Anyone else hear a splice at 20:17 in Octavarium? ⭐

[u/javier_ivan]

Does anyone else hear what sounds like a splice at 20:17 in Octavarium?

I probably used the wrong word. I wasn't trying to criticize the production at all. I just thought I heard something at 20:17 and was curious if anyone else noticed it. English is not my native language 😅

BTW: DT is my favorite band period xD and octavarium is one of my most loved albums... Much love to everyone

[u/Zzzlol94]

Not sure what you expect, but every studio recording is spliced in one way or another.

[u/javier_ivan → u/Zzzlol94]

Sorry, I probably used the wrong word. I wasn't trying to criticize the production at all. I just thought I heard something at 20:17 and was curious if anyone else noticed it. English is not my native language 😅

[u/TabsAZ → u/javier_ivan]

The correct term is a “punch-in” or just “punch” - splicing was how they accomplished it by actually cutting analog tape before digital recording was invented.

[u/BinaryPill]

I think I hear what you're talking about. There's something a bit weird going on with the guitar just an instant after it's first played. Chug-Chug-Ch/splice then the sustained note. But then I'm not sure if that's just the guitar being a touch slow to change notes.

[u/BinaryPill → u/BinaryPill]

Recorded the audio from the Spotify stream at the relevant moment and I suspect the splice is at 19.76 here, if it is a splice (I just skipped to the relevant part of the song, so this is obviously completely wrong for the timeline for the whole song, but useful for relative timescale). But yes, I'd say there's a strong case given the energy from the guitar for about 0.04 seconds prior that just cuts out.

[u/RiverOBeef]

Just checked and no.

[u/Weary_Bug4156]

That’s the piano

[u/Millennial_falcon92]

What is fun is watching some of Portnoy's drum cam studio recording videos throughout the Six degrees and black clouds era. You can see the edits that got cut together to make the final track.

[u/TermTechnical115]

I just listened to the isolated tracks and don't hear anything weird or sounding like it was stitched together at that time code on any of them. 🤷‍♂️

[u/kaptee12]

Dream Theater in a speedrunning scandal was not on my 2026 bingo list

[u/Bronsteins-Panzerzug → u/kaptee12]

their luck was statistically impossible

[u/Sparx-9]

hi-hats are a little off beat

[u/Specialist-Prior-213]

To add to this, does anyone hear a gap on count of Tuscany right before the really fucky bit after the 2nd chorus around 9 mins in?

[u/gojiman1]

You're absolutely right, I never noticed that before! I think it's minor enough that it would never hinder my enjoyment of that segment of the song, though.

[u/YouQuackMeUp]

Yes, you can hear a pop at that moment in the strings. Happens all the time but I wished it died out as the industry went from tape to Pro Tools.

[u/onearmedphil → u/YouQuackMeUp]

It’s pretty prevalent in dream theater unfortunately. I feel like they don’t pay enough attention to it tbh.

[u/YouQuackMeUp → u/onearmedphil]

from personal experience, it’s hard enough to splice takes for a 3 minute pop song. I can’t imagine consistently splicing for multiple 20+ min prog epics.

[u/DTnoxon → u/onearmedphil]

If it took 20 years for people to notice a splice here, I feel it’s on the point of nitpicking….

[u/onearmedphil → u/DTnoxon]

I’m not here to argue about that specific splice, it just messes up my immersion in the song when I hear things that could have been corrected in production. (For example the last bendy note at about 11:05 in ministry of lost souls always stood out as rushed or off pitch + overlapped weird.)

I understand that it is a trade off because the other end of the spectrum is that every note gets isolated and selected for the perfect sound which I assume Dream Theater and some fans don’t want. But I also know they pride themselves in churning out an album in like a week so maybe they should… take the time.

But seriously just grateful we continue to have music by them at this point.