Overview

 

The first live use of the DSP5D expander for the Yamaha PM5D console took place on a Dream Theater tour. Hired by Dream Theater, independent engineer Randy Lane mixed front-of-house. He selected Clair Brothers to handle production for the tour in the U.S. and internationally. Lane's vast live credits include Spin Doctors, Collective Soul, Bush, Fuel, Three Doors Down, Alter Bridge, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai, as well as John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater on their G3 Tour.

Dream Theater began in 1985 as Majesty, after longtime bandmates Petrucci and Myung arrived at Boston's Berklee College of Music in search of a drummer who was into progressive rock and metal. They heard Mike Portnoy in a practice room and soon began jamming together. The trio would become the core of one of rock's most virtuosic and heavy bands. After leaving Berklee, the group added a vocalist and keyboard player and changed its name to Dream Theater. In the early 1990s, they quickly rose to prominence and have enjoyed international success by attracting extremely loyal fans. The group's catalog has sold more than 7 million units.

Performers:

Dream Theater 

Product List

Mixers:

PM5D, DSP5D

Details

PM5D and DSP5D Expander Support Progressive Rock

Lane says he began mixing on a Yamaha PM5D in late 2004 with the band Alter Bridge, at the suggestion of Ralph Mastrangelo from Clair Nashville. "I auditioned a PM5D and felt that finally a digital console sounded as good as an analog console," states Lane. "The console is much more convenient to use and transport."

The Yamaha DSP5D is a stand-alone unit that expands the capabilities of the Yamaha PM5D digital console to 96 mono plus 16 stereo input channels. The DSP5D was brought to Lane's attention by Todd Hudson and Greg Hall of Clair Brothers while out on Joe Satriani's "Supercolossal" tour. On the Dream Theater tour he has nearly 70 inputs, not including effects, which necessitated using a second console for Dream Theater. There are also two opening acts, which would mean a third console and a huge front-of-house footprint if you include processing in addition to console space. "Using the PM5D and DSP5D, the footprint is extremely small and amazingly powerful in terms of features and capabilities," notes Lane.

Right at Home in No Time

Self-taught on the PM5D and on the DSP5D – accomplished by reading the manuals for the two devices – Lane says he soon felt right at home on both products. "From the outset the PM5D has been a great sounding console and more reliable than anything that I have used," notes Lane. "The compact size and sheer processing power of the DSP5D and PM5D gives an amazing amount of capability in a very compact system. The Yamaha console and expander is a very transparent and warm system that translates the power and finesse of Dream Theater."

Extreme Durability Test

Lane adds that the system's toughness was demonstrated to him when a 300-pound motor box rolled from the edge of a stage and fell six feet onto the PM5D console. The entire surface was crushed and all control surface features were sheared from the top. The monitor engineer on the tour used the track pad and display to finish the show with the console's surface being replaced the next day. "Now that's rugged," he adds.

No Outboard Processing Needed

Lane says he doesn't use any outboard processing on the console's internal effects and gates with Waves plug in cards installed in the card slots of the PM5D for various compressors. He's also using six Yamaha MY16-AT ADAT cards for multi-track recording of every input channel. M-Audio Lightbridge interfaces and Steinberg Nuendo are used as a recording platform on an Alienware laptop to multi-track for every show. "The PM5D and DSP5D allow this due to the great quality of the internal effects and processing as well as the design foresight to have interfaces having a direct out of every input," he explains.

The tour uses 24 Clair Brothers I-3 line array cabinets and 12 Clair Brothers BT-218 subs. In Europe they use 32 I-3's and 12 BT 218 subs. Microphones consist of Earthworks Periscope mics on the drum kit, as well as Shure SM57's on guitars, with a Sennheiser 5000/Neumann 105-combination for lead vocals.

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