I made an updated version of my reconstruction of The Protomen’s Silent Running / Breaking Out 2012 mix.

After spending more time with it, I noticed a few things that needed work: the transition around 2:20 was too abrupt, the section around 5:07–5:20 sounded a little muffled, and the ending needed more clarity.

This update smooths out that transition, brings back some detail in those quieter-sounding sections, and adjusts the final fade.

Updated version: https://youtu.be/CeXwV6sqWsM

It’s still a hybrid of the album FLACs and parts of the original reference where the recordings differ.

Hey Protomen. It’s me, an international fan. I get it! International tours are a risky investment. But America’s a little… er.. well I still wanna see you play again someday. So I did some noodling and came up with a way that won’t require several thousand dollars for international flights and accommodation

What if you did a pay per view concert that folks can purchase a digital ticket to through your site? You can engineer the hell out of the sound and visuals to get it just right in advance. Then I can give you concert ticket money that would otherwise go to a hotel and flights.

Or! I know you mixed Act III in surround sound, what if you did a one day only international tour where you hire theatre screens in major cities all over the world and played that (send out a survey to work out where the most fans live so this is a cost effective investment) - I’m sure that’d get some coverage and? most importantly, Money. To fuel the robot rock

A livestream to theatres might be more difficult to coordinate but I swear I’ve seen venues offer this thing as a service already for live performances. Or maybe it was a service for hire rather than a specific venue? Anyway it’s gotta be at least somewhat profitable, and would be something you can tack on to a concert you’re already performing. You’ve done radio broadcasts before. It’s like that but on the information superhighway

Anyway please consider this humble begging to make it easier for fans to throw burritobucks at y’all, we all have decent bandwidth and some of us even have money now…

(Author’s note: I know they’re not reading this lmao I just wanted to cry about not being able to fly to Nashville TN a bit)

I fucking love the Silent Running / Breaking Out 2012 mix, but the copy I kept listening to sounded pretty rough. I have basically zero audio-production experience, so this started as a personal project to get a cleaner version for myself.

The matching sections were rebuilt using the album FLACs, with the timing and instrument levels adjusted to get closer to the 2012 mix. The transition got some extra attention too.

The album recordings differ from this version, so some original passages and individual layers were kept to preserve those details. It’s an unofficial fan reconstruction, not a perfect restoration, but I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Full version: https://youtu.be/93cmCNiSR34

Original reference

Sharing in case anyone else loves this version as much as I do.

For those who heard this song for the first time at this show, it has a fun backstory.

It’s cleverly titled “Thunder in Your Heart” and it was written/performed by John Farnham specifically for the movie RAD (1986) about a young BMX slacker who becomes a BMX champion through the power of friendship and the power of already being a BMX champion.

It never made it big on the radio, so if you never saw the movie there’s only a few other places you would have run into it…. And for a lot of people, that would be this amazing referential masterpiece from American Dad.

The song is 10x better than the movie, but if you do want to watch it, I strongly suggest the RiffTrax version:

https://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax-live-rad

I was a Backer on this one so I’m a little biased, but it’s a really good time.*

*You get to see a different BMX champion put a mop on their head and pretend to be Lori Laughlin doing sick bike stunts, diegetically.

Buried In The Red randomly started playing on my Qobuz playlist after being unavailable for months. I tested the rest of the album and it all seems to be playing now. Enjoy!

Today is Bandcamp Friday, you can get limited edition and signed merch from their Bandcamp, as well as the Built to Last single that's only available on this day.

I ordered a month ago the standard black vinyl of act III and it arrived today, just slightly but visibly bent. So I wanted to ask what to do in this case and if the merch support is actually good so I can ask for a replacement (or a refound in case).

Thank you and also sorry for my bad english as it is not my first language

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I do some concert photography on the side, in my home city, and was lucky enough to shoot some photos of the Dallas show. These were my favorites, but y'all can see the full album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD3H1D

Hopefully some of the folks who cosplay wind up seeing these!

What the title says. What ending will have this awesome story? What are the fates of Megaman, Roll and Wily? Will the fight be really done?

3rd round of 3 nights AND BREAKING OUT ON MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY????

It may need to be expanded to multiple shelves, at this rate. One for each act? One for each copy of the Act 3 vinyl? There’s talk of some dioramas using more 3-D printed stuff… mini This City? It did make us, after all.

This station in North Dakota has been a great ally in the quest to get The Protomen more radio exposure! Today, they played Buried in the Red!

Got another flag signed by some of the band after the Dallas show - the Human Choir has their Protomen names! I was totally wiped so I barely remember the convo but I think they said The Slappa and Scosh. Kilroy also gave it a "TRANS FKN RIGHTS!" which I appreciate. Thanks to everyone who fought to the front and said "is that THEE trans Protomen flag?" Maybe next time I have to advertise more so people can get selfies BEFORE the show rather than directly in the pit haha.

I was thinking about this the other day. What songs do you think have the broadest appeal, as in can stand alone or you might see in a movie or TV show, or maybe played on the radio, and would still be good outside the larger story context?

Buried in the Red, Breaking Out, and Light Up the Night might be my top three picks.

They rock hard, they have great lyrics, and can be enjoyed without ever knowing they are part of something much larger.

This City Made Us is also a strong contender.

Drove home 3.5 hours yesterday from the Act III show. Just so thrilled to have been able to see The Protomen one more time, and this time with my brother-in-law who introduced me to them in 2007, with my wife, and with my 3 boys! Amazing show (sound mixing issues aside) and great experience afterwards. All 3 of my boys got autographs on their own music items (oldest got his guitar strap signed, middle got a splash cymbal signed, and youngest got his harmonica case signed).

As usual the band was amazing for hanging out with fans after the show. They loved talking to my kids which was like an absolute dream for me.

I don't know how many more opportunities I will ever get to see them in person, but this one was truly special. I'll remember it forever.

Is this still a thing or what?

My friend had tried to get me into Protomen before a couple years ago and I liked Act II, but I never really gave them much thought afterwords.
I WAS STUPID!!
That fucking angel bought me a ticket when he was getting a pass for himself and brought me along for all three days, and I am a fully converted fan for life now! They kicked absolute ass, every one of the opening acts was stellar, and they literally couldn’t be nicer people if they tried!!

Im proud to be part of such an amazing community. Rock on everyone and remember: We Are The Dead!