*Official* The Astonishing discussion thread

[Hanz Gruber]

I put this album on during lunch today. The entire cafeteria, save for a couple of people, hated it. 

I think this applies here:  https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44345.0

I believe we've discussed how to properly introduce someone to DT.  These poor people will never be open to listening to DT again

NUGGETZ

Yep...a 2 hour rock opera is always the worst way to start when introducing Dream Theater to new people

[thosava]

I have to say i'm very happy about getting a lot of brass sections with TA. I have alsways liked brass sections in music very much, and we get a lot of them here It adds a nice flavor that isn't present in most rock music.

[TheGreatPretender]

I have to say i'm very happy about getting a lot of brass sections with TA. I have alsways liked brass sections in music very much, and we get a lot of them here It adds a nice flavor that isn't present in most rock music.

Actually, listening to this album, with such a balanced mix of rock and symphonic instruments, makes me wish more films added rock instruments to their scores. Lord of the Rings battles would've been so much more intense with some drums and distorted guitars.

[thosava]

I love rock music, but i wouldn't go that far LOTR score is very close to perfect as it is!

[hefdaddy42]

And MP fapping at the chamber door.

*shudders*

[TheGreatPretender]

I love rock music, but i wouldn't go that far LOTR score is very close to perfect as it is!

Well, okay then, I'm not familiar enough with LOTR scores specifically, it was just an example. But in general, I don't think film scores need to restrain themselves to only using classical instruments, even when they're taking place in medieval or medieval-like fantasy settings.

[thosava]

I love rock music, but i wouldn't go that far LOTR score is very close to perfect as it is!

Well, okay then, I'm not familiar enough with LOTR scores specifically, it was just an example. But in general, I don't think film scores need to restrain themselves to only using classical instruments, even when they're taking place in medieval or medieval-like fantasy settings.

Yeah i think a lot of them would benefit from some rock/metal.

[Kotowboy]

And MP fapping at the chamber door.

*shudders*

k

[rumborak]

I do wonder, but obviously we will never know, how aware MP is of DT's stuff. I mean, if I can judge him somewhat reasonably, he would die to be involved in a project like TA.

[Kotowboy]

Isn't every Translatlantic album a 2 hour double concept album anyway ?

TA / TA

[rumborak]

FUGGETZ!!

[mikemangioy]

Okay this album suddenly started to click. The first half of Act 2 is basically flawless.

[Mladen]

Oh god the bagpipe moment in The X Aspect is absolutely thrilling... it really shows how Arhys comes to such a dark place after the offer...

Yep, I adore this reprise.  In fact, that entire track is glorious, from the piano intro to the verses themselves, especially the one that begins with "Evangeline, I swore to you..."

[mike099]

I put this album on during lunch today. The entire cafeteria, save for a couple of people, hated it. 

I immediately thought of a commercial on TV in an office lunchroom featuring the band performing the song 'the final countdown'

I probably would get sent home.

[Peter Mc]

Yeah, I struggled a bit with Act 2 at first, probably just because I'd already got through 80 min worth of music but I now love it, it may even be slightly shading it for me.

Also love that a couple of other people are loving "change" in the line 'Now I can be a voice for change' in the title track. Thought I was the only weirdo who was into that. I think it's just something totally unexpected as that melody had been used so many times already but that one word was sung differently to any other point on the album. It's actually one of my favourite things on the whole album as crazy as that is. Simple things that please simple minds, I suppose.

[hefdaddy42]

I mean, if I can judge him somewhat reasonably, he would die to be involved in a project like TA.

Yes, but I would imagine that "be involved" for him would not mean allowing JP to come up with the entire story himself and letting JP & JR write all of the music.

[dparrott]

Just extracted some songs from the CD to wav, it's not brickwalled but still heavily clipped.   

[rumborak]

That is true indeed. It's hard to predict what his influence would have been, but IMO a second pair of eyes on the plot could have been beneficial.

[rab7]

Just extracted some songs from the CD to wav, it's not brickwalled but still heavily clipped.   

Wouldn't extracting to FLAC or ALAC be even better? Why settle for wav? I'm not exactly an audiophile so I'm not criticizing you, I'm just curious.

[thosava]

Just extracted some songs from the CD to wav, it's not brickwalled but still heavily clipped.   

Wouldn't extracting to FLAC or ALAC be even better? Why settle for wav? I'm not exactly an audiophile so I'm not criticizing you, I'm just curious.

Wav is the "best" format there is. It's all the information ripped directly from the CD. There is some debate whether or not Wav is better than other lossless formats, as lossless means absolutely no loss of information. FLAC is compressed, yet lossless. It uses the predictablility of waves to get rid of some unnescesary information. So FLAC and Wav should sound exactley the same, but i have heard some people claim that Wav is better (FLAC coverted back to Wav would be just as good as well).

[rumborak]

People claiming that FLAC is better than WAV drives home the point for me that most of this stuff is confirmation bias.

[thosava]

People claiming that FLAC is better than WAV drives home the point for me that most of this stuff is confirmation bias.

It's usually the other way around, as Wav contains more (useless) information than FLAC. I'd say that it doesn't matter what lossless format you use, but i would never go back to a lossy format as storage space isn't an issue anymore.

[noxon]

The cool thing about lossless compression to uncompressed comparison is that it's REALLY easy to compare. And here's the thing. It's identical. The bits are 100% identical, after you uncompress the lossless one. Anyone stating otherwise do not know how lossless compression works and what the requirement for it to be called lossless is. The predictability of audio they're talking about is how you can encode certain stuff with a shorter string. It's kinda like we all know that when you type SFAM, you really mean "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory", we've just used a term to "compress" it, because we save time and space to do so. Digital audio is similar - when there's a lot of repeating patterns in the digital bits, you can say "oh, this is pattern 001001011010100010010010101010110100101101001001010100010, and let's call that Y". Saved a lot of space there!

With regards to clipping:


I don't really see it when i open it in audacity and look at the waveform with clipping on.

[rumborak]

Even with lossy formats, the reality is that scientists sat down and figured out what people *do* hear, and what they don't. So, when people tell me they gear the difference between a 320kbps mp3 and a WAV, what they tell me is "I have supernatural hearing". That's why I am extremely sceptical.

[noxon]

Oh yeah, I did my master's degree on digital music libraries - and I absolutely agree with that statement.

[Kotowboy]

Are you saying nobody can hear the difference between a 320 kbps MP3 and a CD ?

[noxon]

Most organized listening tests I've seen on A/B'ing 320 vs lossless have averaged out to "statistically insignificant" results. It pretty much averages out to 50/50 in picking the right file - even with just one tester!

Is that to say some people can't hear the difference? No, some people probably has some super-sensitive hearing that can identify that something is "off" in the high range frequencies for instance, but for 95% of us it's all placebo. Expensive placebo, if you buy into the whole audiophile shenanigans

[Mladen]

The moment I know I truly became the master of an album is the moment it touches me emotionally on a strong level. I shed a tear at 1:23 of the closing track, the verse where Arhys addresses his brother from the other side, such a touching part of the story. Now I know I can leave the album alone for a few days. 

[dparrott]

Wrong choice of words.  I didn't mean "clipped" as in 0dB, I should have said "squared off"? 

[thosava]

Is there a mandolin playing at 2:20 in Dystopian Overture as well? Sounds like it.

[Kotowboy]

Have I said this already ?

I think that The Astonishing is really special. Plus it sounds like it carries on where Octavarium leaves off.

It fits in after that album and would have carried on that run of amazing albums from Scenes - Octavarium.

I like to listen to music in the shower and i've been putting on The Astonishing and I want to listen to the whole thing.

[SwedishGoose]

That IS a long shower.... hope you don't pay for the water 

[Progmetty]

The moment I know I truly became the master of an album is the moment it touches me emotionally on a strong level. I shed a tear at 1:23 of the closing track, the verse where Arhys addresses his brother from the other side, such a touching part of the story. Now I know I can leave the album alone for a few days. 

I did get emotionally invested in this album as well, it varies a which song it happens but "And Arhys' fight for hope cost him his very life" gets me every time, such a powerful moment.
Also "Finally I can reveal, how music makes me feel" got me earlier today.

[Kotowboy]

That IS a long shower.... hope you don't pay for the water 

Hehe. I only get through like 2 or 3 songs.

[Gromit1710]

The moment I know I truly became the master of an album is the moment it touches me emotionally on a strong level. I shed a tear at 1:23 of the closing track, the verse where Arhys addresses his brother from the other side, such a touching part of the story. Now I know I can leave the album alone for a few days. 

Had this on A Better Life @ 3:44 on my first listen through.

"Evangeline..."

But it was "Our New World" that sank the whole album in for me finally.