New Live Release: BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL discussion thread

[PetFish]

What's the point of saying John Myung plays those pedals?  They should credit Jordan Rudess with playing the Riffer, the Continuum, the Waveboard, the iPhone, the iPad, the iWut, the Yo-yo, and the spoons.

[BRGM]

Well, if there isn't any bonus material, why the double DVD?

[TheAtliator]

"2DVD" "complete with special bonus features"

And yea that is kinda funny how they credit JMX like that, but not Jordan Rudess for iPad and Roli Seaboard.

[Rodni Demental]

Well, if there isn't any bonus material, why the double DVD?

Who's says there's no bonus features? I just assumed we didn't know much about what the content will actually be.

https://www.dreamtheater.net/preorder

On March 25th, 2014, Dream Theater performed at the Boston Opera House with very special guests from the Berklee College of Music orchestra and choir. Filmed and directed by Pierre and François Lamoureux, and mixed and mastered by Richard Chycki, Breaking The Fourth Wall (Live From The Boston Opera House) is over 2 hours in length, complete with special bonus features.

Edit: Looks like above poster beat me to the punch by about 20 seconds. 

[Xenon]

I wonder what the bonus are.
Maybe footage for the reharsals with the orchestra or something like that.

[TheGreatPretender]

As long as they have the stand alone version of that intro animation, I don't care what the other bonus features are.

[Nick]

Well, if there isn't any bonus material, why the double DVD?

Because a single blu-ray can hold about 5x the data as a single DVD. By splitting the show up into two DVDs they can increase the quality of the video and audio. Still won't be as good as the Blu-Ray, but will be better than a single DVD.

[Xenon]

As long as they have the stand alone version of that intro animation, I don't care what the other bonus features are.

[Lucien]

As long as they have the stand alone version of that intro animation, I don't care what the other bonus features are.

Blob, you really outdid yourself. 

[Jinx]

To the folks who have preordered - Is the money taken right away or on despatch of the item? Cheers 

Good question. All places are different, but I THINK Amazon might charge once the item is shipped. You might want to contact Amazon, or whoever you're pre-ordering from.

I was thinking about that Official DT page. Since the BD/3CD is "exclusive" (apparently) to that site.

[Grizz]

Bonus feature speculation: Meanwhile, at B.B King's...

[RaiseTheKnife]

While this new version sounds more balanced, I'm partial to the earlier version.  Lotta ambient room under James voice and overall a lot less polished.  Personally, I don't mind a little refinement to a live release, although Luna Park might have been too extreme in that direction.

I can only imagine what's going on behind the DT curtain.  I mean, there was clearly a change in the sound.  Are they reading our posts and making tweaks?

Anyway, can't base everything on the quality of a Youtube clip.  Looking forward to the final BluRay sound.

[Sycsa]

I can only imagine what's going on behind the DT curtain.  I mean, there was clearly a change in the sound.  Are they reading our posts and making tweaks?

While it sounds appealing, I can't really imagine that the guys working on the release are that incompetent and/or humble at the same time to base their work on internet feedback. Pointing out flaws on artwork is a different kind of animal.

Love that the keys are so loud this time around, that's the most needed change compared to LALP & DT12. That's nothing new though, Live Scenes had louder keys than SFAM and Budokan had that loud bass I was hoping would return on this release. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

[erwinrafael]

So the left and right mix of MM's drums is based on Stage Left and Stage Right. Not MM's left and MM's right. So I would expect a complete reverse in speaker sounds for the drums compared to DT12. 

[Syzzle]

To the folks who have preordered - Is the money taken right away or on despatch of the item? Cheers 

Well my bank statement is already showing that the money has been taken out, but they did say it would show 2 charges 1 of which would just be a confirmation not an actual charge.

[mikeyd23]

I can only imagine what's going on behind the DT curtain.  I mean, there was clearly a change in the sound.  Are they reading our posts and making tweaks?

While it sounds appealing, I can't really imagine that the guys working on the release are that incompetent and/or humble at the same time to base their work on internet feedback. Pointing out flaws on artwork is a different kind of animal.

Love that the keys are so loud this time around, that's the most needed change compared to LALP & DT12. That's nothing new though, Live Scenes had louder keys than SFAM and Budokan had that loud bass I was hoping would return on this release. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

I agree, I can't imagine these changes being based off of feedback, especially this close to the release date. At this point, this thing has to already be finished in mixing and mastering and off to production to have it ready to ship in month.  My guess is that an earlier version of the mix/edit was uploaded to YouTube accidentally. The question is why did it take several days of that video being posted, accumulating over a hundred thousand views before it was taken down and replaced? Weird stuff man... The good news is that the new video looks and sounds amazing!

[BRGM]

Well, if there isn't any bonus material, why the double DVD?

Because a single blu-ray can hold about 5x the data as a single DVD. By splitting the show up into two DVDs they can increase the quality of the video and audio. Still won't be as good as the Blu-Ray, but will be better than a single DVD.

Of course, I should've figured. Still, extremely pumped for this release.

[Nel_Annette]

So the Blu-Ray/3CD won't be widely available like Luna Park was? Awwww. I remember when CiM came out, it was hell finding the version with the CDs. How long's this special edition up for pre-order?

[JRuless]

*ring ring*
"Hello...Petrucci speaking..."

"Hi John, euhh..they expect something like bonus features..so euh...maybe.."

"Yes?"

"Maybe we could arrange...a little bit of a YOU and..you know?

*tuut tuut tuut*

"..John?"

[Kotowboy]

I'll get the standard DVD edition. I'm not obsessed with quality

[Kotowboy]

LALP is why you shouldn't get documentary makers to direct a live DVD. Compare it with Budokan and it's like night and day.

Budokan looks like a bona fide rock show whilst LALP looks like a band playing at the disco night of their school.

[Sycsa]

That has a lot to do with stage lighting. Budokan was restrained and classy, LALP had way too many bright colors. It just looked tasteless. It's not fair to compare anything to Budokan anyway, it's a one of a kind DVD in terms of visuals, looks like a movie rather than a concert.

[Xenon]

I wish they go back to more dark lighting. And a more obscure atmosphere in the stage.

[ResultsMayVary]

After buying the Xbox One months and months ago, I just had to get the Blu-ray version. Better quality for a decent price and the ability to actually play the disc? Yes, please.

[Jinx]

I wish they go back to more dark lighting. And a more obscure atmosphere in the stage.

Hmm I disagree. The stage setup this year was fantastic. The graffiti wall, the Enigma Machine, the HUGE screen. I loved it!

[mikeyd23]

I wish they go back to more dark lighting. And a more obscure atmosphere in the stage.

Hmm I disagree. The stage setup this year was fantastic. The graffiti wall, the Enigma Machine, the HUGE screen. I loved it!

Yeah I agree, the stage setup this tour was superb.  It all comes down to how its captured on film though, that makes a big difference. What looks good in person can easily look bad on film if not handled properly. From the looks of TLG video, the visuals on this release look pretty great, IMO.

[Xenon]

I wish they go back to more dark lighting. And a more obscure atmosphere in the stage.

Hmm I disagree. The stage setup this year was fantastic. The graffiti wall, the Enigma Machine, the HUGE screen. I loved it!

Yeah I agree, the stage setup this tour was superb.  It all comes down to how its captured on film though, that makes a big difference. What looks good in person can easily look bad on film if not handled properly. From the looks of TLG video, the visuals on this release look pretty great, IMO.

Oh, I like all of those things. I'm not a fan of all that Shiny Lights and Colors Colliding 
I dig the 1 colour per song lighting   

[RaiseTheKnife]

Also consider that years ago video format was limited in capturing degrees of light and the results were often smudgy and dark.  Perhaps this is what you are referring to by "dark lighting?"

[Jinx]

I wish they go back to more dark lighting. And a more obscure atmosphere in the stage.

Hmm I disagree. The stage setup this year was fantastic. The graffiti wall, the Enigma Machine, the HUGE screen. I loved it!

Yeah I agree, the stage setup this tour was superb.  It all comes down to how its captured on film though, that makes a big difference. What looks good in person can easily look bad on film if not handled properly. From the looks of TLG video, the visuals on this release look pretty great, IMO.

Oh, I like all of those things. I'm not a fan of all that Shiny Lights and Colors Colliding 
I dig the 1 colour per song lighting   

I agree, in the live setting the lights add to it but, especially in the case of LALP, viewing it on the TV didnt really have the same effect.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I wish they go back to more dark lighting. And a more obscure atmosphere in the stage.

Hmm I disagree. The stage setup this year was fantastic. The graffiti wall, the Enigma Machine, the HUGE screen. I loved it!

Same here, I can only hope that their visuals get more intense/impressive each tour.

[cramx3]

Check out Epica's Retrospect DVD if you want to see how the stage lights can look terrible on video.

I thought from the one clip we can see, the crowd looks very dark (you cant even really see them besides the dark figure of them from the shots behind the crowd) as well as essentially everything that is off stage.  I think that helps the stage lighting with the video.  I think this stage/lighting/video was really awesome in person and I think it got captured pretty well in the video as well.  However, one thing I love about concert videos is to see the crowd reaction, so hopefully there are some shots of them on the rest of the DVD.

[gmillerdrake]

Finally got around to watching TLG....sounded great even on youtube! IMO they are indeed a different, better DT these days....you can see/hear the difference in their performances and body language.

[Mindflux]

When is Amazon going to have the BluRay/CD Combo. Grr

[Mindflux]

That's what I would do as well, but this time I'm skeptical. It's said that the BD+3CD package is an official store exlusive.

Oh. I hope not. GRRRR.

[Mindflux]

They should seriously release this kinda stuff on DTF first as a test, let us nitpick it to death, and then fix everything that's "wrong" about it and release it to the rest of the world. xD

Exactly. If it's something we DTFers now it's how to nitpick about every little detail

It's still not perfect, there's no MP.