Added: Oct 29, 2011
From: zorland876
Duration: 6:7
The somewhat obscure background vocalists of Dream Theater (both baritones) have actually shown some range. This was a joint venture between RoyalCrimsonTheater and myself, in response to my own James LaBrie video. Mike Portnoy: C♯2-G♯4(-G5) 0:00 - First sustaining an F♯4 then singing quite well up to G♯4 in Transatlantic's cover of "A Salty Dog" 0:28 - Scaling his way up to falsetto E5s (starting on G♯2) in the backing vocals of "Prophets of War" 0:44 - A falsetto F5 during a live drum duet with Richard Christy 0:54 - Singing B4, E5, then G5s while recording the backing vocals of "Prophets of War" (all of which he apparently came up with on the spot) 1:10 - Speaking to E2 in "Repentance". This was a flub up on my part, this is actually Corey Taylor. Sorry about that. Mike does actually hit E2s in this song, just a different part of it. 1:15 - The awesome spoken rap of "Prophets of War" bottoming at D2 1:45 - An outtake from the recording session of that song dips down to C♯2! 2:15 - Sorry about the quality on this one: Resonant spoken C♯2s from "In the Presence of Enemies Part 1" with the lead vocal removed John Petrucci: C2-G♯4(-D5) 2:51 - Singing up from G2 in his rendition of "Wither" 3:08 - Sung E2s in the background vocal of "Burning My Soul" 3:23 - And speaking down to strong C2s while imitating his psychotic YouTube alter ego 3:34 - Surprisingly pleasant lines around C♯4 from "Wither" 3:50 - Singing up first to F4, then smooth G♯4s from the same song 4:39 - This one ain't pretty: rickety F♯4s, and then singing (for lack of a better term) up to B♭4 in falsetto from his rendition of "The Spirit Carries On" 5:29 - During a vocal warm up, John sings full E and F♯4s, then sustains falsetto C♯5 with a trill to D5 (with a very lovely falsetto C♯5 from Jordan Rudess in between) Additional thanks to Danerage and TheTarantinoManiac
Channel: Music
Tags: john petrucci mike portnoy dream theater transatlantic
Rating: 5.0' max='5' min='1' numRaters='13' rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#overall ( ratings) Views: 1631 Comments: 38
GoodGuitarSolos Says:
Dec 10, 2011 - Portnoy actually sounds damn good! Petrucci sounds surprisingly great too, until he goes up to those highs. 4:40 God forbid!
Spydrfish Says:
Dec 10, 2011 - Hah.... Would have never seen this coming, they're fine singers just didn't expect any notable Range.
Spydrfish Says:
Dec 10, 2011 - was 4:40 honestly in the album? Hadn't listened to it in a while, honestly sounds kinda bad there...
zorland876 Says:
Dec 10, 2011 - No, it was a joke outtake that was included on the B-sides.
zorland876 Says:
Jan 13, 2012 - Read the description...
anqipiqi Says:
Jan 13, 2012 - Ohh :S Thanks.. Mike.. :) he's amazing *O*
werockyourfaceoff Says:
Apr 11, 2012 - After the G#4 on "A Salty Dog," I heard Mike hit a fast B♭4. Though, he may have intended it to be a B4. Either way, it's high. :)
zorland876 Says:
Apr 12, 2012 - I don't hear anything above G#. "a SAL-TY DAW-aawg"
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Uhmmm, they're not baritones (baritones are much more heavier) , they're tenors too, thou they have kind of darker colors, contrary to Labrie (a light lyric tenor). Petrucci barely sounds good lol, thou Portnoy sounds amazing!
zorland876 Says:
May 3, 2012 - There is absoutely no reason to ever think they were ever tenors at any point. That's just incredibly silly.
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - I study classical singing, I know about every voice type, believe me I know what I am talking about when I say these dudes are tenors. Wanna listen to a rock/metal baritone? Listen Tristania's song Equilibrium, Osten is a baritone.
zorland876 Says:
May 3, 2012 - So are these guys. In my experience, classically studied vocalists don't seem to be terribly knowledgable when it comes to pop singers. Not a slam or anything like that, it's just a completely different form, and the guidelines used to judge classical singing can not be applied the same way to contemporary styles. By that definition, Axl Rose and Geoff Tate are tenors.
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Not all of the guidelines, since they don't know pretty much how to really sing without using their throats, as we do, but still, a the vocal classifications are alwways the same; tenor, baritone and bass, sopranos, mezzos and contraltos. Is not usual to listen about it, but it is the correct term to speak about them. Tenor means "sustain" in italian, which means, hold high notes. There are tenors that got no natural high notes, and we have to study to get to them.
zorland876 Says:
May 3, 2012 - The opposite is true as well, that baritones can "hold high notes". Plenty of baritones (high baritones really) have better high notes than some tenors. Of course as you know in classical schooling baritones singing tenor range is not encouraged, whereas in contemporary music there is no restriction.
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Yes, they can hold it, but still, you can notice a baritone from a tenor by the colour of that note, and given the fact too that when we usually think about low notes, we tend to send the sound to the back of our mouths to make it sound even darker than what it is, and we also tend to speak the same wrong way. Average non trained singers often confuse this kind of facts. As you might know, there are types of tenors, that go from light, light lyric (Labrie), lyric, spinto and dramatic.
zorland876 Says:
May 3, 2012 - By that logic, you would consider Peter Steele and Ville Valo to be tenors.
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Peter Steele was a baritone, but he sends the sound to the back of his mouth, to sound as dark as a bass. Ville Valo is a tenor, by the color of his voice. I used to sing like that with the wrong idea of being a baritone.
zorland876 Says:
May 3, 2012 - So having light (thin) highs completely offsets having the strongest, darkest, most resonant lows of any modern popular singer?
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Those are resonant in microphone, but I can asure you, you can barely listen to themm without it. Is hard to believe, but believe me, once you get the nature of a voice, you can say who is and who's not, and why vocal range is not in fact important.
zorland876 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Then as you undoubtedly know, it is far easier to develop strong highs out of your natural comfort zone than it is to develop drastic lows. Especially bass lows. You would also know that amplification doesn't change everything, and that natural resonance can still be measured even if projection is obscured. Especially when listening to someone like Valo scale downward into the first octave with no voice break.
lateralex90 Says:
May 3, 2012 - Yes, it is easier (you can stretch your chords, but not make 'em thicker), but for example, I can sing as low as (or even lower) Valo, and I'm a tenor. Singing line must be homogeneous, and is obvious that amplification is modified going down, but it should not be a drastic change as most of those singers do, which means that is not a comfortable register for them. Tenors have also low notes, some very low notes; the difference is not the note, but how you get to it.
zorland876 Says:
May 7, 2012 - Yes, and Valo gets to low notes with much more ease than most baritones, and has a harder time with high notes. The same with these two. You seem to believe that anyone with clean or light highs has to be a tenor.
UnholyMessiah555 Says:
May 17, 2012 - I've notewatched Rudess (my favourite musician/person/God of all time), sorta. His few studio tracks never leave a range of about A2-D4, so I keep an eye on his interviews and youtube channel, and I've heard at least spoken Bb1s (as well as a possible G#1) and a sung F4 or F#4, can't remember which, from him singing 'happy birthday'. Definitely a standard baritone (high when he was younger), he's lower than any of the other DT guys but his 1st octave notes aren't resonant enough for a bass.
UnholyMessiah555 Says:
May 17, 2012 - Oh, and cool video! I think Portnoy's actually similarly placed to me, although since he's a good 25 or so years older he has stronger lows, but I bottom out just above him. Petrucci's definitely pretty low, he's really improved as a singer in his time with DT as well (although he's clearly not a natural).
TheWhocares233 Says:
Dec 3, 2011 - Portnoy has a decent singing voice. Petrucci on the other hand is...LOL