New DT album written!

[Exodus]

Awesome! Excitement levels have been taken to the next level. 

[Metabog]

Okay, so anyone with doubts that they've been in the studio WITHOUT a drummer can finally be killed. They would NOT have written a whole album without the drummer present, right? That would just be plain stupid...

Yeah they can.  JP said having a drummer flat out didn't matter for writing.

Tracking without a drummer might be a weird process though unless they put together good demo tracks.

Well I know a lot of bands that lay down programmed drums during the writing/recording process and then bring a drummer in to record the drums, as a session musician (or in the case of Ayreon, he even does this with the permanent drummer, Ed Warby).

[Chino]

I just went from six to midnight.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

meh

I'm just hoping they'll announce the damn new drummer already

[theusualmadness]

Now the real waiting begins...

[Tomislav95]

Can't wait!
Can you tell me how much time they ussually took for recording?I listen DT less then 1 year so I don't know 

[?]

Great news! I like how they've spent more time on songwriting this time!

[Orbert]

Can't wait!
Can you tell me how much time they ussually took for recording?I listen DT less then 1 year so I don't know 

It varies, but they've taken as little as three or four weeks in the studio to write and record the album.  One comment you hear a lot is that their recent albums are generally good, but there are a lot of minor things that might have benefitted from a little editing or a little more development.

Of course, everyone has different ideas about what should have been changed and what was fine as it is, but the idea that they're taking their time with the writing process before committing anything to tape is viewed by most as a good thing overall.

[Tomislav95]

Can't wait!
Can you tell me how much time they ussually took for recording?I listen DT less then 1 year so I don't know 

It varies, but they've taken as little as three or four weeks in the studio to write and record the album.  One comment you hear a lot is that their recent albums are generally good, but there are a lot of minor things that might have benefitted from a little editing or a little more development.

Of course, everyone has different ideas about what should have been changed and what was fine as it is, but the idea that they're taking their time with the writing process before committing anything to tape is viewed by most as a good thing overall.

Can we expect new album in May? 

[Dream_Theater01]

I wonder how many songs they wrote?

[Knguro]

OMG OMG to much exitement!!!!

[wilgod3p]

I am expecting a june release

[jdprsaga]

Great news!!!! 2 month writing means they have been producing the songs a lot!!! i hope the new drummer brought some outside production input in terms of songwriting.

now i think we will have the single out by the end of may or early june and the album released on early july (maybe 4th of july week)

This is awsome news..

also awsome news about morphwiz coming to android..

This look like a great day for me =D

[emtee]

Couple things. Just to stay consistant, as I posted over at MP's house, I used to get so geeked
before the release of a new DT album because I always wanted to see what MP was gonna hit
me with. And he always amazed me. As a lifelong drummer it was the best part of a new DT album
for me. I'm damn sure gonna miss that!

Now...why so many comments and concerns about 'time' in the studio vs. expected quality? JP
and JR had months of down time and seems I recall hearing JP say he had many riffs and ideas
ready to go when they entered the studio. If the ideas are largely there, then as Lars
said the studio becomes a place of execution. They were there for the better part of 2 months
PLUS all the time before they got there. That's plenty of time to write a great piece of work.

[gmillerdrake]

Fantastic! Judging from an assortment of comments over the past few months I know that I am not the only one who finds this release from DT one of my, if not my most highly anticipated one yet. I hope I am not setting the bar to high in my mind of what I expect from them on this album, But I am expecting a SFAM type album....not as much musically but more of a 'point' being made.

[7StringedBeast]

Perhaps they really will be announcing the drummer tomorrow?  We can only hope.

[Space Invader]

Perhaps they really will be announcing the drummer tomorrow?  We can only hope.

I certainly hope so. This waiting is getting ridiculous.

AWESOME NEWS THOUGH

[KevShmev]

Couple things. Just to stay consistant, as I posted over at MP's house, I used to get so geeked
before the release of a new DT album because I always wanted to see what MP was gonna hit
me with. And he always amazed me. As a lifelong drummer it was the best part of a new DT album
for me. I'm damn sure gonna miss that!

Now...why so many comments and concerns about 'time' in the studio vs. expected quality? JP
and JR had months of down time and seems I recall hearing JP say he had many riffs and ideas
ready to go when they entered the studio. If the ideas are largely there, then as Lars
said the studio becomes a place of execution. They were there for the better part of 2 months
PLUS all the time before they got there. That's plenty of time to write a great piece of work.

Good songwriting can't always be executed "on the clock."  Just because you have a lot of great riffs and ideas doesn't mean that turning them into good songs will happen just like that.  It takes time, sometimes.  I would rather they take their time for a few months and get a group of great songs together than hurry through them and just throw the first things that came to mind on to an album.

[Orion1967]

also awsome news about morphwiz coming to android..

OMG really?  I have only been asking for that ever since JR realased it.   Is that in a public announcement somewhere?

[AcidLameLTE]

Yeah. He posted it on Twitter.

[jdprsaga]

also awsome news about morphwiz coming to android..

OMG really?  I have only been asking for that ever since JR realased it.   Is that in a public announcement somewhere?

Hahaha yeah.. it is supposed to be a "secret" that he shared on facebook.. i guess i'm not a good "secret" keeper hahahaha.

[bosk1]

Okay, so anyone with doubts that they've been in the studio WITHOUT a drummer can finally be killed. They would NOT have written a whole album without the drummer present, right? That would just be plain stupid...

Yeah they can.  JP said having a drummer flat out didn't matter for writing.

Tracking without a drummer might be a weird process though unless they put together good demo tracks.

Tracking without a drummer isn't the usual process for most bands, but it can work.  And I think it definitely would work for DT.  I can't remember whether it was in a DT documentary or whether Mike said this in connection with Transatlantic, but I'm pretty sure it was DT:  When the songs are written, they make a click track and play around with adjusting the speeds for each section on the computer until they feel like each section feels like it is the right tempo.  Once they have the click just right, then they go in and track the drums and then the other instruments over it. 

So using that process, they could do the same thing and just record the other instruments to the click instead of the real drum tracks, and then record the drums tracks whenever. 

Can we expect new album in May? 

Doubtful.  One factor is, we don't know when they are scheduled to record, and we don't know how long they will record.  But once the recording is done and goes into post-production, the typical release cycle is 10 weeks or a bit longer.

[7StringedBeast]

If they record all their instruments to a click instead of drums, that album is not going to come out sounding right.  The drums are integral to DTs sound.  I REALLY doubt they would record instruments before drums.  If the album is done, the drummer is there.

[emtee]

If they record all their instruments to a click instead of drums, that album is not going to come out sounding right.  The drums are integral to DTs sound.  I REALLY doubt they would record instruments before drums.  If the album is done, the drummer is there.

The album is NOT done. The writting process is done. They have not even begun tracking it yet. It is totally possible that
there was no drummer involvement in the writting process.

[snowdog]

If they record all their instruments to a click instead of drums, that album is not going to come out sounding right.  The drums are integral to DTs sound.  I REALLY doubt they would record instruments before drums.  If the album is done, the drummer is there.

The album is NOT done. The writting process is done. They have not even begun tracking it yet. It is totally possible that
there was no drummer involvement in the writting process.

I highly doubt that is the case.  Otherwise the guy would essentially be a session musician which is something they said they were NOT going to do. 

[mittinagus]

If they record all their instruments to a click instead of drums, that album is not going to come out sounding right.  The drums are integral to DTs sound.  I REALLY doubt they would record instruments before drums.  If the album is done, the drummer is there.

The album is NOT done. The writting process is done. They have not even begun tracking it yet. It is totally possible that
there was no drummer involvement in the writting process.

I highly doubt that is the case.  Otherwise the guy would essentially be a session musician which is something they said they were NOT going to do. 

Maybe they changed their mind...

Tin

[Cool Chris]

Wasn't I&W written entirely without James? We wasn't brought in as a hired gun and certainly didn't act or end up like one.

[Nick]

Cool news, I hope the new drummer was involved, as no matter who it was I thought it would be interesting to see what impact they'd have on the writing process, but at this point it looks like that may not be the case.

Oh well, a little bit more waiting and eventually we'll find all this shit out.

[7StringedBeast]

If they record all their instruments to a click instead of drums, that album is not going to come out sounding right.  The drums are integral to DTs sound.  I REALLY doubt they would record instruments before drums.  If the album is done, the drummer is there.

The album is NOT done. The writting process is done. They have not even begun tracking it yet. It is totally possible that
there was no drummer involvement in the writting process.

Yeah no kidding the album is not done.  I know that, I was talking about the writing process.

[JasonScandopolous]

Cool news, I hope the new drummer was involved, as no matter who it was I thought it would be interesting to see what impact they'd have on the writing process, but at this point it looks like that may not be the case.

Oh well, a little bit more waiting and eventually we'll find all this shit out.

Maybe, in the long run, it would be more interesting if he didn't have any large impact on this album's composition/lyrics/non-drum stuff.  That way, this album could be "this is DT without MP", and the next would be "This is DT with the new drummer".  In other words, we can see what (if anything) MP was suppressing from the other four members, or at least, what the other 4 members will fill the void with, without wondering whether the new drummer should get all the blame/credit/etc. for what happens.

[Sixtease]

Maybe, in the long run, it would be more interesting if he didn't have any large impact on this album's composition/lyrics/non-drum stuff.  That way, this album could be "this is DT without MP", and the next would be "This is DT with the new drummer".  In other words, we can see what (if anything) MP was suppressing from the other four members, or at least, what the other 4 members will fill the void with, without wondering whether the new drummer should get all the blame/credit/etc. for what happens.

Interesting point

[Mladen]

Great news. 

[ReaPsTA]

Tracking without a drummer isn't the usual process for most bands, but it can work.  And I think it definitely would work for DT.  I can't remember whether it was in a DT documentary or whether Mike said this in connection with Transatlantic, but I'm pretty sure it was DT:  When the songs are written, they make a click track and play around with adjusting the speeds for each section on the computer until they feel like each section feels like it is the right tempo.  Once they have the click just right, then they go in and track the drums and then the other instruments over it. 

So using that process, they could do the same thing and just record the other instruments to the click instead of the real drum tracks, and then record the drums tracks whenever. 

All of that is true, but not my concern.  What I'm worried about is that in a band like DT the drums are a bigger part of the music than in most bands.  Even when you write without a drummer it's not much of an issue, because when DT writes a song it still has room to evolve in recording.  But once you start recording tracks, you're really locking in the feel of the parts and how they interact in the sonic space.  Generally in music, this is all predicated on the feel the drums lay down.  So now DT has three choices - Either fully write the drum parts themselves and give the new guy little breathing room (what AX7 did with MP), gamble by recording to basic beats and hoping the drummer comes in and fills out the grooves well, or (IMO this is most likely) they're going to record their parts to a basic beat but feeling the finished beat in their heads somehow, giving the drummer no breathing room to be creative in a different way.

Basically, if they don't record drums first, there's little to no chance he'll have any real creative impact on the record, which I find disappointing.  I don't mind if he's not part of the songwriting, but I'd like to see him express himself as a drummer, which I highly doubt now will happen.

[Occasional_Madman]

If they announced this last night, then I can only wonder what the big news is that RR said they'll realease tomorow will be...

[j]

Okay, so anyone with doubts that they've been in the studio WITHOUT a drummer can finally be killed.

For some reason this made me  .

-J