Playing Unsustainable

[giovannicovanni]

On 8/13/2019 at 5:24 AM, james90 said:

 

I think I get what parts you mean. Is it more the timing you're having difficulty with, or just figuring out the correct automation and program changes? Most of the track can be figured out easily enough if you have the correct grid divisions. Easiest way to do it is to figure out if the part you're working on has quarter, eighth, etc notes and then adjust the grid to match. 

The first part you mention is quite tricky. I don't think he's actually playing that part in the 'Making of' video - I thought it was a 12th fret harmonic on the A string, but it seems like he's muting everything completely. 

I'm pretty sure he's playing that one live without any backing, considering it sounds different each time. The original recording has the same +2 octave part in the MIDI track, but he hits the strings above the nut the fourth (final) time it's played. 03:39 in the recording. 

I'm having automation problems with the first part. Pretty sure the program changes are correct though.

Actually I tried to create a file yesterday, here's a video of it. I don't think it's too bad, just need to improve the automations to be precise (Also a big sustain/distortion problem too lol).  

Edited August 15, 2019 by giovannicovanni
I tried to add the video to the message, however I couldn't.

[james90]

That's better than most I've heard actually. Program changes sound like the correct ones. Also, nice looking strat 😉

I can't tell, but have you put any automation points between 0 and 127? Meaning the heel/toe positions of the whammy. From what I've learned so far, the track doesn't have any that are between. 

Something to think about is that the original track has the pitch in a lot of parts actually dropping and coming back up to the original. For example, when you saw it live, do you remember how there was a dive-bomb sort of effect at the end that stopped on -2 octaves? 

Here's a fairly recent video I did. I haven't changed a whole lot, but trying to approach that bit at the beginning in a different way (assuming it's only playing in the background in the making of video)

And yeah, the overall sound quality deteriorates quite a bit when run through the whammy on the -2 octave settings. I have it setup on -1 octave here. I noticed it's nowhere near as bad on the classic mode, so I'd switch to that if you're using the chords mode.

[giovannicovanni]

On 8/14/2019 at 7:23 AM, james90 said:

That's better than most I've heard actually. Program changes sound like the correct ones. Also, nice looking strat 😉

I can't tell, but have you put any automation points between 0 and 127? Meaning the heel/toe positions of the whammy. From what I've learned so far, the track doesn't have any that are between. 

Something to think about is that the original track has the pitch in a lot of parts actually dropping and coming back up to the original. For example, when you saw it live, do you remember how there was a dive-bomb sort of effect at the end that stopped on -2 octaves? 

Here's a fairly recent video I did. I haven't changed a whole lot, but trying to approach that bit at the beginning in a different way (assuming it's only playing in the background in the making of video)

And yeah, the overall sound quality deteriorates quite a bit when run through the whammy on the -2 octave settings. I have it setup on -1 octave here. I noticed it's nowhere near as bad on the classic mode, so I'd switch to that if you're using the chords mod

Hehe thanks, it's a 62' Fender baby! 

Well, in the last video I posted, there was an +2 oct part, that I had used between 127 and 64 (I guess) to get a sound of +2 in toe and +1 in heel. However, it was totally wrong  😂 I focused on those +2 oct parts today and they sound much better now, hopefully will get a guitar with mbk-3's, it will sound better since they're going to have a lot more sustain.

 Which part do you mean by a dive-bomb sort of effect at the end that stopped on -2 octaves ? 

I use 12th fret on A string with -2 octaves, because it really doesn't change anything with these *treble 100 and bass 0* pickups 🤣. I will try it with the new guitar when it arrives though.

The videos are soo goood, It sounds %99.9 like the original track!     ps: jesus how many red mansons do you own lol

Here's a video of the new version, playing is not the best though. 

[james90]

On 8/15/2019 at 1:44 PM, giovannicovanni said:

Hehe thanks, it's a 62' Fender baby! 

Well, in the last video I posted, there was an +2 oct part, that I had used between 127 and 64 (I guess) to get a sound of +2 in toe and +1 in heel. However, it was totally wrong  😂 I focused on those +2 oct parts today and they sound much better now, hopefully will get a guitar with mbk-3's, it will sound better since they're going to have a lot more sustain.

 Which part do you mean by a dive-bomb sort of effect at the end that stopped on -2 octaves ? 

I use 12th fret on A string with -2 octaves, because it really doesn't change anything with these *treble 100 and bass 0* pickups 🤣. I will try it with the new guitar when it arrives though.

The videos are soo goood, It sounds %99.9 like the original track!     ps: jesus how many red mansons do you own lol

Here's a video of the new version, playing is not the best though. 

 

 

Nice, one of the roadworn models? Looks great.

As for the the +2 octave part you mention, that's definitely the logical way to approach it. You'd think that if it's two octaves up at CC 127, it would sound like it's one octave up at half that value (63.5, but round that to 64) 

But if you check that older video I posted, I recall it was set much closer to the +2 octave value for those triplets. Like 124-127 or something like that. I might still have a screenshot of that somewhere - will see if I can find it. While it seemed to match the original track's pitch closely, it really seemed like an extreme way to do it... 

Even though Matt is playing everything around the 12th fret in the studio/making of video, I've never seen him play it that way live. Plus it's difficult to say if the making of video is how it was really recorded. 

So I ended taking all of the -2 octave settings for the low notes out and using -1 octave instead, as well as using +1 octave for those fast triplets towards the beginning. It does require playing it differently and moving around the neck a bit more though, but also sounds a lot better because the pedal isn't altering the sound as much.

The dive-bomb sort of effect I mean is at the very end of the live version, as soon as the rest of the band stops playing. He hits a note on the 17th fret on the high E string, and it slowly drops two octaves in pitch. So the part right before that (the "you're un-sus-tain-a-ble" bit) is played on -2 octaves, 17th fret on the high E string.

And thanks - I've spent more time working on this than I'd like to admit, but happy to discuss what I've found. I'll see if I can send you a screen shot of the automation, but yours is sounding good. Like I said, the correct triplet grids are key, but also keeping in mind that most parts of the song use lower octave/divebomb patches on the whammy, and have those return to the original pitch. You'll have to invert the automation if you've already written it to use the higher octave patches though.

 

 

 

 

[giovannicovanni]

It's a 62' Reissue, and I added a custom aged pickguard for that vintage look 🙂 

For that 63.5-64 part, I had used a tuner after the whammy so I achieve the exact tune, however I kinda solved it so that's not a problem anymore. The reason is, I had tried doing 0 to 127 at that part and something was wrong, it was sounding so -I don't know, too.. complicated?-, so I  tried doing 64-127 so that the time between the pitch change was going to be faster, but also that didn't do any good. So I changed the grid with triplets and added a dive bomb effect for that killswitch sound, and that was it! Sounds pretty good for now, I'll just focus on the middle part where matt also sings, and when I finish it, I'll just look back into the other parts again for a perfect automation. 

 Thanks for the screenshot if you find it, but no problem if you can't too! 

Sorry I looked it up for the dive bomb effect in the end, but looks like I didn't take a video of that part and I don't remember very well. However, I've found this video on youtube that show us a close af look on his guitar.  looks like he plays 5th fret on low E instead of 12th on A like yours, however I thought he was playing unsustainable with drop A, perhaps he changed it to standard. I'm pretty sure he's not only going from 0 to 127 with a dive bomb in the end. There is a little bend-ish sound, before he does the dive bomb. I think it goes from -1oct to normal pitch , to dive bomb. 

By the way, what effect do you use for the string tree-picking parts? I tried -1 harmony in chords mode, sounds better now but still I'm missing something, just can't get that tone.

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by giovannicovanni

[james90]

11 hours ago, giovannicovanni said:

It's a 62' Reissue, and I added a custom aged pickguard for that vintage look 🙂 

For that 63.5-64 part, I had used a tuner after the whammy so I achieve the exact tune, however I kinda solved it so that's not a problem anymore. The reason is, I had tried doing 0 to 127 at that part and something was wrong, it was sounding so -I don't know, too.. complicated?-, so I  tried doing 64-127 so that the time between the pitch change was going to be faster, but also that didn't do any good. So I changed the grid with triplets and added a dive bomb effect for that killswitch sound, and that was it! Sounds pretty good for now, I'll just focus on the middle part where matt also sings, and when I finish it, I'll just look back into the other parts again for a perfect automation. 

 Thanks for the screenshot if you find it, but no problem if you can't too! 

Sorry I looked it up for the dive bomb effect in the end, but looks like I didn't take a video of that part and I don't remember very well. However, I've found this video on youtube that show us a close af look on his guitar.  looks like he plays 5th fret on low E instead of 12th on A like yours, however I thought he was playing unsustainable with drop A, perhaps he changed it to standard. I'm pretty sure he's not only going from 0 to 127 with a dive bomb in the end. There is a little bend-ish sound, before he does the dive bomb. I think it goes from -1oct to normal pitch , to dive bomb. 

By the way, what effect do you use for the string tree-picking parts? I tried -1 harmony in chords mode, sounds better now but still I'm missing something, just can't get that tone.

 

 

I think I get what you mean. I don’t think there’s anything particularly bizarre or complicated like that in the track. As I mentioned, I’ve tried loads of different ideas like going from CC 124-127 because it matched the pitch closely, but it really didn’t make sense to do it that way.

Yeah, the dive-bomb effect is key for that part. It sort of mutes the notes if that makes sense? I recall it sounds best with the dive-bomb effect switching on and off VERY quickly at the end of each of those three triplets. I can give you the timestamps of where to put the six program changes, but it might not match depending on the grid you’re using. Are you doing this in Logic or Cubase? Or something else?

And yeah that’s correct - it’s standard tuning. I was originally playing it like in the studio version (everything around the 12th fret) but found those -2 octave A string notes sounded pretty bad. So I set it up to be like the live version, which has the 5th fret low E on -1 octave like you say.

As for the part at the very end of the live version, you might be right. It seems like the slight bend was coming from the part below? 

 

 

 

It’s the same pattern, but has the final 127 point moved to a different position.

The string tree parts are the dive bomb patch switching on and off. I have the automation set to 127 the entire time. The reason is likely due to the difference in the guitars. The MB guitars don’t have string trees, so it sounds a bit different. Similar to doing it on a Gibson style guitar with an angled headstock really.

And before I forget. If you try to go super accurate and match the sweep of the pitch and whatnot… get the instrumental track and isolate it so you’re only hearing one guitar. I can send you this if you’d like. As I mentioned earlier, they’re not perfectly in tune with each other for whatever reason, so it’s best to base everything on one guitar track if you’re trying to match it exactly.

[giovannicovanni]

On 8/20/2019 at 5:04 AM, james90 said:

 

I think I get what you mean. I don’t think there’s anything particularly bizarre or complicated like that in the track. As I mentioned, I’ve tried loads of different ideas like going from CC 124-127 because it matched the pitch closely, but it really didn’t make sense to do it that way.

Yeah, the dive-bomb effect is key for that part. It sort of mutes the notes if that makes sense? I recall it sounds best with the dive-bomb effect switching on and off VERY quickly at the end of each of those three triplets. I can give you the timestamps of where to put the six program changes, but it might not match depending on the grid you’re using. Are you doing this in Logic or Cubase? Or something else?

And yeah that’s correct - it’s standard tuning. I was originally playing it like in the studio version (everything around the 12th fret) but found those -2 octave A string notes sounded pretty bad. So I set it up to be like the live version, which has the 5th fret low E on -1 octave like you say.

As for the part at the very end of the live version, you might be right. It seems like the slight bend was coming from the part below? 

 

 

 

It’s the same pattern, but has the final 127 point moved to a different position.

The string tree parts are the dive bomb patch switching on and off. I have the automation set to 127 the entire time. The reason is likely due to the difference in the guitars. The MB guitars don’t have string trees, so it sounds a bit different. Similar to doing it on a Gibson style guitar with an angled headstock really.

And before I forget. If you try to go super accurate and match the sweep of the pitch and whatnot… get the instrumental track and isolate it so you’re only hearing one guitar. I can send you this if you’d like. As I mentioned earlier, they’re not perfectly in tune with each other for whatever reason, so it’s best to base everything on one guitar track if you’re trying to match it exactly.

 

I think I got the killswitch-ish dive bomb parts correct in my new version (or maybe a litttle lag but I kinda like it so didn't change it) so no need for the screenshot for now , thanks though! 

I'm using logic. I tried the automation you sent for the final dive bomb, but it sounded kinda weird to me (used /24 grid). Here I'm putting both screenshots and audio files to compare.

 

This is the one you sent, and the red part is where I put the dive bomb in.

B2.WAV

 

This is the one I use (again red part is the dive bomb).

A1.WAV

 

I'm not really trying to get the EXACT tune to be honest. I'm playing kinda roughly like Matt does in live performances, I just play whatever I feel at that moment, sometimes I hit the string tree, sometimes do a harmonic, sometimes open notes, basically just improvise. With the correct program changes, they all sound cool if you know what I mean.

[james90]

That's fair enough - I doubt Matt's played it exactly the same more than once in live performances

Sorry, shouldn't have called it a dive-bomb actually. I meant the very end of the live version that has that note that drops in pitch. It should be switching to -2 octave at the beginning of the 127th measure, and it remains on that for the pitch drop during the next measure. This is what I mentioned earlier about how some parts of the song don't have the higher octave settings, but are actually the lower octave settings returning to the actual pitch (if that makes sense)

 

 

[Guest]

Anyone happen to have a whammy v5 file that works/is just a midi file i can convertt into cubase 5 with a tab for this song?

 

Tysm!

[shuggy_r]

Gonna do a bump on this as well, I used to have the file backed up on a hard drive and it's recently broken, the links are so hard to find these days.

[james90]

Bs didn't need a MIDI file to play Unsustainable.... 

 

But then he didn't need me as a friend on facebook either. 🖕😭🖕

[Guest]

yeah like using 2 oct up on the whammy pedal occasionally on this tab sounds ok: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/muse-the-2nd-law-unsustainable-tab-s162575t0

 

but relatively shit and this song needs to be played w midi so if anyone has some sort of file im fine w any DAW

 

speaking of DAWs I found a perfect map of problematique MIDI file for studio one if anyone wants me to upload (not my file)

 

but yeah unsustainable midi for whammy 5 would be awesome if anyone has it!

 

edit: obvs tab required too please!Insert other media

Edited September 17, 2019 by Guest
edit

[Guest]

5 hours ago, shuggy_r said:

Gonna do a bump on this as well, I used to have the file backed up on a hard drive and it's recently broken, the links are so hard to find these days.

F

[james90]

That's the thing though. It's not quite as simple as exporting from one DAW and importing into another. At least with Logic into Cubase. The automation ends up scrambled with a bunch of extra points added automatically.

Though technically that's correct since they're made up of individual CCs, but the points between 0 and 127 seem to change location.

As for MOTP, is that for the whammy, or does studio one have a sequencing plugin of some kind? I just finished up a file as well - it was originally intended for the whammy, but I ended up using a different pedal. 

 

Interestingly there only appear to be two patterns in the song - but they need to be written (copied and pasted really) carefully, as it doesn't repeat consistently.

 

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, james90 said:

That's the thing though. It's not quite as simple as exporting from one DAW and importing into another. At least with Logic into Cubase. The automation ends up scrambled with a bunch of extra points added automatically.

Though technically that's correct since they're made up of individual CCs, but the points between 0 and 127 seem to change location.

As for MOTP, is that for the whammy, or does studio one have a sequencing plugin of some kind? I just finished up a file as well - it was originally intended for the whammy, but I ended up using a different pedal. 

 

 

Interestingly there only appear to be two patterns in the song - but they need to be written (copied and pasted really) carefully, as it doesn't repeat consistently.

 

 

it's a whammy automation file and oof  i can try any other DAW tho (logic is mac right)

 

also AWESOME GUITAR

 

 

[james90]

Thanks, and yeah, it only seems to be for mac unfortunately.

Do you have access to any other DAWs? I could try to set it up as a Cubase project, but will need to see if it requires redoing everything from beginning to end. I should also mention that I haven't actually done the middle section of the song. It's just set for -1 octave all the way through.

Basically what you see in this video, but I've made some small adjustments since then. Mainly fixed the timing of the nut strikes (which were correct initially, but not here 🤦‍♂️) and that same bit towards the beginning that I've never really figured out...Yet.

 

 

[Guest]

13 hours ago, james90 said:

Thanks, and yeah, it only seems to be for mac unfortunately.

Do you have access to any other DAWs? I could try to set it up as a Cubase project, but will need to see if it requires redoing everything from beginning to end. I should also mention that I haven't actually done the middle section of the song. It's just set for -1 octave all the way through.

Basically what you see in this video, but I've made some small adjustments since then. Mainly fixed the timing of the nut strikes (which were correct initially, but not here 🤦‍♂️) and that same bit towards the beginning that I've never really figured out...Yet.

 

 

Which one would be easiest? I have access to Studio One, Cubase, etc I can get some ones if needed.

 

Also do you have tabs?

 

Tysm tho and yeah nut strikes in this song is important. I may be wrong but I thought it was -1 octaves for the sequences where its like 000000 and then -2 for higher notes and nut strikes BUT im probably wrong

 

Ty tho!

[giovannicovanni]

@james90  What do you use for the tone? It sounds good, has the right amount of fuzz without any hum noise! 

[james90]

8 hours ago, nightleld said:

Which one would be easiest? I have access to Studio One, Cubase, etc I can get some ones if needed.

 

Also do you have tabs?

 

Tysm tho and yeah nut strikes in this song is important. I may be wrong but I thought it was -1 octaves for the sequences where its like 000000 and then -2 for higher notes and nut strikes BUT im probably wrong

 

Ty tho!

 

Cubase I guess, but I'd need to set the project up first. I'd need to figure out a few things first though - can't say I use that program too often. I don't have any written out yet, no.

 

The only one that sounds correct to me is the switching between bypass and dive-bomb.

 

Only thing is that even if I've got the timing of the two settings right, it sounds like too much like a kill switch effect - switching completely on and off. It might involve one of the drop tune settings on the DT I guess.

 

5 hours ago, giovannicovanni said:

@james90  What do you use for the tone? It sounds good, has the right amount of fuzz without any hum noise! 

 

Thanks, and that was the Marshall DSL amp distortion. I think that was just with the gain and treble turned up and bass turned down. 

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but if you're using the whammy 5, have it switch to the classic mode for the lower notes. So you'd essentially be using the chords mode program changes (PC 42, 43, etc) for all of the song except for the low A notes, which would be PC 8 (for -2 octave anyway.) Tends to sound a bit better, and it's only single notes, so the tracking isn't much of an issue.

Or if you want to be overkill, you can take a MIDI controllable loop switcher, and use a different pedal for certain parts... and that is just for the pitch shifting. As there are three unused loops, I could add three different fuzz/distortion pedals that could be instantly switched out for different parts of the song. Planning to do something else though.

[giovannicovanni]

Wow, I use Strymon Sunset’s Hard mode (which is a ProCo Rat clone as I’ve heard) boosted with a treble boost, + FF since I don’t have any distortion pedal (even my amp doesn’t have a dist channel lol). If I use only Sunset, the gain seems so clean but if I use FF then it sounds too fuzzy 😕

 

I only tried it with the classic mode, I’ll give it a try!

 

By the way, I had the middle section in the midi file i created with Logic, I’d say it’s %80 correct since it’s basically just dive bombing. I can send it to you if you want. 

[james90]

2 hours ago, giovannicovanni said:

Wow, I use Strymon Sunset’s Hard mode (which is a ProCo Rat clone as I’ve heard) boosted with a treble boost, + FF since I don’t have any distortion pedal (even my amp doesn’t have a dist channel lol). If I use only Sunset, the gain seems so clean but if I use FF then it sounds too fuzzy 😕

 

I only tried it with the classic mode, I’ll give it a try!

 

By the way, I had the middle section in the midi file i created with Logic, I’d say it’s %80 correct since it’s basically just dive bombing. I can send it to you if you want. 

 

I think I get what you mean. It can easily end up too distorted, but still lack the high end/treble and sustain - especially when compared to the other octave up settings. I find that using a distortion rather than fuzz works best, since fuzz pedals don't always play nicely with the whammy - especially when placed after.

If you've got a pedal that has buffered bypass (rather than true bypass) try placing that in front of the whammy. Any Boss pedal for example will work. Don't switch the pedal on, but just have it in the signal chain directly before the whammy. 

So it would be...

Guitar > any pedal (switched off) with a buffered bypass > whammy > treble booster > distortion > amp

I'd experiment with the different settings on the Strymon combined with the treble booster. Maybe try a lower gain setting on the Strymon, and adjust the treble booster to where it sounds best. 

In this case, I'd actually avoid using the fuzz factory, since that would have to go in front of the whammy anyway. I think still possible MB recorded it that way (based on the oscillation at the very end of the song) but he often runs into a DI with the gain cranked up, which is part of getting that additional overdrive and treble. 

And sure, or if a sound clip is easier I can try to figure it out myself. A little more difficult as the guitar is lower in the mix during that part of the song.

Also,  an observation about the live version. Those same triplets we were discussing earlier (the quick ones towards the beginning) - it seems that the live version actually has the first as +2 octave, and then the others as -2 octave.

Right around 1:34. It's definitely not in the studio version, but seems to be in all the live ones.

 

 

[Guest]

13 hours ago, james90 said:

 

Cubase I guess, but I'd need to set the project up first. I'd need to figure out a few things first though - can't say I use that program too often. I don't have any written out yet, no.

 

The only one that sounds correct to me is the switching between bypass and dive-bomb.

 

Only thing is that even if I've got the timing of the two settings right, it sounds like too much like a kill switch effect - switching completely on and off. It might involve one of the drop tune settings on the DT I guess.

 

 

Thanks, and that was the Marshall DSL amp distortion. I think that was just with the gain and treble turned up and bass turned down. 

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but if you're using the whammy 5, have it switch to the classic mode for the lower notes. So you'd essentially be using the chords mode program changes (PC 42, 43, etc) for all of the song except for the low A notes, which would be PC 8 (for -2 octave anyway.) Tends to sound a bit better, and it's only single notes, so the tracking isn't much of an issue.

Or if you want to be overkill, you can take a MIDI controllable loop switcher, and use a different pedal for certain parts... and that is just for the pitch shifting. As there are three unused loops, I could add three different fuzz/distortion pedals that could be instantly switched out for different parts of the song. Planning to do something else though.

tysm for even putting the time into it tho! and yeah i have a normal whammy 5 so idk ab DT settings - p awesome that uve made this tho

[giovannicovanni]

On 9/22/2019 at 6:53 AM, james90 said:

 

I think I get what you mean. It can easily end up too distorted, but still lack the high end/treble and sustain - especially when compared to the other octave up settings. I find that using a distortion rather than fuzz works best, since fuzz pedals don't always play nicely with the whammy - especially when placed after.

If you've got a pedal that has buffered bypass (rather than true bypass) try placing that in front of the whammy. Any Boss pedal for example will work. Don't switch the pedal on, but just have it in the signal chain directly before the whammy. 

So it would be...

Guitar > any pedal (switched off) with a buffered bypass > whammy > treble booster > distortion > amp

I'd experiment with the different settings on the Strymon combined with the treble booster. Maybe try a lower gain setting on the Strymon, and adjust the treble booster to where it sounds best. 

In this case, I'd actually avoid using the fuzz factory, since that would have to go in front of the whammy anyway. I think still possible MB recorded it that way (based on the oscillation at the very end of the song) but he often runs into a DI with the gain cranked up, which is part of getting that additional overdrive and treble. 

And sure, or if a sound clip is easier I can try to figure it out myself. A little more difficult as the guitar is lower in the mix during that part of the song.

Also,  an observation about the live version. Those same triplets we were discussing earlier (the quick ones towards the beginning) - it seems that the live version actually has the first as +2 octave, and then the others as -2 octave.

Right around 1:34. It's definitely not in the studio version, but seems to be in all the live ones.

 

 

Well, Strymon Sunset is basically 2 individual pedals, and each pedal has 3 modes (FET/treble boost, high gain OD, tube screamer etc.) and you can stack or use it parallel however you want to use it, the combinations are infinite, so I use treble boosted hi-gain to get something close to a distortion, BUT I think the biggest problem is the amp (Blues Junior), so whatever I change with my pedals, I just can’t get enough dirt and sustain after a limit.

 

Why is it necessary to but a buffered pedal in front of the whammy? (don’t get me wrong, I just don’t understand why since Whammy’s always on) My order is: Guitar+( built-in Fuzz Factory) > whammy > OD 

 

Sorry I didn’t understand, which part do you mean by those triplets being -2? In 1:34 there’s that weird oscillation (Which I accidentally kinda achieved when I used Low E’s A instead of low A like you suggested, you can see in the video below.) 

 

About the middle section of the project, yesterday I made some modifications to it. Normally the first part of the middle where you do those dive bombs with string tree hitting are different in live and studio recording as you know, and the 2nd part is just -1 octave without any expression changes. In my project I modified it so the first part is like the live versions (just like the video you sent) and the second part is like the original recording. HOWEVER, yesterday I accidentally closed the project and clicked “Don’t Save” 🙄 fml.

Here’s a video I recorded after I changed the middle part, sorry for the bad quality and mistakes, it’s the only one I recorded before I, you know.. clicked Don’t Save. I’ll try to send the project when I change everything again  

[james90]

I don't think it's the amp. The Blues Junior is a good one, though maybe not ideal for those low notes if you're playing at super high volume. It's more to do with how the whammy processes the signal. To give you an idea, run your distortion pedal into the front of the whammy, and then try it after. You'll notice the high end and sustain will be completely different. This is why I'm using that switching system, which will essentially do the following:

1. Fuzz factory > Buffer (Boss SD-1 switched off) > Whammy. Used for most parts of the song.

2. H9 > Fuzz head. Used for the lower octave notes that are played on the bottom two strings.

And it's not absolutely necessary to add a buffer, but it does make a difference. What I meant to post yesterday was based on something I had tried previously though, which was whammy > buffer > fuzz factory (if I remember correctly.) This was going directly into the recording interface.

But if you're not plugged directly into the whammy, it's still worth adding one directly before.

As for the triplets, I'm not sure how to explain it. I'll try to make a video or sound clip later, but the automation basically has to be inverted for it to work - maybe with some reverb as well.

And that sounds good anyway - nice job. Seems like the middle section of the live version is much easier to figure out than the studio recording.

Also just put together a backing track for this, which I'll upload after I get the software instruments sounding a bit better.

[giovannicovanni]

@james90 It's actually the opposite, I play it in Master (Volume) 2 out of 12, and still it gives a loud sound since the room I'm playing in is sooo small (heck, you can hear the sound of a mosquito like it's in your head which is so trippy).

I just borrowed a distortion pedal (Ehx Metal Muff Top Boost) from a friend of mine to try some combinations. I will try putting the distortion before and after the whammy, however looks like the best choice for me to do is use Fuzz Factory because my other pedals' cables are pinned under the pedalboard so it will be so hard for me to remove them, sooo I'm open to suggestions for Fuzz Factory Settings  

and thanks! The sound quality of the video isn't so good because like I said, the room is small af, so the mic of my phone captures also the acoustic sound of the guitar when I record, which can especially be heard when I hit the string tree. (I don't have an audio interface)

Live version is easier and much more simpler. You don't have to play the exact notes this way, you can just improvise (as long as you stay in the chord of course), that's probably why Matt plays it like this. 

I am using a backing track, all the instruments in the back (bass, drums, orchestra ) are midi except for the intro, and the sound of the robot and the reporter are slightly isolated. I will send you the whole project instead of just the middle part, so I'd appreciate if you tell me your opinion about it!