Along for the Ride Discussion Thread

[rush-signals]

The "problem" isn't the song for me, which I do like a lot, it's how it sounds (sound quality, balance between instruments). Along with TEI it's the worst sounding song I've heard in years, bad stream aside, and that to me is unforgivable from such a high quality band. I still look forward to the album a lot, but I'm now 100% sure I won't like how it sounds.

I just don't see/hear that at all. TEI the worst sounding song in years? Funny I love it in all aspects. I just enjoy it and I'm along for the ride I guess.

[XB0BX]

The drums sound exactly like the drums on I&W... what the hell, guys. You can't not hear those double bass moments and think of the same moments from UaGM.

[Podaar]

I just don't see/hear that at all. TEI the worst sounding song in years? Funny I love it in all aspects. I just enjoy it and I'm along for the ride I guess.

It probably has more to do with our generation. Let's face it I was getting chills down my spine and head-banging while listening to my 8-track player in my first car. My idea of audiophile upgrade is when I went to a cassette player. 

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Second listen is already a lot more pleasant for me than first. Maybe I wasn't in the correct state of mind or something at first I don't know.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I quite like it. Nothing new, but a very good ballad. I thought the ballads on ADTOE were really cheesy, but am enjoying this one very much.

[The Boomr]

I'mma start smacking the people who keep thinking this sounds like BTS for the goddamned thinnest of reasons. It's like saying all ELP sounds the same because of Emerson's synth tones. 

Agreed

[RodrigoAltaf]

That peruvian street band synth tone needs to be canned ASAP.

[TheGreatPretender]

I quite like it. Nothing new, but a very good ballad. I thought the ballads on ADTOE were really cheesy, but am enjoying this one very much.

I didn't think they were cheesy, but I did think that the ballads on ADTOE weren't all that musically interesting. AFTR is definitely a different story. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

That peruvian street band synth tone needs to be canned ASAP.

It's not my favorite and I think he had a lot of better sounds to use, or maybe even new sounds, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

The criticism of this song on the internet (facebook in particular) is brutal and excessively harsh. A lot of it is about the keyboard solo.

[fllnsprrw]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUT9uOKUMEU
This guy just can't stop smiling.Is this hilarious or what?

. definitely convinced me to enjoy the song that much more.

[ishak540m]

Just imagine what the reaction would have been if they released BTS or or the other ballads before ADTOE came out.

[Outcrier]

Along For The Ride X The Tourist (Radiohead):
https://soundcloud.com/williamsaffiergeesdorf/tourist-along-for-the-ride

Shitty made, i know.

[SeRoX]

I don't know what's wrong with me (or DT), and again oddly I don't like this single either. First TEI, now this. But I still keep my hopes high for the album.

[Aythesryche]

So I'm sitting in my car about to take off and I figured I'd give the new song another listen. I think, "Damn, I gotta find the link to the stream again, this is gonna be a pain in the ass." I then realized I can go right to Grammy.com and click on the link right on their front page. So weird. Haha. It's a neat kinda weird though.

[(nothing)]

I don't remember anyone mentioning it here but from what I can tell, this one will probably make for one of the best "en masse" sing-along moments on shows.

[wolven74]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUT9uOKUMEU
This guy just can't stop smiling.Is this hilarious or what?

. definitely convinced me to enjoy the song that much more.

That guy needs to get out more..

[dparrott]

Along For The Ride X The Tourist (Radiohead):
https://soundcloud.com/williamsaffiergeesdorf/tourist-along-for-the-ride

Shitty made, i know.

But damn that's close! haha 

[Bruins]

Only only had 5 words in my head after listening to that song:

Zamfir Master of the Pan Flute

[Super Dude]

Mike Mangini is an amazing drummer, but his equipment choices suck.
I can only imagine what the acrylic kit will sound like.

I think that this song would be amazing live. Reminds me of Hollow Years in some ways in that respect. I could totally see this getting extended variations in future years.

I'm sure it'll be fine live, but there's no way it compares to Hollow Years.

[Groundhog]

The dutch stream is definately a lot better. The grammy.com stream is really bad... I really haven't been listening to TEI anymore. It's an ok song I guess, but I'm not drawn to listen to it again. This on the other I really like. I just think that for this song to be great it would have to have some kind of climax. I was waiting for JLB to belt it out at some point and take it to another level but it never happened except for the end, but even then that was on the background. More dynamic vocals would have made this song great for me. The melodies are great and all but they never really lift off so it feels a bit monotonous.

After these too singles I'm not happy about the sound. I thought that with ADTOE the took a step into right direction dynamic wise, but they've seem to have taken a step back towards the compression of SC.  This is way too compressed. There's absolutely no difference in volume/impact between the acoustic intro and the rest of song. Thus resulting in weak and small overall sound.

Noxon you said in your review that the 5.1 mix is better but can you elaborate more on the differences between the cd and the 5.1 audio. Is the difference big enough to justify buying the dvd version of the album? I'm kinda on the fence here. I love DT, but I have become so annoyed of the loudness war sound that I really don't want to support albums with that kind of audio production anymore. Then again I probably end up buying the deluxe edition just because it is DT and hope for the vinyl and dvd to sound considerably better. Fingers crossed for a better HDTracks version.

[TL]

The drums sound exactly like the drums on I&W... what the hell, guys. You can't not hear those double bass moments and think of the same moments from UaGM.

The snare tone between the two is miles apart.

I will admit, I am a bit surprised at some of the negative feedback elsewhere. Especially from people who don't seem to be aware that Dream Theater have written ballads before, and/or that every other song on the album isn't going to be a ballad.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

The dutch stream is definately a lot better. The grammy.com stream is really bad... I really haven't been listening to TEI anymore. It's an ok song I guess, but I'm not drawn to listen to it again. This on the other I really like. I just think that for this song to be great it would have to have some kind of climax. I was waiting for JLB to belt it out at some point and take it to another level but it never happened except for the end, but even then that was on the background. More dynamic vocals would have made this song great for me. The melodies are great and all but they never really lift off so it feels a bit monotonous.

After these too singles I'm not happy about the sound. I thought that with ADTOE the took a step into right direction dynamic wise, but they've seem to have taken a step back towards the compression of SC.  This is way too compressed. There's absolutely no difference in volume/impact between the acoustic intro and the rest of song. Thus resulting in weak and small overall sound.

Noxon you said in your review that the 5.1 mix is better but can you elaborate more on the differences between the cd and the 5.1 audio. Is the difference big enough to justify buying the dvd version of the album? I'm kinda on the fence here. I love DT, but I have become so annoyed of the loudness war sound that I really don't want to support albums with that kind of audio production anymore. Then again I probably end up buying the deluxe edition just because it is DT and hope for the vinyl and dvd to sound considerably better. Fingers crossed for a better HDTracks version.

I honestly don't see it getting considerably better with a different format. It's just the way JP wanted it to sound. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he decided upon this stylistic direction regardless of or not aware of how distracting it really is.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

The drums sound exactly like the drums on I&W... what the hell, guys. You can't not hear those double bass moments and think of the same moments from UaGM.

Yeah, but the only thing is that I&W was recorded in 1992 and sounds like a 90s (or late 80s) album. This is a 2013 album, I don't expect a 90s/80s sound in my albums 23 years later 

[XB0BX]

The drums sound exactly like the drums on I&W... what the hell, guys. You can't not hear those double bass moments and think of the same moments from UaGM.

Yeah, but the only thing is that I&W was recorded in 1992 and sounds like a 90s (or late 80s) album. This is a 2013 album, I don't expect a 90s/80s sound in my albums 23 years later 

Yeah, I agree, it's not a good thing.

[PROGdrummer]

Ive listened to this song about a dozen times now and it really has grown on me alot. Its pretty great actually.
I think most of my initial hate came from the fact that everything sounds like shit on my iPhone and every single song sounds so much better on my laptop (im talking about using headphones for both, not the speakers).

[Tis BOOLsheet]

By the way, MM posted this about the single:

"Most of you probably already have this link to our new ballad. There's a youtube one as well for listening in some countries. Hope you put the headphones to catch the quad and other stereo split hihat parts. A lot of times, non drummers can't detect this, but the hard panning should allow it."

Can any of the knowledgeable audio people out there tell me: what does he mean by "hard panning"?

[Groundhog]

The dutch stream is definately a lot better. The grammy.com stream is really bad... I really haven't been listening to TEI anymore. It's an ok song I guess, but I'm not drawn to listen to it again. This on the other I really like. I just think that for this song to be great it would have to have some kind of climax. I was waiting for JLB to belt it out at some point and take it to another level but it never happened except for the end, but even then that was on the background. More dynamic vocals would have made this song great for me. The melodies are great and all but they never really lift off so it feels a bit monotonous.

After these too singles I'm not happy about the sound. I thought that with ADTOE the took a step into right direction dynamic wise, but they've seem to have taken a step back towards the compression of SC.  This is way too compressed. There's absolutely no difference in volume/impact between the acoustic intro and the rest of song. Thus resulting in weak and small overall sound.

Noxon you said in your review that the 5.1 mix is better but can you elaborate more on the differences between the cd and the 5.1 audio. Is the difference big enough to justify buying the dvd version of the album? I'm kinda on the fence here. I love DT, but I have become so annoyed of the loudness war sound that I really don't want to support albums with that kind of audio production anymore. Then again I probably end up buying the deluxe edition just because it is DT and hope for the vinyl and dvd to sound considerably better. Fingers crossed for a better HDTracks version.

I honestly don't see it getting considerably better with a different format. It's just the way JP wanted it to sound. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he decided upon this stylistic direction regardless of or not aware of how distracting it really is.

Yeah, you're most likely right. The ADTOE HDTracks release is not a huge improvement but it is more enjoyable to listen to. But the chances for a better version of DT depends on which point the loudness treatment was applied. If it was straight from the recording and mixing then the possible different mastering on DVD, Vinyl or HDTracks won't be much of a help. Considering JP's comments they've probably went on that direction already during mixing. So I guess we'll just have wait and see.

[Grizz]

Wait- is that BITS solo off of Morphwiz, or just a similar patch?

[PROGdrummer]

By the way, MM posted this about the single:

"Most of you probably already have this link to our new ballad. There's a youtube one as well for listening in some countries. Hope you put the headphones to catch the quad and other stereo split hihat parts. A lot of times, non drummers can't detect this, but the hard panning should allow it."

Can any of the knowledgeable audio people out there tell me: what does he mean by "hard panning"?

basically just hearing the left and right sides of the drum kit in the left and right channels, respectively. I guess thats what he means there

[LKap13]

Is it possible that the reason for the continued loudness is that Petrucci and crew listen to the mix on a world-class sound system in the studio, thereby distorting their idea of the way the mix will sound to the masses?

[Groundhog]

The drums sound exactly like the drums on I&W... what the hell, guys. You can't not hear those double bass moments and think of the same moments from UaGM.

Yeah, but the only thing is that I&W was recorded in 1992 and sounds like a 90s (or late 80s) album. This is a 2013 album, I don't expect a 90s/80s sound in my albums 23 years later 

Yeah, I agree, it's not a good thing.

I wouldn't want them to reapeat the sound of their older albums either but I would be a lot happier if this sounded like I&W. At least then I wouldn't be complaining about the sound quality. 

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Is it possible that the reason for the continued loudness is that Petrucci and crew listen to the mix on a world-class sound system in the studio, thereby distorting their idea of the way the mix will sound to the masses?

That's a sign of a bad mix. A good mix sounds great in studio monitors, in cheap headphones and in your cellphone.

[Groundhog]

Is it possible that the reason for the continued loudness is that Petrucci and crew listen to the mix on a world-class sound system in the studio, thereby distorting their idea of the way the mix will sound to the masses?

No I don't think so because world class sound system makes the shortcomings of the audio even easier to detect. For example I know how big my home stereo can sound at their best and these two singles sound really small in comparison to albums with good production.

[Dark Castle]

Is it possible that the reason for the continued loudness is that Petrucci and crew listen to the mix on a world-class sound system in the studio, thereby distorting their idea of the way the mix will sound to the masses?

That's a sign of a bad mix. A good mix sounds great in studio monitors, in cheap headphones and in your cellphone.

This, a good mix engineer mixes an album for where it will be listened to most, which is headphones and earbuds, 5.1 and stuff like that is just an extra treat for the people that want something of better quality for their pricy systems.

[Groundhog]

In my opinion the notion that loud albums sound better on cheap headphones and laptop speakers is mostly a myth. There's some truth to it but the line has been crossed a long time ago. A good mix should sound good on any device.