Dream Theater

John Petrucci reveals the studio secrets behind Systematic Chaos

By Michael Mueller

A couple of months ago, while we were putting together our Dunlop Jazz III pick story (April 2007), G1 got a sneak preview of Dream Theater’s latest album, Systematic Chaos (due out on Roadrunner Records, on June 5th), when we went to their studio to take photos of guitarist John Petrucci holding his pick of choice. What we heard, specifically, were some of the sickest unison lines Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess have thrown down yet. And what we saw was a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV head atop a Boogie 4x12 cabinet, leaving us to wonder how different the record might sound, given Petrucci’s preference of the Road King on recent Dream Theater albums. “For this new record, I wanted something a bit tighter and more percussive, with a different type of growl to it,” says Petrucci. “And I wanted a tone that was not as fully saturated as the past few records, something that could be more articulate when called upon.”

Suffice It to say, those sights and sounds teased us enough to make Petrucci promise to call us when the record was completed. Which he did, recently, from the Denver stop of the G3 tour, which this year features Petrucci along with longtime anchor Joe Satriani and G3 newbie Paul Gilbert. With his nightly shred quota met and a new Dream Theater record in the can, Petrucci was more than happy to tell us all about his latest work, even going so far as to reveal the secret behind what makes Dream Theater click.

You recently signed with Roadrunner Records.

Yes, it’s very exciting for us. Every record we’ve done, from Images and Words to Octavarium, was on the same record deal, one which we’d signed a long time ago. So it’s nice to have a fresh perspective on the band, and to have people working with us who are passionate about our music and understand it, and are willing to do what’s necessary to take it further. I’ve always felt that we’ve got a lot of untapped potential for attracting new fans.

Judging by the sound of the new album, Systematic Chaos, you may have made that task a bit easier, given Roadrunner’s metal-based consumer.

Thanks! Approaching this record, we decided to leave off anything of a soft or overly sensitive nature. There’s no “Another Day” or “Lifting Shadows Off a Dream” this time out. We just wanted to keep everything progressive, heavy, and dark.

Let’s talk about the gear you used to accomplish that. You have an updated version of your Music Man signature guitar: the Ball Family Reserve F1. Did you get to use it on Systematic Chaos?

I had a prototype, which was really, really close to what the production model became. We made a few changes in the shape, in beveling and what not, but that’s it. For all the songs that are seven-string (“The Dark Eternal Night,” “Repentance”), I used my original JP model. And on “Forsaken,” which is a six-string tuned to D, that’s an original one, too.

Was the Mark IV the only amp you used?

For the most part, yeah. I like to record very simply, so it was my Music Man Into the Mark IV into a Boogie cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s. But a couple of times, I took the Send out of the Mark IV Into a TC Electronic 2290, then routed that into the Return of a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+, out of another cabinet, and blended that sound into one. And a couple of other times. Instead of blending them, I used the 2290’s chorus and spread the signal in stereo.

Does the Mark IIC+ have the same “hair” as the Mark IV?

Oh, it’s got hair. Channel 3 of the Mark IV is very much same as lead channel of the IIC+. Both are based on the ability to generate a lot of gain. Depending on how you set your initial gain, lead drive, and treble controls, you can get plenty of hair.

How did you approach your lead tone?

Once I found the tone I liked, I stuck with it. There were a few things I did to change it up. For example, on “Constant Motion,” I used the MXR EVH phaser on the guitar solo. And on the solo in “Repentance,” I used a Mesa/Boogie Lone Star, the lead channel. In combination with my Music Man F1 for a singing, creamy sound.

Did you use any other effects?

Not many. On “Repentance,” I was trying to record in a very minimalist manner, without the big, wide stereo-guitar thing. I was using either the MXR EVH Flanger or Phaser on a slight setting, and then a Boss digital delay, into the front of the amp, mono, one track, with a mono delay. I just wanted to keep it focused, with a stark, personal vibe.

What about the Univibe-type sound on “Ministry of Lost Souls”?

That’s a Fulltone DejaVibe. And Ernie Ball had made me a Ball Family Reserve version of my guitar with vintage DiMarzio pickups while we were doing the Score DVD, and that’s the guitar I used on that solo.

It’s not an effect, per se, but you do a lot of pickup switching.

I don’t know where that came from. I guess I’m very tuned in to what the guitar sounds like at any particular moment, and so I want the ability to control the tone. Part of it is just habitual, like using the sustain pedal on a piano. Pianists know why and when to use it, instinctively, and that’s what I do with the pickup switch. To me, it’s an important part of how the guitar speaks in a particular register.

To that extent, do you use your tone control?

No, it’s always on 10. I’m surprised I even have a tone control on my guitar. There is a lot of legato on this record! As I grow as a guitar player, I’m trying to mix up my technique a bit. Because of my initial influences on guitar, like Steve Morse and Al Di Meola, I have a strong picking style. But I’ve wanted to develop my legato style a bit more. And I find that having a greater arsenal of techniques makes it easier to keep my solos interesting.

Let’s talk about the writing on Systematic Chaos. You’ve gotta love a record with three songs that clock in at over 10 minutes each.

That’s what I always say! “In the Presence of Enemies” was the first thing we wrote, and it’s more progressive for it, I think. We did that track in its entirety and decided during the recording process to split it into two parts, opening and closing the album.

The second track, “Forsaken,” sounds like “the single.”

It’s got a very strong chorus, and it is the shortest song on the record. But if you listen to “The Dark Eternal Night” or “Enemies,” it becomes obvious that melodic hooks are important to us; we’re not just writing arbitrary music. And that’s where the title Systematic Chaos comes from. It may sound at times arbitrary or chaotic, but there’s a total system to what we’re doing. There’s a big emphasis placed on melodic impact and hooks, whether the song is five minutes long or 25 minutes long.

How do you do that in a 25-minute song?

There are a couple of methods. For one, the writing style in that case is very stream-of-consciousness, and that’s probably why it is long, because there’s no preconceived limit placed on the song. But there are a lot of things we do to keep things cohesive: we repeat themes, or we bring them back disguised in other ways. For example, there’s a whole section in “Enemies, Pt. 1,” where the guitar is playing a melody that later, in the final verse of “Enemies, Pt. 2,” will be the vocal melody. It’s disguised, and you might not recognize it on a conscious level, but in the end it makes the whole thing very cohesive, and we do that a lot.

Your unison lines with Jordan Rudess sound amazing on that track!

That’s a cool studio trick we came up with. Because of the type of sound I have—thick, with lots of gain—combined with alternate picking, you hear the pick attack on every note. And there’s this rhythmical sort of fluttering that’s part of the sound. So when Jordan doubled his part, the guitar stood out more, not in a balance or volume way, but in a more timbral manner. So Jordan played his part again but recorded only the clicking sound of the keys. With the proper blend, it sounds very much like a guitar. And to me, it just made the part.

Care to share with us some of your other studio secrets?

One thing I’d like to mention—and most of out listeners don’t realize this—is the recording of our click track. When we’re recording, we need tempo and arrangement references at all times, because the songs are long and they constantly shift tempos and time signatures. So once a song is written, there’s this whole process of writing a click track on Digital Performer, where we go through and map out every time signature, bar, tempo change, feel change, whether the accent within the click track changes, and along with that, we label each section as guitar solo, keyboard solo, and so on. The click track can sometimes take a couple of days. But the good thing about it, is that once we’ve finished that and have it locked in, we’ve got a map of the song. And that’s a very important part of making the songs come out tight. I don’t think a lot of people know that we go through that process, I don’t know how we’d be able to record with out that. It’s systematic chaos, man!