I tore into the package I received from Roadrunner Records yesterday because I knew what it would be: my Breaking the Fourth Wall BD/CD set. I anxiously fed the BD into my home theater and went right for "Illumination Theory," my favorite DT song ever (this from a 20+ year fan).
Then my heart sank and I shook my head in disgust. This concert sounds dreadful. There are two audio options: PCM Stereo and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (surprisingly, no DTS-HD MA). Both tracks sound anemic, compressed and have their midranges blown out. After I went all the way through "Illumination Theory," I started hop-scotching around to other tracks ("Lifting Shadows," "Along for the Ride," "Overture 1928," "Breaking All Illusions") to see if the whole thing was this terrible. It was.
The orchestra sounds great, especially during "Illumination Theory's" interlude, but the band's portion of the track is mixed so poorly that it's shocking. Petrucci's playing is all midrange and no balls, and some of his solos sound muddy and get lost in the mix. Myung sounds like he's playing a $199 bass and amp starter set bought at Kmart, and not a Music Man Bongo, one of the most aggressive bass guitars made today. His strings sound like floppy dental floss. It was especially heart breaking to hear him on "Illumination Theory" when he intros the post-orchestra movement. Rudess sounds okay, but mostly because his portion of the mix does not have much low end. He's mixed better than the guitars. Mangini's thunderous drum work is relegated to kitten status... again, no low end. LaBrie's vocals are blown out in the mix, and are particularly bad when he lets loose. Overall, everyone in the mix, from the orchestra to the band sound like they have a palpable veil of compression spread over everything. I have heard MP3 tracks sound better than this.
I don't know what in the sweet hell happened here, but this release is inexcusably bad. It could be that the Boston Opera House's acoustics are not ideal for rock music and it was very difficult to compensate in the mix. If that was the case, they should have recorded this elsewhere, Berklee participation be damned. I would rather the recording sound amazing.
I would like Roadrunner to fix this release and reissue something worthy of the money.