Introduction

Preserve Our Corps Memories (POCM) is a group of people who are organized to preserve drum corps music as recordings and offer them as custom made historical CDs or mp3s for download. The money raised is used either to purchase more recordings or is donated back into drum corps - to a needy corps or individual.

We are worried that the old media, vinyl and tape, will wear out and the music will be lost forever. CDs offer better protection but will not last forever. Most of us have had experience with losing records or tapes, having them destroyed through carelessness, or simply deteriorating because of old age. Some large collections disappeared as the heirs didn't have a clue as to their interest to a specialized group of fans and therefore they took the collection to the dump.

Mp3's, a computer file of compressed audio material, will not deteriorate. We decided therefore to preserve our recordings and store them in mp3 form.

We now have roughly 7500 full corps recordings, most are field contests but some are indoor or outdoor concerts. They are collected in a variety of ways: people send us mp3s, tapes, albums, and CDs via mail. We trade music - any two recordings you donate (assuming we don't have it or it is an upgrade of a recording we already have) will be rewarded by a CD of 5 corps recordings of your choice. We so far have been able to solve any exchange problem that might arise.

All of these musical sources are then made into mp3s and diligently checked for obnoxious noises like pops, crackles, hangs, hisses, hum, and all of that rot. Creating a fade out at the end of a recording is far more satisfactory than listening to the stylus noisily lifted from the vinyl surface, Using a software program, much of that extraneous sound is removed. Frequently the difference between the sound of the source material and the final product is remarkable if not unbelievable. Unfortunately sometimes the source is bad and simply cannot be improved well enough to be considered great. But...... as a sage person in our group wisely stated, a recording that sounds like two cats fighting inside a bag is better than no recording at all.

The final sound of an electronically "cleaned," "de-clicked," "restored," or, more eruditely, "digitally re-mastered" recording can rarely be predicted prior to actually examining the file electronically. I mention this as some people are embarrassed about the quality of their recordings and are reluctant to offer them as an addition to the collection. What may sound originally like two cats fighting in a bag may end up sounding like a contented cat having its back petted while sitting on your lap.

The entire collection is duplicated on many computers around the country so a crash, theft, or natural disaster will not destroy the collection. We are serious about protecting what we have laboriously collected. Some of you are familiar with Fleetwood's tragic loss of all their master tapes in a fire and can well understand our focus on having several identical collections spread about the country on different hard drives.

Our bottom line concern is about those records squirreled away in attics - the ones made by the obscure recording companies that no longer exist and who did NOT make a permanent record of their productions. It is extraordinary what is stuffed away. For example, some people made home made records. There are 78 rpm records galore (we have one dated 1910). There are reel to reel tapes and eight track tapes. We have the capability of playing any of these formats.

OldSopPlaya

Diceman's Internet Drum Corps Radio

Listen to old time drum corps through the labors of the Diceman on Diceman radio. He recently upgraded the service yet again. The music quality is great and now there is the added ability to discuss drum corps on his new forum. Open up a window in your browser and listen to drum corps while you surf the net.  This is great to satisfy your midday drum corps jones.

Just click and go to the new Diceman Radio.

Thanks Ron.

The beginnings of a long task of reproducing old drum corps publications. Very, very good and a labor of love. Thanks NanciD.

Historical Drum Corps Productions

CDs of recordings from Stetson D. Richmond and Alf Wateska.

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