# Mike Portnoy's Drum Setup on Dream Theater's Awake (1994)

> Complete breakdown of Mike Portnoy's drum gear on Dream Theater's Awake (1994). Discover the Tama Artstar II/Granstar kit, Sabian cymbals, Iron Cobra pedals, and the darker, heavier sonic shift that defined the band's post-Images and Words era.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Mike Portnoy](/llms/drummers/mike-portnoy.md)
**Band / Album:** Dream Theater — *Awake* (1994)
**Genre:** Progressive Metal

## Overview

Released on October 4, 1994 by EastWest/Atlantic, "Awake" is Dream Theater's third studio album and the recording that proved Images and Words was no fluke. Where the 1992 breakthrough had balanced melodic accessibility with progressive ambition, Awake leaned hard into darkness, weight, and complexity. The album reached #32 on the Billboard 200 — the highest charting position any Dream Theater record would achieve for over a decade — and singles "Lie," "6:00," and "The Mirror" carried the band's heavier new identity onto MTV and rock radio at a moment when grunge and alternative still dominated the cultural conversation.

Recording took place in the spring and summer of 1994 at Devonshire Studios in North Hollywood, California, with John Purdell and Duane Baron co-producing alongside the band themselves. Purdell and Baron had recently produced Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears" and Alice Cooper's "Hey Stoopid," and their sonic fingerprints are unmistakable on Awake — fatter low end, denser guitar tones, a more compressed and aggressive overall presentation than the airier Images and Words sound. Mike Portnoy's drums sit at the center of this shift.

Awake also carries a specific historical weight: it is keyboardist Kevin Moore's final album with Dream Theater. Moore had been a founding member and co-wrote much of the album's most emotionally resonant material — "Space-Dye Vest," "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream," and the haunting passages of "Scarred" — and his decision to leave the band shortly after the recording wrapped imbued the album with a sense of farewell that listeners and critics noticed immediately.

Gear-wise, the Awake sessions document Mike Portnoy still firmly in his Tama era — Artstar II and Granstar shells, Sabian cymbals, and the then-new Tama Iron Cobra pedal that had launched in 1993. This is the bridge configuration between the Images and Words birch sound and the Starclassic Maple kit he would eventually adopt later in the decade.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** Tama Artstar II / Granstar (Black Lacquer with Chrome Hardware finish)
- **Snare:** Tama Bell Brass, 14" x 6.5"
- **Cymbals:** Sabian — HH / AA Series
- **Hardware / Pedals:** Tama Iron Cobra Power Glide Double Pedal; Tama Iron Cobra Hi-Hat Stand; Tama 1st Chair Round Rider; Pro-Mark Mike Portnoy Signature sticks
- **Heads:** Remo Pinstripe Clear (toms batter), Remo Ambassador Coated (snare batter), Remo Powerstroke 3 Clear (bass batter)
- **Snare tuning:** Medium tension for full body, fat crack, and resonant ghost-note response

### Mike's Studio Kit: The Tama Artstar II / Granstar Configuration

By the spring 1994 Awake sessions, Mike Portnoy had refined and expanded the Tama setup he had used on Images and Words. The core kit remained Tama Artstar II / Granstar birch — Tama's flagship professional shells of the early-to-mid 90s — but the configuration grew to match the more architecturally demanding music. The expanded tom range, with 8", 10", 12", 14", and 16" sizes, gave Portnoy nearly two full octaves of melodic vocabulary and let him construct the wide-arc fills that defined tracks like "6:00" and "Erotomania."

The double 22" bass drum configuration carried over from Images and Words, but the playing approach evolved. Where the 1992 album used double bass as syncopation and accent, the Awake sessions deployed it as sustained low-end pressure — the relentless eighth-note pulse under "The Mirror," the driving sixteenth patterns in the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite, and the punishing footwork in "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" all required a kit that could deliver weight as well as articulation.

The toms themselves were tuned slightly lower than on Images and Words, matching the heavier overall tonal palette. The Star-Cast mounting system preserved shell resonance and was crucial for the longer sustain Portnoy needed in this era. Visually, the black lacquer finish replaced the Images and Words purple, signaling the darker thematic identity of the new record.

### The Bell Brass Snare That Defined the Sound

The single most important sonic upgrade Mike Portnoy made for Awake was the snare drum. He moved from the Artstar II brass snare he had used on Images and Words to the legendary Tama Bell Brass — a heavy, dense brass shell prized in the 80s and 90s for its combination of cracking attack, fat body, and almost gong-like sustain.

At 14" x 6.5", the Bell Brass had the depth to project under heavy guitars and the sensitivity to articulate the rapid ghost-note work that runs through "6:00," "Caught in a Web," and "Voices." The snare's tonal weight is one of the first things that distinguishes Awake's sound from Images and Words — the crack is fatter, the sustain is denser, and the drum sits lower in the spectrum without sacrificing definition.

Co-producers John Purdell and Duane Baron captured the snare with both a top microphone for attack and a bottom microphone for snare-wire response, then compressed and EQ'd the result heavily to match the album's denser overall mix. Portnoy tuned the Bell Brass in the medium range for this recording, slightly looser than his Images and Words approach.

### The Sabian Setup: HH and AA Series

Mike Portnoy was a Sabian endorser throughout the 1990s, and the Awake sessions document the deepest version of his Sabian setup before the eventual move toward the Artisan series later in the decade. The 1994 rig combined the brighter, more cutting AA series (Sabian's automated-hammered cymbals) with the darker, hand-hammered HH series for tonal variety across the album's wide emotional range.

The 14" AA Rock Hi-Hats were heavier than the standard AA pair, giving Portnoy the weight to chop through Devonshire's denser mix without losing articulation. The HH 17" Medium-Thin Crash and the HH 19" Crash provided the darker, more musical accent voices on the kit. The AA 16" and 18" crashes filled the brighter accent roles.

The HH 22" Raw Bell Dry Ride is one of the signature cymbal choices of the Awake era. Dark, dry, and articulate, with a raw unlathed bell that cuts through any density, this ride became closely associated with Portnoy's mid-90s sound. The AA 18" Chinese added trashy aggression for the heaviest passages.

## Key Facts

- Reached #32 on the Billboard 200 — Dream Theater's highest US charting album for over a decade
- Recorded at Devonshire Studios, North Hollywood, with John Purdell + Duane Baron co-producing
- Kevin Moore's final album with Dream Theater before his departure
- Darker, heavier sonic shift from the airier Images and Words sound
- Singles "Lie," "6:00," and "The Mirror" pushed the band onto MTV and rock radio
- Birch shells delivered punchy low end and crisp attack for heavier material
- Expanded five-tom + floor tom layout for compositional fill writing
- Double 22" bass drums tuned for sustained low-end pressure
- Black lacquer finish marked the visual shift from the Images and Words era
- Bell Brass snare gave fatter, more sustained snare voice than Images and Words
- Iron Cobra pedal launch year — Awake was an early major recording to feature it
- Estimated kit value: $4,000-6,000 (1994) / $4,500-7,500 (vintage today)
- Estimated snare value: $650-900 (1994) / $1,200-2,200 (vintage today — Bell Brass commands a premium)

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/awake-drum-setup

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*Last updated: 2026-06-26 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*