Maps of Music

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

Where the lyrics of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence take you, and where it was really made.

The title track fills the entire second disc at about 42 minutes, yet it was split into eight separate tracks so each part could be reached easily.

Key places

Recorded at BearTracks Studios (2002)

Recording site BearTracks Studios — The album was recorded at BearTracks Recording Studio in Suffern, New York. The point marks the studio's city-level location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mixed at The Hit Factory (2002)

Recording site The Hit Factory — The album was mixed at The Hit Factory in New York City. The band was in a Manhattan studio doing final mixes around the time of the 9/11 attacks. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mastered at Sterling Sound (2002)

Recording site Sterling Sound — The album was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City, with George Marino as the mastering engineer credited on the release. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: sixth studio album by the American progressive metal band Dream Theater
• Released as a double-disc album on January 29, 2002 through Elektra Records
• First full-length Dream Theater album to feature a title track
• Second longest studio album by the band to date, after The Astonishing (2016)
• Disc one holds five tracks; disc two is a single 42-minute title track split into eight tracks
• The title track is the longest song Dream Theater have recorded to date

Background

• Opening track 'The Glass Prison' begins the Twelve-step Suite, based on Mike Portnoy's rehabilitation from alcoholism
• The suite continues on later albums: 'This Dying Soul' (Train of Thought), 'The Root of All Evil' (Octavarium), 'Repentance' (Systematic Chaos) and 'The Shattered Fortress' (Black Clouds & Silver Linings)
• 'Blind Faith' has lyrics by James LaBrie about questioning religious belief
• The band named these works as influences on the album's writing and recording: Master of Puppets, OK Computer, Rust in Peace, The Downward Spiral and more
• The band planned to keep the title track at 20 minutes, but more ideas came and the length doubled
• Cutting 'Disappear' and 'Misunderstood' would have been needed to fit one CD, so the label accepted a double album
• The band had been denied a double album earlier, when recording Images and Words and Falling into Infinity

Recording

• Engineer: Doug Oberkircher; assistant engineer: J.P. Sheganowski
• Recorded at BearTracks Recording Studio in Suffern, New York
• Mixed at The Hit Factory; mixing by Kevin Shirley, with Claudius Mittendorfer assisting
• Mastered at Sterling Sound by George Marino, with UE Nastasi assisting
• The band was in a Manhattan studio doing final mixes on the day of the 9/11 attacks

Cover

• Cover art illustration by Dung Hoang; photography by Ken Schles; styling by May Redding; art direction by JMatic

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Artist

Formation

• Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Petrucci, Myung and Portnoy formed the band under the name Majesty while attending Berklee College of Music.
• The band was renamed Dream Theater in 1988 after a legal challenge from a Las Vegas group also named Majesty.

Members

• Current members are John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), James LaBrie (vocals), Jordan Rudess (keyboards), and Mike Portnoy (drums), who rejoined in October 2023.
• Petrucci and Myung have remained in the band since its founding.

Career

• The band has released 16 studio albums; Images and Words (1992) is its highest-selling release.
• Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999) received high critical acclaim.
• By 2018 the band had sold over 12 million records worldwide.
• The band has been referred to as one of the "Big Three" of progressive metal, along with Queensrÿche and Fates Warning.
• A View from the Top of the World's lead single "The Alien" won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2022.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• French Wikipedia: after the success of Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory, reception was divided
• French Wikipedia: the album was described as darker and more aggressive than the band's earlier albums, with ballads such as 'Disappear' and 'Misunderstood'
• French Wikipedia: the band moved away from the Scenes from a Memory style and looked for new sounds

Records

• Billboard 200 (Spanish Wikipedia): number 46
• Released as a double CD on January 29, 2002 through Elektra Records
• The album is the second longest studio album by the band to date, after The Astonishing (2016)

Sources: es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title 'The Great Debate' track was first named 'Conflict at Ground Zero' but was changed at the last minute, when news reports began calling the 9/11 site 'Ground Zero'.
• The opening track starts with the same static phonograph noise that ended 'Finally Free' on Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999).
• For 'Misunderstood', John Petrucci wrote and played the guitar solo, then reversed it and learned to play the reversed version.
• The night before the first album session, John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy attended a Pantera concert, which inspired the writing of 'The Glass Prison'.
• The last chord of the title track opens 'As I Am' on the next album, Train of Thought, continuing a chain that began with Octavarium.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

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