Live at Luna Park DVD

[Illethal]

So my first live DT experience was the Live at Luna Park DVD set. However reading around, it seems to get a lot of hate.

I kinda want to know why everyone seems to hate it, as I really enjoy it. I find the audio quality to be very good, the whole band sounds great. But I've heard various quibbles about audio quality, and the random clips inserted in some of the songs.

Maybe its just because I haven't seen some of the other productions, but I kinda feel this DVD set gets a lot of flak and I kinda want to know why. And maybe i'm wrong on the general consensus, but I feel like all i've read is negative.

[Madman Shepherd]

There is a topic about this a while back so maybe you can just read that.  We discussed it to death. 

General consensus is that the sound wasn't great.  Keyboards are way too low and drums are too low also.  But after not listening to it for a long time, I went back and was shocked at how not bad it was.  Yeah I stand by my thoughts about keyboards and drums but it is pretty easy to overlook and enjoy it.  Set list is awesome and the band is on fire!

[425]

It's a pretty good show, but yeah, the production could have been better. The guitar was mixed a bit too much to the fore. However, on the whole, I wouldn't dissuade anyone from getting it. It's a pretty good setlist and very good band performance, notably by JLB.

[Anguyen92]

I thought, on paper, the DVD looked to be good.  A good set, highlighting ADTOE and bring the usual touring staples like The Spirit Carries On and it's taking place in South America where I hear the crowds are always passionate when it comes live concerts so the crowd energy should be great.

That said, the band played fine, the acoustic part was fine.  No noticeable botches or anything coming from them.  My only concern was pretty much the lack of crowd noise that I thought would be a guarantee sure thing, but it did not happen in Luna Park.  Thankfully, I heard a good amount of crowd noise at the right time in Breaking the Fourth Wall which gave me the pleasure to say that was the Dream Theater Concert DVD that I was looking for out of the whole bunch.

[BlobVanDam]

As has been said, the guitars are too loud, and the keys are too low, but it's not that bad at all. The drums also sound a bit weak and raw, but again, not too bad. I found the sound on the bonus songs to be all over the place though, so that was a bit disappointing.

It's not one of DT's better DVDs, but it's a solid release.

[Mosh]

My only problem with it is that it doesn't really feel like a live DVD. The crowd is barely audible, they might as well not even be there. The awesome setlist just about makes up for that though.

[The Presence of Frenemies]

Gave it a lot of spins soon after it came out because it's easily the best JLB performance post-accident, but didn't age well because of how weak the overall sound (esp. drums) is. This was especially evident in contrast to the great BTFW drums. Unfortunately, the BTFW performance isn't as good as the LALP one. So your preference of the two is going to come down to whether you care more about the performance (great vs. solid) or sound (weak vs. good).

[hefdaddy42]

Maybe its just because I haven't seen some of the other productions

Bingo.

[Setlist Scotty]

The crowd is barely audible, they might as well not even be there.

And let's not forget that what audience we hear is looping with the same guy whistling over and over, which makes it feel that much more artificial.

[Chino]

Maybe its just because I haven't seen some of the other productions

Bingo.

Watch Live at Budokon and you'll understand.

[Illethal]

Thanks guys,

I searched around for a topic, but could only find people discussing the Theater release of the DVD (or maybe I just don't know how to use the search function well enough yet lol), and the Index on the forum doesn't mention it either.

I will admit though, the sound in the standard Dolby Stereo mix sounds like crap (don't know why it defaults to that). If I switch it to the DTS mix, I found it sounds so much better than the other two.

As for the crowd noise, yeah it definitely seems kinda low. However I don't think it helps that it looked like the crowd was sitting on their hands during some of the songs (like they didn't know the songs, which could be true if it was filmed after ADTOE's release)

[Prog Snob]

Maybe its just because I haven't seen some of the other productions

Bingo.

[me7]

Try Budokan or Breaking the fourth Wall, you'll see why Luna Park is regarded as inferior.

Also, it was announced very early with a trailer that led people to believe that the disc was almost finished. The actual release happened very late (even after DT12).
When asked about the release date, the band members and Roadrunner Records responded with marketing talk about how special extra care is being put into the project and the fans will understand how special it is when they watch it. The final product will be worth the wait.
When the wait was over, the disc turned out to be way below par and people wondered what went wrong.

[Another_Won]

Try Budokan or Breaking the fourth Wall, you'll see why Luna Park is regarded as inferior.

Also, it was announced very early with a trailer that led people to believe that the disc was almost finished. The actual release happened very late (even after DT12).
When asked about the release date, the band members and Roadrunner Records responded with marketing talk about how special extra care is being put into the project and the fans will understand how special it is when they watch it. The final product will be worth the wait.
When the wait was over, the disc turned out to be way below par and people wondered what went wrong.

Wasn't the theater release of it the major factor in the delay?

[hefdaddy42]

Try Budokan or Breaking the fourth Wall, you'll see why Luna Park is regarded as inferior.

Also, it was announced very early with a trailer that led people to believe that the disc was almost finished. The actual release happened very late (even after DT12).
When asked about the release date, the band members and Roadrunner Records responded with marketing talk about how special extra care is being put into the project and the fans will understand how special it is when they watch it. The final product will be worth the wait.
When the wait was over, the disc turned out to be way below par and people wondered what went wrong.

Wasn't the theater release of it the major factor in the delay?

No.  That would have been incidental to the DVD release, and has never been given as a reason for any delay.

[OpenYourEyes311]

The crowd is barely audible, they might as well not even be there.

And let's not forget that what audience we hear is looping with the same guy whistling over and over, which makes it feel that much more artificial.

This is the most aggravating thing about the whole package. I think the performance is fantastic, the sound is fine to my ears, but I hardly ever go back to this release because I can't stand hearing the same whistle every 9 seconds. It makes me want to punch bananas in the face.

[Madman Shepherd]

Try Budokan or Breaking the fourth Wall, you'll see why Luna Park is regarded as inferior.

Also, it was announced very early with a trailer that led people to believe that the disc was almost finished. The actual release happened very late (even after DT12).
When asked about the release date, the band members and Roadrunner Records responded with marketing talk about how special extra care is being put into the project and the fans will understand how special it is when they watch it. The final product will be worth the wait.
When the wait was over, the disc turned out to be way below par and people wondered what went wrong.

Wasn't the theater release of it the major factor in the delay?

No.  That would have been incidental to the DVD release, and has never been given as a reason for any delay.

They have never given a specific reason for the delay but I think it is safe to assume the theatrical release was a major part of it.  They wanted to wait until it was in the theatres.  They also wanted to wait until the announcement of the theatrical release to say anything about why the dvd was taking so long.  Makes sense to me. 

[hefdaddy42]

I don't know.  The show was recorded in August 2012, and a trailer for the DVD was posted in February 2013.  The DVD wasn't actually released until November.  The theater release was, if memory serves, in September, so if it was ready enough to make a trailer in February, I have trouble believing that the theatrical release was the cause of the delay from February to November.

[bosk1]

Whatever it was, it was not the band simply deciding to wait.  I know they were frustrated by the delay as well.

[SystematicThought]

Maybe why they didn't go with Over The Edge for Breaking the Fourth Wall

[Madman Shepherd]

Maybe why they didn't go with Over The Edge for Breaking the Fourth Wall

My thoughts too but as with producers, bands usually will stick with a producer through two cycles (drummer doc, LaLP) and then switch things up.  Who knows...maybe they did fuck up pretty bad. 

[Grizz]

They should go back to Rhino (or whomever did the production itself). Score's issues fall almost entirely on the orchestra and the limitations of H.262/DVD as a medium, but the audio is amazing on it.

[faizoff]

Maybe why they didn't go with Over The Edge for Breaking the Fourth Wall

Thanks to Over The Edge for the facts.