Recording
Office of Strategic Influence was recorded at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut from June 2 to June 9, 2002. Matheos and Moore mixed the album with Phil Magnotti (who had previously mixed for Fates Warning) in August. Portnoy pushed to get as much of the band together as possible for the main tracking sessions because of his dislike of "side projects done through mail."
Matheos and Moore created the basic song ideas in Pro Tools. Songs in the progressive metal vein were almost entirely written by Matheos, while Moore had more influence on the more vocal-driven tracks. Portnoy noted that they were ultimately "Jim's songs", but that Moore was very involved with arrangements, post-production, melodies and lyrics. Portnoy considered himself as "just a drummer": he made minor arrangement suggestions but did not have a part in the actual writing. Malone and Wilson contributed their parts after the songs had been arranged. Matheos saved any unused ideas for the next Fates Warning album.
Sean Malone said that he enjoyed playing on the album, but that "it would have been nice to work out parts with Mike as they were being recorded rather than after the fact". He took a "session approach" to the album, "trying as much as possible to create parts that fit what Jim et al had created, versus trying to impose anything upon it". He was sent MIDI bass parts for each song which served as a guideline. For the particularly sparse and texture-heavy tracks, Malone did lots of doubletracking to create "a natural kind of chorusing" he prefers to any digital effects.
Before the recording of Office of Strategic Influence, the last time Moore and Portnoy worked together was on Dream Theater's Awake in 1994. Matheos was initially concerned about how Moore and Portnoy would feel about working together for the first time in eight years. Moore noted that he and Portnoy were not on bad terms, but "just weren't in touch." The two both described the experience as initially "awkward". When recording the album Portnoy had to take directions from others; he found this difficult as he was used to taking the creative lead. Moore noted that there was tension when recording the same drum part for a song more than once (in order to give Moore choice later on): "He's used to just playing the stroke once, the way he wants to," he said.
In a 2009 interview, Portnoy blamed his frustration with the project on Moore:
| “ | I honestly went in there with an open mind and I was truly excited to work with Kevin again... But it ended up being more of the same old shit that it was when he left Dream Theater... making those records with Kevin wasn’t fun. He’s not a fun person to work with. He’s a very depressing and stubborn personality and there’s no reason in my life or my career that I need to subject myself to that sort of personality. | ” |
Portnoy performed as a session musician on the second OSI album, Free, but was replaced by Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison for the third album, Blood.
Read more about this topic: Office Of Strategic Influence (album)
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