Dream Theater, comprised of guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, drummer Mike Portnoy, vocalist James LaBrie and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, are the immensely popular progressive rock/metal band with a big loyal fan base following them throughout the years. Making their 40th anniversary tour celebration even more special is the return of Portnoy, the band’s original drummer and co-founder, after a 13-year break, during which he performed active duty in a dozen other band projects. Dream Theater are performing two-sets on the tour. Already with 15 studio albums to their name, the band released their 16th album, Parasomnia, in February.
The View from FOH
Micheal “Ace” Baker is back as FOH Engineer for the current Dream Theater tour. In 2018, Baker was working on the G3 Tour, featuring Dream Theater’s John Petrucci along with Joe Satriani and Def Leppard’s Phil Collen, mixing FOH for all three bands.
“I had such an amazing time mixing for that tour and didn’t want it to end. I continued to work for Joe for the rest of the year, which ended in Australia. It was Dream Theater’s manager, Frank Solomon, who wanted to ‘borrow’ me after that G3 tour for the next year, so thanks to Joe’s manager for referring and lending me for the job.”
While Dream Theater are not carrying a PA all of the time on this tour, they are always carrying front fills and FOH control. “We carry the stacks and racks whenever possible, as we did on the European leg. Logistics and costs dictate whether we are able to carry PA. Many of the places we play have very nice PA’s in their venues,” Baker notes.
A key factor in the success of the shows, Baker adds, are the production managers. “Dream Theater has had two really great production managers in my time here. Former [T.J. Rodriguez] and current PM Maddi Schieferstein do excellent jobs of advancing audio needs with the venues — say, perhaps more subs, side hangs, etc.”
Baker also points to the “fantastic relationship” Dream Theater has had with audio vendor Entec Sound for the whole time that he’s been mixing them. “In the past, we used them in Europe [being out of London], but they are making a move into the North American market, providing every specific piece of gear that we request, and that has been really nice. Many companies have the same gear, but what you’re really looking for is an audio company that hires great, hard-working people with good attitudes who perform precisely and professionally. The people at Entec are awesome with impeccably prepped gear, and if anything ever has issues, they either fix it or replace it fast.”
He cites a case in point. Back on the 2022/23 tour, Baker wanted to use his Valhalla reverbs, so he used his DiGiGrid MGB to connect his laptop to the board where he used a Logic session to run the reverbs. “This worked, but I had to sacrifice my computer for this task. When I heard about the Fourier [transform.engine], I decided to give it a try, and I’ve been using it every show since. It has worked flawlessly, and it will be with me for the foreseeable future. In my 500 series rack, I started with sets of Trident 80B EQ’s linked to dbx compressors for kick and snare. After the European leg, I decided to buy more EQ’s and comps in order to give each kick and each snare its own setup. I wanted to get more Trident EQ’s and dbx 560’s, but the dbx were hard to find, so I started looking at other options, and the Harrison Comp caught my eye. And then, like a sign from the audio gods, I heard that my longtime friend Rick Naqvi had just gotten the VP of Sales position at SSL (which also handles Harrison). I called Rick and asked him if I could check out three Harrison’s for my three kicks. He told me that not only did he have the Harrisons, but that he would send a few SSL E-Dyn units as well. And you see, there’s a reason why Rick is such a great salesman. He knew that I would end up buying everything.”
Baker says the Harrison’s are fantastic on the kick — delivering a good punch while making the mix sound expansive. “I use two of the SSL’s on the snare drums. Good lord, are they amazing. They just give you so many more colors to play with, especially if you incorporate a bit of the expander into the sound. I use the third SSL on Petrucci’s piezo pickup. It really makes the acoustic sound come to life.”
Baker also uses the stock delay in the DiGiCo Quantum338 console. “The majority of the reverbs and vocal effects are coming from the Fourier,” he says, adding that vocalist James LaBrie “loves a big lush reverb, and in my opinion, nobody does that better than Valhalla, so I use Valhalla Plate, Valhalla Space Modulator and Valhalla delay. I also use Sound Toys Super Plate when I want to use a smaller plate on James, and I use Sound Toys MicroShift to thicken the vocal a bit.”
Baker also uses Nembrini Audio Black for the distortion on Mike Portnoy’s vocal for “The Dark Eternal Night.” Baker uses the Hendyamps/Maor Appelbaum Mastering “The Oven” plugin for keyboards, saying it smooths everything out and makes them sound absolutely gorgeous. For the rest of Baker’s rack, he has a dbx 160 on the bass, dbx 160 on Petrucci’s vocal, a dbx 160 and a Neve 545 (to remove excess drum bleed) on Portnoy’s vocal, and a Trident 80B EQ, an API SV12 comp, and a dbx 520 on James’ vocal. “For my Master, I go into the Hendyamps/ Maor Appelbaum Mastering ‘The Cooker’ straight into the Smart Research C1LA” compressor/limiter.
Baker says he will always remain a work in progress regarding mixing. “The tech part of our job is always evolving for sure. It’s like New York… the city is never finished. Somebody’s always jackhammering something. I am very fortunate in that I have two younger engineers out here with me. While I remember writing my very first email at the ripe age of 30, these guys have been on computers since they were babies. They teach me all kinds of fancy computer and networking tricks.”
Baker adds that monitor engineer James “Jimmy T” Meslin “is the one who got me into the [Smart Research C1LA] 500 series stuff. It’s a real asset to be on tour with the guy that records the band’s studio albums. He brings all the studio tricks with him. If I want to know what cool effect he used on a record, I can just walk over to monitor world and ask him about recording gear and tips. Then Barny Peplow,” the control package tech, “is one of the hardest working guys that I’ve ever worked with, and he knows so much about all the latest and greatest gear. He hips me to new toys all the time. In the best-case scenario, I hope that I’m still evolving and still improving.”
When Baker was working at House of Blues on LA’s Sunset Strip as the house monitor engineer and Dream Theater played there in 1998, Vinnie Kowalski was mixing FOH. Baker says Vinnie was one of the coolest guys that he’d ever met. He notes that Jose “Ho” Baraquio, Mike Portnoy’s longtime drum technician, was already working for them too. “The thing that I remember is what a professional organization they were. The band and crew were firing on all cylinders simultaneously. I remember being so impressed by it all. They’ve maintained that reputation for 34 years before I got here. They have always had a top-notch crew. They are known for it. I love being a part of that now. I love the music, I’m inspired by the musicianship, and I’m constantly challenged by the crew to be better than I was the day before, because they challenge themselves.”
At Monitors
Monitor engineer James “Jimmy T” Meslin was a house engineer at Cove City Sound Studios on Long Island when his paths first crossed with Dream Theater. “I assisted their self-titled record in 2012 under Rich Chycki, who was lead engineer. I ended up fulfilling the same role in 2016 for their record The Astonishing and later got asked onto the supporting world tour in 2016. Developing a relationship with the band in studio and on tour curated a natural evolution in our working relationship. The band has a history that supersedes my career, and I’ve been fortunate enough to gain insight from their experiences and approaches they’ve taken along the way.”
In return, Meslin entered into the camp with a slightly different perspective from a different school of thought, he notes. “Somewhere in the middle, we aligned in a really great way, and it’s become second nature to collaborate with each other in the studio and on stage, and even beyond that I played a role in building their private studio and storage warehouse,” working alongside Maddi Schieferstein, the band’s production manager and John Petrucci’s guitar tech. “My investment in the organization runs pretty deep, and I am appreciative for their trust in my work and decision making.”
Meslin’s credit list from the studio side is a bit heftier and more of a mixed bag in terms of genre and artist popularity. “I actively strive to have time in my schedule to take on a tracking and/or mix project; regardless of if it’s an A lister or unknown artist. I enjoy having sessions on the to-do list. Live, I do most of my touring with Dream Theater but do sneak in some one-off stuff here and there; mostly with guitar guru’s or similar instrumental and metal acts.” Ultimately, Meslin says having extensive experience in the studio and touring has become a melting pot of knowledge. His approach, no matter what the job is at hand, is not a switch between the two — but rather a mixture of the ideologies and techniques picked up along the way. “I value having the opportunity to work professionally on both ends.”
Starting off this tour in October 2024, Meslin was on the SD12 console, saying the DiGiCo ecosystem is his preferred means of gigging. He adds that the footprint of that desk is the right one for a Dream Theater show. “When Entec, our sound provider, got the 326 console through the door, we reasoned it was time to make the leap. I had to make small adjustments to my workflow at first, but ultimately I prefer the layout of this board, and I am not looking back,” Meslin says.
“Most of my EQ shaping and dynamics take place on the desk. Across every mix bus has a Waves SSL compressor strapped to the output which has a more familiar punch to me than the on-board desk comps. I run a fair bit of Waves harmonic saturators (tape and console line amp sims) on varying channels, as to not redefine the incoming source sound — but enhance it and give a more analog response. This is in line as to why select channels hit the RND D8. The transformers in the unit give the analog saturation and sag that can take away the sterile feeling of being all digital. I can drive that pretty hard and bring a signal to life. [Singer] James Labrie has a few options for wet FX. I’ve got two instances of H-Delay and one R-Verb on hand to create a space that’s comfortable for him, depending on how the stage feels on any given day. I run a record every night to Pro Tools via a MADI stream of raw multi’s and a 2-track reference mix. That mix runs some additional comps and multi bands to help the mix hit harder outside of the IEM listening space.”
One Mic Brand Dominates
The band is currently carrying a mic package entirely sourced from sE Electronics. James Labrie is on a wireless mic using the sE V7 MC1 cap on a Shure AD2 stick. Guitarist John Petrucci and drummer Mike Portnoy are both using V7s which, Meslin says, are robust and sound true to the voice.
Mike Portnoy’s drum mics are all either bar mounted to the drum frame or mounted internally via a Kelly Shu and May Mounting system making for a clean look and consistent sound. Microphones on Mike’s kit include on [2] Snare drums — sE V7 on top, sE8 on bottom; [3] Hi-Hats — sE8; [3] Kick drums — sE BL8 + V Kick; [6] Rack Toms — sE V Beat, [3] Floor Toms — sE V Kick and pancake floor an sE BL8 (with Omni cap), [1] Gong Drum — sE V Kick, [4] Roto Toms — sE V7X, [3] Overheads — RN17 and [6] additional sE8’s acting as spot mics for various ride, splash, and chime sources.
Guitarist John Petrucci isn’t a fan of iso cabs, notes Meslin. “He’s very particular and certain about his tone and admittedly is right in that iso cabs tend to have a coning effect on the sound. His rig runs in true stereo, so he has two Mesa 4×12 Traditional cabinets off stage with speakers from the late ‘90s/early 2000s. That pick came from the recent recording sessions of Dream Theater’s new album, Parasomnia in which we deep dove into his collection and heard magic in those boxes. Live, I use two sE VR2 active ribbons (one on each cab). They each live in sE guitaRF Reflection Filters that are attached to cab grabbers hanging overtop the cabs. We use a packing blanket for a little extra help keeping the reflections out of the mics. Most of the heavy lifting to optimize the response of the microphones is coming from the sE filters.”
When Meslin started as the band’s monitor engineer in 2018, the members were nearly all on different IEM makes and models. “Now four are on JH (Roxanne’s and JH16) and one is on Sensaphonics. I’m using Roxanne’s, so I’ve got a clear understanding of what they’re hearing each night. With this tour I appreciate the professionalism I’m surrounded by; be it the band, crew, vendors, and companies I work closely with on a regular basis. It takes a village.”
Audio Control
Barny Peplow is the tour’s control package technician. He notes that Entec Sound & Light have been a mainstay in the UK live production market since the late 60’s, remaining independent in a particularly busy market of ever-expanding multinational companies, and he’s seen Entec grow “from the bowels of the Marquee Club in London’s West End to a company with the ability and infrastructure to pull off multiple huge concerts around the world at any one time. Ever since I have known Dan Scantlebury,” Entec’s head of sound, “we have always worked well together on various festivals and projects throughout the last eight years, so when he moved to London-based Entec in 2018, where I call home, it was a pleasure to carry on our working relationship within a company who had so much possibility for growth.”
Entec Sound & Lights have supplied Dream Theater with a rock-solid audio control package in Europe for around 10 years now. “Dan [Scantlebury] tasked myself and Tom Olorenshaw of Entec to redesign this rig to the specifications of engineers Jimmy and Ace, with the thought in mind that it would stay together as a package for at least six months covering the first few legs of DT’s world tour, possibly extending onto a year, making Entec now the worldwide audio provider for the band. It all needed to be a sensible and consistently easy audio package that could withstand arduous trucking and airline palleting. The shock mounting in all of the racks has done wonders for the gear’s ability to tour and gives the engineers the confidence that everything is going to work night after night.”
Peplow has been working with Dream Theater since their Top of the World Tour in 2022, predominantly with Entec audio packages but occasionally working directly for the band when they’ve toured some harder-to-reach places in the world and picked up local audio. “My day starts with unloading the audio package and sending the cases to their desired location to be met by Ace and Jimmy, who are world class engineers and not afraid to get their hands dirty during the day, which can be a rarity. There is almost a symbiotic understanding between the three of us at this point. Jimmy and I will deal with all things on stage — consoles, racks, and I will coordinate the RF — and then meet in the middle for drum mics and wedges. Being the only audio tech with this package does mean I have to be a bit of a ‘do it all’ person, but with these engineers I am lucky enough to work with here, we have very few problems with gear that can’t be fixed with simple solutions.”
Dream Theater’s 40th anniversary tour kicked off in Europe in October 2024, then got its start in North America on Feb. 7, the same date that the band released its 16th studio album, Parasomnia. That North American leg concluded March 22 with a concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. From June to October, 2025, the band will resume performances at a variety of festival dates in Europe and the U.S. For the latest tour news, visit dreamtheater.net.
Dream Theater 40th Anniversary Tour
Sound Company: Entec Sound & Light
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Michael “Ace” Baker
- Monitor Engineer: James “Jimmy T” Meslin
- Control Package Technician: Barny Peplow
- Tour Manager: Rikk Feulner
- Production Manager: Matthew “Maddi” Schieferstein
- Drum Tech: Jose Baraquio
- Guitar Tech: Matthew “Maddi” Schieferstein
- Bass Tech: Jerry Pratt
- Keyboard Tech: Eric Frampton
- Lighting Designer & Director: Steve Baird
- Lasers: Meganne “The Beam Queen” Money
Gear
FOH
- Console: DiGiCo Quantum 338
- In-console FX: Delays and reverbs
- Outboard Rack FX: Fourier Audio transform.engine with plugins from Valhalla, SoundToys, Plugin Alliance’s “The Oven” and Nembrini distortion. (2) Radial Workhorse racks contain (6) Trident 80B 500 Series EQ’s, (3) Harrison Audio Comp 500 Series compressors, (3) SSL 611DYN’s, (1) SMART Research C1LA Foo Series compressor/limiter, (2) dbx 560, Hendyamps/ Maor Appelbaum “The Cooker,” (1) API SV12 compressor, (1) dbx 520 De-Esser, Rupert Neve Designs 545 Primary Source Enhancer, (3) dbx 160
MON
- Console: DiGiCo Quantum326
- In-console FX: DiGiCo channel processing, Waves Extreme SoundGrid Server, KLANG
- Outboard Rack FX: Rupert Neve Designs D8 mic pre’s for select channels
