It's a shame when you have to refer to a drum instructional video to really hear John Myung. This is a rather rare thing. I would compare this to having Bigfoot, and his family over every Sunday for dinner.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Wow. I can hear Myung!!
- Thread starter millsbass5
- Start date
Well, you can see the top of his head, and his finger tips. Like I said, anything that has to do with actually hearing him playing is akin to meeting Bigfoot personally. 
Think of this video as the "Patterson Bigfoot Footage".
Think of this video as the "Patterson Bigfoot Footage".
That's been my biggest complaint w/ Dream Theater. The bass is always buried in the mix. Like 10 feet in the mix. Back in the 90's I played w/ a prog metal band and everyone else in the band would go NUTS over Dream Theater. I was always like....um where's the bass? I know they have a bass player...where is he?
He uses quite a complex rig as well, to make that inaudible tone.
His Wikipedia page details his rig changes. He apparently 'cools down' after a show... not sure of the need for that.He uses quite a complex rig as well, to make that inaudible tone.
What do you mean? I take it that you don't realize how hard it is to actually not be heard...... That's an art in itself.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
He uses quite a complex rig as well, to make that inaudible tone.
You have obviously never seen Dream Theater live. I realize the bass is not the most prominent instrument in DT but I never had a problem hearing John (shredding extremely impressively, better than most) so I would think you guys need better headphones or stereos. I have not heard the new record(s) because as far as I am concerned Dream Theater broke up.
This is true, I've never seen them live. I haven't heard their newest offerings either. An ex GF had a stack of their CDs in her car and we worked through it driving down from Scotland to the south of England. This is maybe my most engaging memory of the band.
'Inaudible tone' is maybe a bit strong on my part, but he has a fairly 'vanilla' tone, so I am surprised he uses such a complex rig.
The songs from the new album are on YouTube. I posted one earlier. Part of the reason for the complexity in his rig is that he uses some alternative sounds for sections. For instance, I bet he has a compressor set for tapping sections (since they nearly always play "Metropolis Pt 1"), a chorus that's generally on, fuzz-wah and phaser for "A Rite of Passage", plus he might have some subtly different tones for different needs.
FWIW I saw them live and while he was audible, the tone sounded really muddy. However, it sounds great on Live at Luna Park, so maybe it was the acoustics of playing in a theatre.
I'm going to blame Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci as producers for John's absence in the mix (with respect to Six Degrees where he is more than audible). IMHO, the songwriting from Train of Thought on up until Mike P left was mostly him playing along with John Petrucci's riffs.
I'd blame Mike more if the recent trend is any indication. The new album had John producing with Richard Chycki engineering/mixing, and as I've been trying to tell people, JM is very audible when he wants to be.
Yeah, I heard he'd be audible on the new album too... Granted he had a couple fills or the guitars would cut out and they'd add a bit of grit to his tone, but in general I presume he just doubles the rhythm guitar parts since I can't hear him anyway.
Hamlet7768 - "FWIW I saw them live and while he was audible, the tone sounded really muddy. However, it sounds great on Live at Luna Park, so maybe it was the acoustics of playing in a theatre."
Wow. That is a great mix of them. The bass actually sounds better than their studio stuff. I can actually hear some of the nuances in his playing on those cuts. I always knew he was a technically proficient player, but, he has even more respect from me now, after hearing that.
Wow. That is a great mix of them. The bass actually sounds better than their studio stuff. I can actually hear some of the nuances in his playing on those cuts. I always knew he was a technically proficient player, but, he has even more respect from me now, after hearing that.
Once again, check out the new self-titled album. The chops he pulls out on that album will blow you away. Along with the tone.
It's pretty much because most bassists here don't consider themselves audible in a mix until they're louder than everything else...same with most other musicians.
Also DT is much more than just MP. If you read into it, it's always been mostly JP and Rudess writing most of the music. MP would really just 'okay' certain ideas and change things here and there. If anything DT has become a bit more interesting since his departing, although don't expect anything groundbreakingly different.
Figured I would revive this thread as I saw Dream Theatre last night.
In any case.... YOU CANT HEAR JOHN! It was pretty amazing. Smallish venue (3500 seats) and I wandered around to see if I was just in a bad spot to hear the bass. YOU CANT HEAR JOHN!
Honestly, is the soundman the keyboard player's brother?
I honestly was amazed. Couldn't hear a note basically all night.
In any case.... YOU CANT HEAR JOHN! It was pretty amazing. Smallish venue (3500 seats) and I wandered around to see if I was just in a bad spot to hear the bass. YOU CANT HEAR JOHN!
Honestly, is the soundman the keyboard player's brother?
I honestly was amazed. Couldn't hear a note basically all night.
I saw them live a few years ago, and I couldn't hear one note he played. The sound was mostly kick drum, with guitar and vocals. And I moved around the theater as well. Ridiculous.
I mostly dislike the band anyway, but bummer that this guy is supposed to be an ace bass player and can't be heard. And it's the same in the albums most of time, which for the last 10 years have been produced by Petrucci and Portnoy when he was in the band.
I bet this is all Petrucci's fault.
I mostly dislike the band anyway, but bummer that this guy is supposed to be an ace bass player and can't be heard. And it's the same in the albums most of time, which for the last 10 years have been produced by Petrucci and Portnoy when he was in the band.
I bet this is all Petrucci's fault.
I didn't know a single song as I am not a fan but Petrucci can definately play. Myung's fingers were moving but maybe he wasn't plugged in.
