The Vocal Ranges of Mike Portnoy & John Petrucci

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

Category:

Music

Tags:

• John Petrucci
• Mike Portnoy
• Dream Theater
• Transatlantic

[Spydrfish]

was 4:40 honestly in the album? Hadn't listened to it in a while, honestly sounds kinda bad there...

[zorland876]

@Spydrfish No, it was a joke outtake that was included on the B-sides.

[Thetarantinomaniac]

I reckon royalcrimsontheater deserves a thanks too.

Also, I take it this means we concluded that that one shouted C5 by Petrucci was falsetto? There were a few other low notes by Portnoy that we never went over conclusively, like "Honor Thy Father", "As I Am" and "Octavarium". He also hits another G♯4 in "Take The Time" live.

[zorland876]

@Thetarantinomaniac Considering I mentioned him in the first paragraph...

Don't remember the other notes.

[Thetarantinomaniac]

@zorland876 My bad. But yeah, I brought them up at one point; we just never got around to pitching them.

[zorland876]

@Thetarantinomaniac Oopsy.

[TheBarrelMan2]

The voice at 1:10 is actually Corey Taylor, not Mike Portnoy. Check the "Chaos in Progress" video clips available on YouTube.

[GoodGuitarSolos]

Portnoy actually sounds damn good!

Petrucci sounds surprisingly great too, until he goes up to those highs. 4:40 God forbid!

[anqipiqi]

@zorland876 Ohh :S Thanks..

Mike.. :) he's amazing *O*

[zorland876]

@anqipiqi Read the description...

[Spydrfish]

Hah.... Would have never seen this coming, they're fine singers just didn't expect any notable Range.

[TheWhocares233]

Portnoy has a decent singing voice. Petrucci on the other hand is...LOL

[isitunez]

This must be adressed to : it is corey taylor who is talking at 1:10

[TheBarrelMan2]

@MightyStreetFighter Yup. Autotuned as hell.