OTBOA - higher quality version

[rumborak]

It's still nothing compared to that BLOP in Symphony X's Domination.

Or the Windows sound in one of PT's tunes.

rumborak

[BlobVanDam]

Based on all of the live clips and the studio recordings, I'm still under the theory that MMs kick drums sound awful.

Dunno, I like his kick drum better than MP's, which was always way too close to those flapping kick drums extreme metal uses.

rumborak

I hate the flappy metal sound, and the only albums where I hear that are ToT and to a lesser degree on BCASL, and even then not enough to bother me like a lot of metal recordings. But SDOIT had a really punchy kick drum (although with the drums louder, it's hard not to hear it clearly)
Even though the drums are mixed lower on this, you still hear the bass and snare drum clearly because they're punchy. I find the drum sound is pretty inoffensive really. Nothing bad, and nothing really distinctive.

[The Presence of Frenemies]

Didn't really notice the kick drums, myself, although I rarely do unless they're WAY up in the mix or super-flappy. The one thing that really stuck out to me was how great Mangini's toms sound compared to Portnoy's. Much deeper resonance, whereas Portnoy's were always muted. I'm partial to huge-sounding 80's-style drums, myself, so I found that refreshing.

Didn't like Mangini's cymbals as much as Portnoy's, though, although what he played on them sure was entertaining. So, some of his kit sounds better, some of it sounds worse, but it's pretty solid overall. I could live with the drums being higher in the mix, though--I struggle to hold my attention on them without that.

More generally, though, what really sticks out to me about OTBOA is that it really convincingly sounds like a new DT in a way BCSL never really did. And what I mean by that is, play any pre-SC DT song, and the production alone immediately identifies the album. WDADU is lo-fi, IW is 80's sounding, Awake has some grunge-industrial tinting, FII sounds a bit drier and plain rock-ish, SFAM is very bright-sounding and clean yet brooding, SDOIT is...okay, can't think of an adjective, but you know what I mean, ToT is very big-sounding, 8V is very atmospheric and bright (a la U2), and SC sounds strikingly modern, almost like you're listening to technology advance.

And then BCSL came out, and I remember first listening to AROP and thinking "This sounds like SC Part 2." And the other tracks pretty much confirmed it--sonically, there wasn't much difference between the albums, even if the moods and ideas were entirely different. It was really the first time in DTs career that they put out a record that sounded like Side 2 of a different DT record. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing--I like BCSL quite a bit, and SC even more (I know, I know)--but that album just didn't seem to have as much of an identity. What identity it had was further compromised by the fact that there were only six tracks for it to unfold, so there just weren't as many distinctions (especially when one of the six was lifted almost directly out of a bunch of earlier songs).

But OTBOA sounds nothing like BCSL. It still sounds unquestionably like DT, but sonically, it seems to lie somewhere in between IW, FII, and 8V, while retaining its own distinct qualities. That, more than anything, makes me excited, as it makes me think DT has really established a clear direction, rather than just "Well, it's been two years since the last album, it's time for another."

[Psy]

It's still nothing compared to that BLOP in Symphony X's Domination.

Or the Windows sound in one of PT's tunes.

rumborak

Oh, thank god. I thought I was mad when I kept hearing that.

[FretMuppet]

It's still nothing compared to that BLOP in Symphony X's Domination.

Or the Windows sound in one of PT's tunes.

rumborak

Oh, thank god. I thought I was mad when I kept hearing that.

What?? What song?

[jacksmash]

Hey all,

Is it possible that the version on the RoadrunnerRecords channel was updated? I noticed before that when the drums came in the guitar found really quite noticeably fade into the background... but it seems to be better now. And I'm really struggling to hear much of a difference between the 720p version on RoadrunnerRecords and the 720p version on the dreamtheater channel. Maybe it's my speakers... ?

Cheers.

[MetropolisxPt1]

Hey all,

Is it possible that the version on the RoadrunnerRecords channel was updated? I noticed before that when the drums came in the guitar found really quite noticeably fade into the background... but it seems to be better now. And I'm really struggling to hear much of a difference between the 720p version on RoadrunnerRecords and the 720p version on the dreamtheater channel. Maybe it's my speakers... ?

Cheers.

the original rr video was not in 720 they should be the same.