CiM is messy and badly recorded enough that it doesn't really matter. What we do know is that according to MP's/JP's/other engineers' opinion, it is the best thing they could get out in those circumstances in regards to the quality of the actual audio/video recordings. Nobody would put out a version where James alone sounds
significantly worse, and no one would take a flawless performance and tamper with it, but some all-around sound quality and veritableness (does this make sense? I meant, the trueness of the recording, the how-it-actually-sounded-like) of the performance was probably sacrificed due to the circumstances of how the thing was released.
What we do know is that autotune in Dream Theater recordings, just like in loads of other bands' recordings, is used. We know pitch correction's been used on vocals in post-production of live shows and in the studio, but in most cases, not a lot of it. Thanks to MP mostly, we know which vocal/instrumental performances over the years have been overdubbed or fixed (from the total overdubbing of vocs on LatM to minimal pitch correction on Score or fixing of the backing vocals on LSFNY). They're all pretty open about it and that's one of the things I like with DT.
JLB doesn't get a free pass due to the messiness of the post-production and the very recording of CiM, but since he's had much better performances than the ones recorded for CiM on that very tour, it is very likely they could have made a great DVD on that tour if they had enough time to prepare all that stuff. And we'll never know just how much the actual singing on the DVD we have has been tampered with, but I know how James sounds on a bad night, and on a bad night during that tour, and some of the things that don't sound good on the DVD don't align with that. The tampering probably wasn't significant enough to create problems we hear in some of the performances, but it just doesn't help and I don't like it and I want veeeeeeeeery light pitch correction, if they deem it necessary, on Luna Park.
It is okay that they're being honest about that sorta stuff, but it annoys me that everything needs to be ironed perfect. We know they make mistakes. We like it when they make mistakes and get out of them. We know James is inconsistent and we still love him because he is getting better and better in recent times regardless of consistency issues. Leave the minute of guitarless silence in UAGM on Score. Leave the vocals relatively unprocessed for CiM, it would have been better than the thing we've gotten even if James was in less than optimal condition because this just sounds weird. For the new DVD, leave the drum solo with the flub in, leave mistakes in. Hell, record most of the performances for YJR, then cherry pick the trainwrecks and put them on a CD (Scenes From A World Tour outtakes, anyone?), and name it THIS IS HOW IT SOUNDS LIKE WHEN WE FUCK SHIT UP.