Been awhile since I have posted here. I fell into one of my cycles where I had played out DT from listening to them far too much for so long.
Anyway, just some thoughts on the new live video. (Found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8ncb21mbJE)
Judging from this one performance, I already love this a LOT more than Luna Park.
To me, Luna Park had a ton of flaws in the mixing department. A few of the main ones:
- Petrucci was far too loud. He also had a chorus-type effect on his guitar which sounded washy, and made palm mutes sound less tight and "mean".
- Jordan was FAR too low in the mix. The synth and piano elements were hidden, and as a result the overall ambiance and environmental texture of the performance was lacking. Everything sounded too dry.
- Mangini's drum kit (particularly the snare) did not sound poppy/tight enough to me. The snare hits did not hit with power, and sounded loose.
- To his credit, James did sound really good.
Alternatively, the mix from the Boston Opera House sounds MUCH better to me.
- The orchestra and choir adds an big, epic environmental underlay to the mix.
- James sounds amazing. Maybe a tad too much auto-tune as we've come to expect, but I'm not going to complain. I'd rather everything be in tune than deal with off-key notes that drive me insane.
- Everyone's performance is on point. I still would like for Mangini to come alive a bit more, showman-wise. He often looks bored. I think it is due to the economical nature of his technique though. But his kit sounds far better to me than in Luna Park. Overall, I am still always going to favor Portnoy personally. But Mangini gets the job done.
- As for song choice, I am always going to be biased in favor of anything off of SFaM, as it is my favorite album of all time. So 10/10 for playing Strange Deja Vu
I am extremely excited for this DVD to come out! I think I will be way more pleased with it than Luna Park.