James LaBrie interview

Roie Avin: I'm here with James LaBrie in the recording console room where the band is recording their 14th studio album. I want to talk to you a little bit about your actual process when you get ready to sing. How much warm-up is involved? How much prep? How much time do you spend on one line, one song?

James LaBrie: [joking] Lots of vodka. No. Anybody that's seen these segments with me before, there's not much to say that's changed. It's all about the song that I will be singing that day and that I've been running it through my head several times, singing it at home. Believe it or not, singing it in a nice big ambient en suite room. You know how everybody sings in the showers? That's true. That sounds best in there. So singing through the songs and then finding where I feel it really is best representing that feel or expression or the personality that needs to come through in that song's message lyrically. And what the energy is – it has to be able to fit with the music, what it's expressing as well. So it has to be a marriage. On my way to the studio, I'm actually recording at a studio that I've done the last three albums, three Dream Theater albums with. So it's about a 25-minute drive from my house to the studio, so I use that time to warm up my vocals. So I do my whole vocal warm up and then when I get in the studio, I start to piece it together.

The other part of your question there was like how much time do I spend on it? Not much. I think one of the biggest things that I have to tackle in the studio is when you start singing behind the microphone and you're actually laying down the tracks, the very first couple times that I might sing through a verse and chorus and verse and whatever, it sounds like I'm at a rehearsal, and then I'm trying to feel the tune out, the timing, to feel the registers, the sound right and all that, so that when it gets to the point where I go, “OK, now I'm sitting in the pocket.” That's number one. So your timing has to be perfect. Secondly, and just as important is the sound there. “Am I creating the voice that is perfect for this song?” Once those two elements are surefire, then I go, “OK, let's go for it.” And let's face it, with Pro Tools nowadays, you can record every single thing you do, every single time, because there might be some inflection or embellishment that you use and you're going, “Oh, that was really cool.” Well, even though you might do it again, it just seems it doesn't have the same magic. So there's always that to consider. So even while I'm rehearsing, I'm telling whoever the engineer is, and this engineer is Rich Chycki, I'll just say, “Push record. Let's just go for it.” So, but yeah, that's part of it.

RA: How often do you keep the demo take or the first take? After doing it 50 times, you just go back and say, “No, that first one – that's the one.”

JL: That happens. I wouldn't say it happens a lot, but it has happened a decent amount of times where I go, “Wow, there's just something...” And it's not something that needs to be debated or discussed – it's immediate. You can just feel it.

RA: Everybody in the room sort of just goes...

JL: Yeah. And usually it's just myself and the engineer. And it's usually, “Yep. I heard something there. Absolutely, let's just use that.”

RA: Not that there's a lot of gear, but have you changed mics over the years, or is there something new that you use now versus before?

JL: It's funny you ask that question. I've been using a Blueberry Blue mic since 2004 on everything that I've recorded up until this album. When we were recording The Astonishing, we were almost done. I think I was singing the last piece of the album. “Brother, can you hear me?” And then, Rich brought in this microphone. He goes, “You wanna check it out?” and it was one of the first ones out there. So I'm singing into it and I'm like, “Are you kidding me? This is amazing. Why did you introduce it to me at the 11th hour?” “I just got it yesterday.” So at that point, I was like, “Oh my God, this microphone is phenomenal.” And I still love the blue mic. So when we started these sessions, Rich already had the Mojave MA-1000 set up. So I've been doing this entire album. And it's funny because we didn't say anything to John Petrucci or any of the guys in the band or Jimmy T, our engineer here, we didn't say anything about the mic. And they were like, “Oh my God! It's just enveloping and bright and there's a presence and it's just really capturing your true organic instrument.” And I said, “That's what we're hearing as well.” It's so cool. I'm really glad that I'm using this. I'm pretty psyched about this microphone.