United States and Canada, performing in competitive field shows and parades.

Having served as sound logistics and production engineer for the 36-locale, 20 plus Drum Corps International World Class U.S. summer ’11 tour, longtime recording professional/percussionist Lloyd Puckitt uses the Roland M-480 48-channel live digital mixing console’s as part of the Roland V-Mixing System configuration including console and integrated digital snakes. The M-480 provided the house sound for two Roland Fantom-G8 electronic synths and five Roland RMP-12 Rhythm Coach percussion pads, along with a micked acoustic percussion ensemble.

The System
Puckitt designed, installed and maintained the SCVDBC sound system which comprised of the M-480 mixer, S-4000S-32x8 Digital Snake, S-0808 8x8 input/output unit and S-4000M REAC merge unit.  He was responsible for the sonic quality produced from the system, along with “the overall blend of the front ensemble itself,” he says, “and their relative balance to the brass section.”

The specialty microphones included were the Dynasty P50-DMC110 mini-condenser for drum and P50-DMC115 small diaphragm cardioid condenser. A P50-DAS2200 stereo power amplifier, prototype crossover and compressor, and prototype DI were also employed, as were Dynasty prototype dual 18” subwoofers, and dual 15” with 1 horn full range speakers for each side.

Application
For each entire show, the standard balance required that the pit (percussive front ensemble) would be supportive, amounting to “roughly 55% horns to 45% pit,” reflects Puckitt.  “The two exceptions would be when the horns weren’t playing, and during certain effect moments, when the pit would stand out and take a large portion of the balance over.”  The mix didn’t change from venue to venue, but the overall volume did, depending upon venue type.

Up until SCVDBC used the Roland M-480 live mixing console, Puckitt and team wanted to find a digital board that allowed more channels in a compact space, could store and recall scenes, and would allow for remote operation.  The M-480 delivered all that and more.  “The digital snake is great,” attests Puckitt.  “And having an Ethernet cable, instead of a 40-channel analog snake, is priceless.”

He goes on to say that the remote operation of the unit “allowed me to get balances from the stands, where it counted.”  Puckitt is also happy with its EQ library, ease of installation, durability and transportability.  He adds that in terms of cost-effectiveness, the M-480 mixer is “great for all the features you get, which are worth beyond the highest cost of the competition.”

In total summation, Puckitt states that the “quality, flexibility and reliability of the Roland V-Mixing system has allowed me to provide Santa Clara Vanguard with the very best sound reinforcement available. They deserve nothing less.”

System Integration