Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps Wins DCI Championship with Completely Mobile RCF HDL System

Piscataway, New Jersey – Drum Corps International (DCI) is a non-profit organization that develops young drum and bugle corps in North America. DCI promotes marching music and provides opportunities for education, competition, and entertainment. Today, professional drum corps are a type of large-scale marching band, but they are independent organizations that compete on an international stage. 

This year DCI's summer tour began June 26th and ended in August with Canton Ohio’s Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps departing Lucas Oil Stadium as the 2024 World Champions. Organizations like the Bluecoats can have up to 165 members led by 200+ staff, personnel, and administrators. During a season the Bluecoats will travel the US aboard a fleet of 14 vehicles, buses and semi-trucks, covering 8,000 miles for as many as about 25 performances per season. 

What is most fascinating when attending these competitions, is not only is there an extremely high level of syncopation and performance, but these large groups also move all instruments and equipment into position and leave the arena within minutes. When moving an entire band ensemble and color guard, these drum corps travel with professional sound systems designed to also move in step. 

 “As popularity grew for the sport, so did the need for bigger sound,” says Aaron Beck, Bluecoats audio systems designer. “Electronics and the need for sound systems started around 2002. For the first ten years you would see systems consisting of prosumer equipment, only to amplify the front ensemble. The goal then was to make instruments that weren’t meant to be loud, louder. That was basically the start of adding amplification.” says Beck.

From around 2005 to 2015, the systems used were evolving, but with incorrect equipment, further finding ways to amplify voice, synths, samples, sound effects, etc. “When I started with the Bluecoats in 2015, it began with front ensemble staff members trying to figure out audio to now someone who had pro audio experience, working with Cirque du Soleil and Broadway shows, to using professional equipment and making it right.”

Beck decided early on if the audio would have to improve, he would have to go all in with pro gear. “If we’re going to elevate the experience, it won’t be with a prosumer audio consoles, we were going to need a real professional audio 96K console, running at higher sample rates, better preamps and enough inputs and outputs to keep up with the complex shows. We’ve had a few consoles over the years, this year we’re running an Allen & Health D-Live with 100+ inputs, and 40 channels of RF wireless, and 48 outputs. Now with RCF HDL line array boxes fastened to rolling carts, we can control the vertical dispersion for stadium audiences,” says Beck. To accomplish this the Bluecoats system uses two Yamaha generators [6,300W] on opposite ends of the field, yielding two 20-amp circuits per side. “With the efficiency of the RCF boxes, we can power all the subwoofers [SUB 9004-AS and SUB 8004-AS] with a mix of HDL 6-A and HDL 20-A, that allow us to achieve stadium concert sound levels while keeping up with the natural volume of the horn line and percussion sections.” 

Early conversations with directors were budget focused. Beck continues, “Performance, size, weight, and cost all factored into my decision to select RCF. Sure, it could have been other manufacturers, but the RCF solution was a perfect match of performance and met our budget. We purchased RCF back in 2018 and it has been one of the best decisions for the Bluecoats, working perfectly for the past seven seasons. Most of us are still using SM-57s and SM-58 microphones in less-than-ideal acoustic environments. We believe we’ve made the wisest investment with RCF. We still need enough money to feed our kids on tour,” joked Beck.

With a touring application that is completely self-contained, active solutions are standard in today’s drum corps. This type of mobile system has also brought new ideas to the market. “Marching bands, or ‘the marching arts’, is definitely our niche,” says Jerrod Douglas, marketing manager at Pageantry Innovations, maker of the customized mobile carts for the Bluecoats mobile RCF system. “However, we have been expanding our business based on what we build for drum corps, like the Bluecoats. We are finding new markets for this type of system.”

When it comes to design, the rigging for the steel carts is customized for each system. “Similarly, as the rigging is built into the cart, the array can be adjusted upward in 5-degree increments with the assistance of specialized gas struts. That kind of flexibility allows users to change the angle of the bottom box and use EASE focus to fine tune the coverage,” explains Douglas. “As our designers continue to improve the carts for our customers, our goal is always to make certain carts are road tough, the gear gets to where it’s going and continues to be reliable.”

As World Champions, the Bluecoats never sounded better. “RCF has delivered rock solid performance, is easy to use, and is great sounding – used in a touring situation, not installed. We’re so very proud of our RCF road system!”