Mike Portnoy: Man In Motion

Mike Portnoy likes to keep things moving. Although he's fiercely loyal to Dream Theater, he uses his spare time to pursue a score of diverse musical projects, including collaborations with peers and tributes to pioneering rockers.

These side projects include Mike’s memorable spot at the 2003 Modern Drummer Festival Weekend. Some audience members who didn’t warm to Mike’s homage to Ringo Starr and The Beatles (with his Yellow Matter Custard band) grumbled and left. Those who stayed in their seats had the last laugh, though, when, after “Ringo’s” last fling, the house lights dimmed, Mike’s legendary Siamese Monster appeared, and an unexpected “encore” set was delivered by Dream Theater.

Given Mike’s continuing popularity, its’ hard to believe that it’s been seven years since he and Hudson Music teamed up to record Mike’s last instructional video. So by early 2006 it was time to document the body of work that he has amassed in those seven years. The new three-disc DVD is appropriately titled In Constant Motion. The first disc encompasses Mike’s approach to Dream Theater tracks. The second deals with a range of side projects, including Mike’s tributes to Ringo, Keith Moon (Amazing Journey), John Bonham (Hammer Of The Gods), and Neil Peart (Cygnus & The Sea Monsters). The third contains bonus live material, drum solos, and duets.

MD dropped by the studio during the filming of the Dream Theater portion of the new DVD. We arrived early in the morning on day two of the sessions, which took place at Allaire Studio near Woodstock, New York. Not many studios can accommodate a kit as huge as Mike’s latest configuration. Allaire, however, has the situation covered. Mike’s drums were centered in the studio’s main room, an expansive medieval banquet hall-style room that could have doubled as the set for a Sean Connery movie.

The Drumkit

Lights were low, and no one was around. So we took a tour of Mike’s Albino Monster kit, which is an imposing configuration that features three bass drums. On Mike’s right is the big “Bonham” drum, while his two workhorse bass drums are in front. Mike’s familiar Octobans are to his left. The rest of the kit includes four rack toms, two floor toms, a tambourine, two regular snare drums, two of Mike’s Melody Master auxiliary snares, and an assortment of Sabian cymbals, including his signature MaxStax models.

Each tom was close-miked from the top, as was the main snare drum, and the bass drums were miked from the front. The only bottom miking was on the Octobans, where the lack of resonant heads permits the placement of mics inside the tubes. The mics on the kit included a variety of Audix models and Shure SM58s and SM57s. The overheads were a beautiful pair of Neumann KM 84s. These are all certainly great mics, but none is particularly exotic.

If drums heads could talk, Mike’s would tell a story. Actually, since these heads had already been in place for a day, they did, in fact, “speak” to us. The toms that showed the most wear were the 8”, 10”, and 12”. The stick markings were centrally positioned, with no obvious glancing blows or pitting—indicating that Mike had been playing consistently in the “sweet spot” area.

The smaller toms were fitted with Emperor clear batters; the main snare drum had a CS reverse dot. A second snare drum bore an Ambassador clear, while Mike’s diminutive Melody Maker took a CS reverse dot. The Octobans had Emperors, while the lower rack toms and floor toms had clear CS black dot heads.

When we tapped on the drums (wouldn’t you?), we observed that the largest floor tom was tensioned low but not rippling. It emitted a clear, rumbling tone. The bottom head was tensioned just a shade lower than the top, whereas on the smaller floor tom, the bottom head was a little tighter than the top. Though this seemed curious to us, the two toms did make a good pair sonically. The rack toms, again, had loose batter heads, with slightly tighter bottoms. A quick pass from highest rack tom to lowest floor was satisfying in terms of pitch and fullness.

The Drummer

When Mike ultimately arrived, his hair still wet from the shower, he sat down at his kit and warmed up, playing mainly singles and doubles against double bass drum ostinatos. He wasn’t hitting as hard as one might expect for a guy who generates so much sound. (As the heads revealed earlier, however, Mike was hitting properly.)

Later, in the control room, Mike remarked, “Most people who see the Albino Monster tend to think that it’s this ridiculously huge kit that nobody could possibly play. But it’s actually two kits in one. The left side is more or less the big kit I’ve always played with Dream Theater. But I’ve been doing side projects with smaller kits, which I really enjoy playing. Scaling down my Dream Theater kit wouldn’t serve that band’s music—and would disappoint my fans. So instead of choosing one or the other drumkit configuration, I’ve chosen to have both. I can play a big double bass drumset and, at the same time, have a smaller kit that I can jump to. Sometimes I play both within the same song.”

We asked Mike about his rationale for microphone choice and placement. He responded, “I’m more interested in general miking considerations than in exactly what mics are used or where those mics are placed. I rely on the expertise of the engineers when it comes to those choices. However, I do insist on using a mic on the ride and a mic on the hi-hat so I can achieve a balance between those two.”

When we commented on what we perceived as a wide-open tuning on Mike’s kit, he took issue with our evaluation. “Actually, I’m not a huge fan of wide-open drums that sustain forever,” he said. “Even if a head on my kit is apparently wide open, it’s still not tuned for maximum sustain. Take the Black Dot heads: They are inherently deader than non-dot heads. I’m using Emperors on my left, which do sing more than I’m used to, considering that I used to use Pinstripes. I guess I’ve matured a little bit in that regard. But typically I don’t like toms tuned high and brittle, and I don’t like them ringing too much—especially on Dream Theater music. If the heads are ringing out, I think a lot of the nuances and the fast fills get lost in the shuffle. I like an old-school, deader drum that’s close-miked. It’s a taste thing, I guess.”

Going For The Take

After warming up, Mike was ready to record. The video technicians approved the camera angles, and, at a signal, a Dream Theater track began to play. The track opened with acoustic guitar. Then Mike came in with liv drums: Bam. He punctuated with China cymbal and snare drum, nailing it.

Mike’s touch was firm, yet he looked relaxed. There was no delay or hesitation when he struck. As the vocals intoned “surge through my veins,” Mike was off and running with double bass drums. His hits reinforced the subsequent orchestra/choir passage. This guy was fresh from his morning shower, and he hadn’t missed a beat! Plus he was hitting with consistent stick height. The track rolled to its conclusion—and what looked like it would be a perfect drum take. Mike executed six well-timed accents against his double kick.

But stuff happens. On the very last note, Mike hit a microphone. He asked Hudson’s Rob Wallis, “Can we go for one more take? I’m just waking up.” Most drummers would have simply punched in the ending and had the Pro Tools editors cut and paste. But Mike executed a completely new take, playing with wicked consistency. He obviously knew precisely what he was going for. Midway through, Mike dropped a stick. But he recovered quickly and played on. This time the ending was perfect—including Mike tossing a stick up and catching it in perfect time.

Still, Mike said that he wanted to do yet another take. This guy was a machine, and he was in no danger of losing steam. The third take was flawless, and everybody in the control room smiled.

Break Time

That’s the way the session went for hours, until a glitch in an electronic sync device caused an inordinately long break. Catered sushi appeared, and we chatted with Mike’s drum tech, Eric Disrude.

We asked Eric what sort of demands caring for Mike’s huge kit placed on a drum tech. He responded, “There are tons of variables in Mike’s drumset that could fail. The key is doing everything myself. While I’m assembling that drumset, I’m feeling every nut and bolt. By doing that, I notice when a metal thread is stripped, or that maybe something is becoming loose. The only way I can take care of a drumset like that is to touch and feel it every day. Some venues supply techs, but I don’t take the help.”

It was nearing dinner time, and the electronic glitch was still frustrating the technicians. So we asked Mike about the replica kits from his side-tribute projects, which were due to be filmed in a couple of weeks at another studio.

“There were two Keith Moon kits for the Amazing Journey Who tribute,” Mike said. “The one that I used in New York and LA was modeled after the black kit that Keith used between 1969 and 1972, like on Live At Leeds. It’s a pretty unorthodox kit, with three identical 14” rack toms. There were also three crashes, but no ride or hats. Playing without a ride or hi-hat was a lot of fun.

“Victor Salazar of the Drum Pad built me Keith’s 1975 kit,” Mike continued. “That was the white one with a row of concert toms above another row of regular toms. I almost had to stand up to reach those outer toms. Keith is one of my all-time heroes. His style was tremendously challenging to replicate for a two-hour set. I don’t know how the hell he played like that!”

Mike admitted that of all the replica kits created for his tribute bands, the hardest to manage was the Rush kit for the Cygnus & The Sea Monsters project. It had nothing to do with the kit’s size. Rather, it was the tight, brittle tuning, which is definitely not Mike’s thing.

Wrapping Up

As the sun began to set and we prepared to leave, we asked Mike if he was satisfied with the way the DVD was going. “I think the DVD will capture the many faces of Mike Portnoy,” he reflected. “If you just watch disc one, which is Dream Theater material, you’ll see and hear a lot of what people expect from me. If you watch the second disc, you’ll see and hear all the different sides of my drumming and musicality. It may surprise some fans!”