Pull Me Under - Live at Luna Park

[TheAtliator]

-James is perfectly on key, his tone is incredibly distinctive and he has the greatest vibrato I've ever heard
-JP's tone is godly
-The bass drum and snare chop through perfectly like a machine gun of emotion
-The edits are perfect. The overheads are a great view to see, a view which you don't get all the time.
-The audience looks super excited and energetic
-The sound and picture are crystal clear
-The extra goodies you get while watching (like Jordan at the beginning and James making a face or something to a crew guy) are something I am incredibly grateful to DT for
-The band is TRULY inspired with tons of smiles, movements, the happiest faces I've ever seen, with nothing even needed to be planned out other than the notes being played
-The entertainment value in the stage presence is HUGE simply by watching these guys' fingers move. Because of this, they do NOT find themselves needing to resort to silly head-banging motions, silly poses and dances like most acts have to do to desperately keep the audiences attention. The musicianship is the greatest in the world.
-AND to top it all off, it appears that nothing is even touched up or rerecorded, and this is really a live performance we're seeing. THAT IS INSANE.

THIS IS F***ING DREAM THEATER RELEASING A 5 HOUR LONG DVD, AND GIVING PART OF IT TO US FOR FREE TWO WEEKS EARLY.

[BlobVanDam]

What a nice surprise to wake up to!

Overall, loved it. Great camera work and picture quality (aside from Youtube's compression screwing with it), and the production sounded good too. I didn't really have a problem with the keyboard mix either. I wouldn't have minded them a touch louder, but I didn't feel they were too low either.

JLB - Sounded great, and raw and live. Didn't sound processed, and he was going for some cool high notes, and he had a good level of grit and vibrato. He didn't sound as clean as on Score, but it's because he was being a little more adventurous and raw. I liked that! He sounded better than on any other JR era DVD except probably Score. Keep in mind this was the end of the set, so this is probably as bad as he gets, which is pretty damn good.

JP - Perfect as usual. I can't judge his guitar tone properly from that, but it reminded me of Budokan's tone.

JM - I'm not on a good setup to judge bass, but I could hear his bass tone really nicely during JP's solos. Hopefully his bass will add some nice bottom end too.

MM - I can't fault his performance, although he didn't look as energetic as he has in other live clips I've seen. But again, this was the end of the set, so I expect he'll perk up on the rest of the show(s).

JR - Very happy to see a lot of shots of JR, and he was having a lot of fun with the wizard hat and stand. I could hear him just fine in the mix here, so hopefully the rest sounds equally fine to me.

Quality and performance-wise, this is definitely shaping up to be a great release. WANT NOW.

[gmillerdrake]

What a nice surprise to wake up to!

Overall, loved it. Great camera work and picture quality (aside from Youtube's compression screwing with it), and the production sounded good too. I didn't really have a problem with the keyboard mix either. I wouldn't have minded them a touch louder, but I didn't feel they were too low either.

JLB - Sounded great, and raw and live. Didn't sound processed, and he was going for some cool high notes, and he had a good level of grit and vibrato. He didn't sound as clean as on Score, but it's because he was being a little more adventurous and raw. I liked that! He sounded better than on any other JR era DVD except probably Score. Keep in mind this was the end of the set, so this is probably as bad as he gets, which is pretty damn good.

JP - Perfect as usual. I can't judge his guitar tone properly from that, but it reminded me of Budokan's tone.

JM - I'm not on a good setup to judge bass, but I could hear his bass tone really nicely during JP's solos. Hopefully his bass will add some nice bottom end too.

MM - I can't fault his performance, although he didn't look as energetic as he has in other live clips I've seen. But again, this was the end of the set, so I expect he'll perk up on the rest of the show(s).

JR - Very happy to see a lot of shots of JR, and he was having a lot of fun with the wizard hat and stand. I could hear him just fine in the mix here, so hopefully the rest sounds equally fine to me.

Quality and performance-wise, this is definitely shaping up to be a great release. WANT NOW.

I like this post. Said what I was thinking.

[Grizz]

Blah blah blah blah blah the mix, blah blah blah blah blah the mix, blah blah blah blah blah the mix, complain complain complain. I swear it never ends. This is why I left the Portnoy forums. There's no joy in this anymore. I take my leave saying I loved hearing the song again, brings back great memories. I'm buying the deluxe edition because I like the band and their music, not so I can say what MY personal expectations of a mix should be. You want to have the mix YOUR WAY. Make your own record and mix it the way you want.

The internet is where people air their grievances. This is nothing new. This is a discussion forum, not a PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY PETRUCCI forum.

[Dark Castle]

Blah blah blah blah blah the mix, blah blah blah blah blah the mix, blah blah blah blah blah the mix, complain complain complain. I swear it never ends. This is why I left the Portnoy forums. There's no joy in this anymore. I take my leave saying I loved hearing the song again, brings back great memories. I'm buying the deluxe edition because I like the band and their music, not so I can say what MY personal expectations of a mix should be. You want to have the mix YOUR WAY. Make your own record and mix it the way you want.

Going to let you in on a little secret;
People have every right to voice their opinion, even if it's not favorable to what yours is. Grow up and learn to understand what an opinion is.

[OsMosis2259]

Blah blah blah blah blah the mix, blah blah blah blah blah the mix, blah blah blah blah blah the mix, complain complain complain. I swear it never ends. This is why I left the Portnoy forums. There's no joy in this anymore. I take my leave saying I loved hearing the song again, brings back great memories. I'm buying the deluxe edition because I like the band and their music, not so I can say what MY personal expectations of a mix should be. You want to have the mix YOUR WAY. Make your own record and mix it the way you want.

Most of the time it's usually "I don't like the mix BUT I like x, y, z, the guitars sound great, JLB is great etc"

It's all opinions man and it is a discussion forum... You don't really have to be a mixer to tell what you think is a good mix or not.

[Lolzeez]

This was nice. Though James looks really funny with that hat. (Pokemon anyone?  )

[rumborak]

Overall pretty good, solid performance. Not too big a fan of JP's guitar sound, it's too overtone-y.

And on a completely different note: JP is getting dangerously close to a skullet.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

It's possible the mix will sound better on the disc. I didn't think it sounded terrible though.

[Ben_Jamin]

This was nice. Though James looks really funny with that hat. (Pokemon anyone?  )

I thought the same thing,  "JLB got the pokemon hat"

[aprilethereal]

I was hoping they'd release a different song, maybe something from ADTOE, but I'm still really excited now, a lot more than I was before

[BlobVanDam]

I was hoping they'd release a different song, maybe something from ADTOE, but I'm still really excited now, a lot more than I was before

I would have liked to hear something we haven't heard live so many times before, but it's also understandable that they went with the "hit" though.
I'm just content to have a full song to judge. It's good enough to convince me to purchase it, so it has served its purpose.

[adastra]

I Liked it :3  JLB Sounds great!
I can't find anything negative to say..... But I hope that the "documentary" isn't made to look like reality TV like that drumming audition.

[Jinx]

People saying Mangini sounded robotic is crazy. He stayed true to the original. Like he did with all of the songs pre-ADTOE on that tour. Anyway considering this is the end of the set on Night 2, it is fantastic!! Cant wait for the rest of the DVD now!! 

[KevShmev]

Pretty good version, although I never thought this song translated that well live, at least as much as many other of theirs, but JLB still has that annoying habit of saying stuff to the crowd over a great musical part.  In this case, he yells over the band kicking in full force around 1:02; that bugs me when he does stuff like that (similar to how he did it near the end of the musical climax near the end of the instrumental section in Beyond This Life on Budokan).

[adastra]

Oh my god xD  I'm laughing at the comments @Blabbermouth. Some of these complaints are so strange;

"Honestly what is with James' position of his tongue when he hits the high notes? It looks like a banana slug being stabbed with a spork nestled up against his tongue vibrating in pain. IS THAT NECESSARY? . "

What a fuck lol xD

[BlobVanDam]

Oh my god xD  I'm laughing at the comments @Blabbermouth. Some of these complaints are so strange;

"Honestly what is with James' position of his tongue when he hits the high notes? It looks like a banana slug being stabbed with a spork nestled up against his tongue vibrating in pain. IS THAT NECESSARY? . "

What a fuck lol xD

I also think it's more like a canary. And it just wouldn't be JLB without the signature tongue and hand gesture on the high notes!

[aurorablind]

I loved it! 
JlB sounds awesome, the playing is great, and the video looks fantastic!

The only "bad" things i noticed where:
- Manginis drums sounds a bit dry. It´s a bit sad that one of the best drummers in the world never really gets a truly AWESOME drum sound. Hopefully he will get it some day. I guess Portnoy had a lot to say when it came to the actual drum-mixing, and probably evolved a good ear at doing it as well (i always liked MPs drum-sound).
- JR is a bit low. The (supposed to be) epic string part in the end is almost inaudible.
- You can definitely see Myung playing the Taurus bass-synth during the chorus, but the sound isn´t there!
- JP clearly sings during the chorus, but isn´t heard.

[BlobVanDam]

I loved it! 
JlB sounds awesome, the playing is great, and the video looks fantastic!

The only "bad" things i noticed where:
- Manginis drums sounds a bit dry. It´s a bit sad that one of the best drummers in the world never really gets a truly AWESOME drum sound. Hopefully he will get it some day. I guess Portnoy had a lot to say when it came to the actual drum-mixing, and probably evolved a good ear at doing it as well (i always liked MPs drum-sound).
- JR is a bit low. The (supposed to be) epic string part in the end is almost inaudible.
- You can definitely see Myung playing the Taurus bass-synth during the chorus, but the sound isn´t there!
- JP clearly sings during the chorus, but isn´t heard.

I noticed the lack of JP on the chorus too. Hopefully that doesn't apply to any other songs. I didn't have any problem hearing the epic strings at the end though.

I actually don't mind the more raw drums here, although usually I do prefer the reverb sound. They sound fitting for a live release, and it's nice to hear the nuances, instead of having it sound too processed (and I prefer it to the DT12 drum sound). A bit more reverb might have been nice, but this way everything has a bit more room in the mix, which I don't mind for a live album where everything is naturally a bit "dirtier" anyway.
I really liked the toooone of the bass, snare and toms, which is the most important factor for me.

[SystematicThought]

Maybe it was just me, but sometimes the video doesn't sync with what's happening.

Overall, I enjoyed it an placed my pre-order

[adastra]

What's with JR's hat?!  Im so fed up with this wizard thing ._.

[efx]

Overall I liked it. I don't think the drum sound was anything to write home about and the overall sound lacked a bit of punch but I do like the visual style and the cuts aren't SteveHarris-Frantic.
I could do without some of the screamier bits from James but he sounds very healthy that's for sure.

One thing I don't like, I actually severely dislike it and have since he started playing the song is how JR shreds the double time arpeggio after the first verse. That part is one of my favorites and it just falls apart in a flurry of notes and I never understood the appeal of it.

But I do like how the rest of the song is performed closer to what it was on the record. Over the years they changed a bunch of stuff in it so I can appreciate them going back to the "original" so to speak.

[nikatapi]

It's good that they released a video, i've been expecting this for a long time.

Good things:
James sounds good, JP also.
Things i didn't like:
Drum sound -Weak bass drum sound, cymbals have a thin sound, i think one of the bass drums sounds lower than the other in some drum parts.
JR- Can't really hear him besides the lead stuff.
JM- Low volume, they barely show him on this song.

I will get the live album for sure, but i think DT need someone to fix their sonic problems, and maybe MM needs to change mics or drum brand, he is an amazing player but his sound doesn't do him justice.

I'm very excited to see the bonus stuff on this.

[The Stray Seed]

What a nice surprise to wake up to!

Overall, loved it. Great camera work and picture quality (aside from Youtube's compression screwing with it), and the production sounded good too. I didn't really have a problem with the keyboard mix either. I wouldn't have minded them a touch louder, but I didn't feel they were too low either.

JLB - Sounded great, and raw and live. Didn't sound processed, and he was going for some cool high notes, and he had a good level of grit and vibrato. He didn't sound as clean as on Score, but it's because he was being a little more adventurous and raw. I liked that! He sounded better than on any other JR era DVD except probably Score. Keep in mind this was the end of the set, so this is probably as bad as he gets, which is pretty damn good.

JP - Perfect as usual. I can't judge his guitar tone properly from that, but it reminded me of Budokan's tone.

JM - I'm not on a good setup to judge bass, but I could hear his bass tone really nicely during JP's solos. Hopefully his bass will add some nice bottom end too.

MM - I can't fault his performance, although he didn't look as energetic as he has in other live clips I've seen. But again, this was the end of the set, so I expect he'll perk up on the rest of the show(s).

JR - Very happy to see a lot of shots of JR, and he was having a lot of fun with the wizard hat and stand. I could hear him just fine in the mix here, so hopefully the rest sounds equally fine to me.

Quality and performance-wise, this is definitely shaping up to be a great release. WANT NOW.

Great post Blob! I agree 100%

[snapple]

Are we still judging the mix of something based on YouTube clips? Jesus fucking christ.

[PixelDream]

Are we still judging the mix of something based on YouTube clips? Jesus fucking christ.

Are there still people who think that the final mix will be that much different from the YouTube clip? Even if it was 128kbps MP3 you could still judge the mix, the levels will be the same.

[efx]

Are we still judging the mix of something based on YouTube clips? Jesus fucking christ.

Youtube whilst not perfect will still give you an near complete indication of timbre and of the balance between the instruments.

[The Stray Seed]

Are we still judging the mix of something based on YouTube clips?

This.

Are there still people who think that the final mix will be that much different from the YouTube clip? Even if it was 128kbps MP3 you could still judge the mix, the levels will be the same.

Youtube whilst not perfect will still give you an near complete indication of timbre and of the balance between the instruments.

And have to strongly disagree on the above. I can't remember a much different sounding experience when I heard the actual album version of TEI. It was just waaaaaaay better (and different) than the youtube one that I had been hearing before I could get my hands on the CD.

[CharlieDominietzsche]

Maybe it was just me, but sometimes the video doesn't sync with what's happening.

I noticed this too. It's especially apparent at 3:02. Otherwise, great video.

[BlobVanDam]

Maybe it was just me, but sometimes the video doesn't sync with what's happening.

I noticed this too. It's especially apparent at 3:02. Otherwise, great video.

I see it.
Hopefully that's just due to Youtube re-encoding the file poorly. There really shouldn't be any sync issues on a professionally made live concert like that, so for now I'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

[Perpetual Change]

Some people who saw it in theaters complained about sync issues, too.

Very strange.

[Meatrose]

That would be very strange. When it's released like 15 months after it was recorded one would think that they had enough time to make sure that the audio and video is in sync. The Neil Morse Live Momentum blu-ray has some severe sync-related issues on one of the discs which makes it hard for me to fully enjoy it.

[Polarbear]

Pretty damn nice performance! The sync issues are strange though...

[wolfking]

I also think James doesn't sound all that good here at all.  But saying that, for a live performance, it's perfectly acceptable.  His technique is just different now I guess, he seems to lack the warmth from his voice a little.  But this a hard song and still better than his Budokan vox.

Also, the mix doesn't help him either.  I would like to have heard the audience, and the whole mix just sounds a bit cold.  Don't think I'll bother with the cd's of this, just the DVD for me.

[Tick]

Score sounded fine...