Score was not pitch corrected either. There was some overdubbing, but very minimal, as confirmed both by the band and simply by comparison with bootlegs.
Are you sure? A few bootlegs sometimes pop up on Youtube that sound a little rougher than the finished DVD. I know you guys who were there listened to the bootlegs and compared and all but that was a long time ago.
Noxon at one point shared some segments of Score that are commonly cited for this, with the bootleg panned to one ear, the official DVD panned to the other, and some processing to make them run at exactly the same speed. It's definitely the same recording, with only a couple of short bits overdubbed.
In fact, if you listen to Score enough, you'll eventually kind of start to notice the overdubs. It is quite noticeable when they cut in. And they're pretty brief. Honestly you could probably count on two hands the number of words overdubbed throughout Score.
The main reason Score sounds so different on the DVD compared to from a bootleg when you A/B compare them is simply the mixing and mastering; on the bootleg, you've got a pretty poor quality recording that's being blown out and doesn't capture remotely what it actually sounded like to the people at the show on the night. The recording makes LaBrie sound shrill, thin, and screechy.
Listen to the DVD, with its proper mixing and mastering, and it's much better; full, powerful, present, etc. Closer to how he sounded at the show, to the people who were actually there. Though with a few short overdubs thrown in there too, because it's a DVD and generally it's common practise to make DVDs sound perfect. Not to throw shade on Budokan, but that DVD could probably have used a little overdubbing(wa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall).
I’m one of the lucky ones I guess as I’ve never come out of any DT show with any complaints about JLB’s voice. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m always blown away at how well he still sings 20+ year old songs. Not saying he is the greatest live frontman of all time or anything but he has never detracted from the show at all for me. I know everyone can’t be wrong and he must have some off nights but I’ve never seen one in person and I take no notice of cellphone recordings on YouTube. Not keen on his voice on OIALT or CIM but not sure if that’s his fault or a poor quality recording as he sounds fine to me on the other more polished live albums.
Y'know, it's funny... This reminds me of something my cousin told me; he's been seeing DT live since the '80s, and what he told me is that actually, LaBrie sounds much better live now than he did in the '90s.
Sure, on recordings, his stuff in the '90s sounds mind-blowing, and tops the more recent stuff, but actually in person? Apparently he's tons better now.