Muse – Drones

Matt can be seen playing the Manson 007 in the Time is Running Out music video. Matt refers to this guitar as "Black Ed," and it is known to the fans as "Black Manson" and "Blackie." This guitar is unique, as it is fitted with a Fernandes Sustainer, and it's the first of Matt's guitars to feature the famous MIDI pad (it's just the strip above the strings), an Zvex Fuzz Factory, still controlled by the two potentiometers under the bridge, an MXR Phase 90, but it's also the only guitar to feature a Zvex Wah Probe. (the little gold plate on the cut.) This guitar was apparently ordered by Matt around 2001 and it was retired of the stage rig since 2010/2011, but is still used extensively in studio : Matt said in an interview that it was the main guitar for the recording of The Resistance. You can also see it in the making of The 2nd Law, and some photos posted around 2014 showed the 007 during the recording of Drones. (it does not appear on the DVD though). Matt said it does not use it anymore on stage because it's a way more louder and heavy to carry that his other guitars.

Matt can be seen using a Manson Alloy 7 string guitar while recording Supremacy, at 0:09 in this video.

PLEASE PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE ITEM IN THIS SUBMISSION. Someone keeps changing them to incorrect items. When I originally posted this, it was a Manson Matt Black.

In this photo, Matthew can clearly be seen playing a Manson Matt Black.

This guitar does not feature an X-Y MIDI pad, unlike the majority of Matt's Mansons. It is also the lightest guitar Hugh built for Matt. It's custom knobs and nickel machine heads match those of the Manson Delorean.

It is identical to several other Matt Blacks that Hugh made in a batch. Bellamy uses these guitars for smashing and throwing. Only differce is that this particular guitar has a velvet satin finish, while all the ones from the batch have just a regular satin finish.

At one particular show in Toronto, this guitar featured a rosewood fingerboard rather than the usual ebony. It was, later during the gig, tossed out of the giant pyramid on stage. However, the guitar was undamaged.

Matt used this guitar for mainly Drop-D song throughout the Drones Tour, and it was used for the recording of "Defector." It was even tossed around a lot. However, Matt is still using the undamaged guitar today.

In this image from Muse's studio recording of the album "Drones", we can see the Jazz Chorus-120 wired up.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "For the final guitar sounds [...] we ended up with two Mills cabs, one with a modified Ampeg V4, which originally was a bass amp and has a very deep sound, or with the modified Marshall 1959 head, or sometimes a Marshall Plexi amp from the studio."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “We did extensive amp research for the guitar sound for ‘The Globalist Part 1’. Matt had a very precise sound in mind, which was retro, warm and intimate. I took the DI from live tracking of the song to try out a collection of amps I rented, particularly many late-’50s Fender amps — Tremolux, Deluxe, tweeds, etc — and did a massive shootout to get the right sound. We ended up using a Deluxe and a Tremolux in combination, one with and one without tremolo."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We did extensive amp research for the guitar sound for ‘The Globalist Part 1’. Matt had a very precise sound in mind, which was retro, warm and intimate. I took the DI from live tracking of the song to try out a collection of amps I rented, particularly many late-’50s Fender amps — Tremolux, Deluxe, tweeds, etc — and did a massive shootout to get the right sound. We ended up using a Deluxe and a Tremolux in combination, one with and one without tremolo."

Matt used an old Marshall JTM45 head from the early-sixties on Drones and Simulation Theory.

Matthew used a DBX FS900 while recording the album "Drones". The DBX can be seen in the right rack mount in this image.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "All the amps were separated by big, foam baffles, and connected to our Radial JD7 Injector guitar signal splitter, which was in the middle of the room, and allowed us to quickly try things out."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Pedal–wise there was a lot going on, but there are a few pedals that get used a lot, like the ZVex Fuzz Factory, the ZVex Super Hard On, which gives a nice clean boost so it distorts the amplifier, the Super Duper, and the Machsonic Thrust Drive pedal, which is made by someone in Turkey, and which we used with the Ampeg head for a very scooped–out fuzz sound, the JHS Colour Box, which mimics the sound of the Neve 1073, and a Roland SDD 3000 pedal."

This is one of the photos Muse posted prior the release of their latest album, Drones. As you can see, there's a Digitech Whammy DT laying on the floor.

This is the pedal he used for the heavy part on the song "The Globalist", one of the songs on "Drones". It can be seen at 2:51min on the video of "the making of" of the song, as confirmed just recently by their additional producer Tommaso Colliva in an "Inside track" on the October 2015 issue of "Sound on Sound".

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Pedal–wise there was a lot going on, but there are a few pedals that get used a lot, like the ZVex Fuzz Factory, the ZVex Super Hard On, which gives a nice clean boost so it distorts the amplifier, the Super Duper, and the Machsonic Thrust Drive pedal, which is made by someone in Turkey, and which we used with the Ampeg head for a very scooped–out fuzz sound, the JHS Colour Box, which mimics the sound of the Neve 1073, and a Roland SDD 3000 pedal."

Also seen in this picture from Muse's MUSEum with gear used by Matt and Chris over the years.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Pedal–wise there was a lot going on, but there are a few pedals that get used a lot, like the ZVex Fuzz Factory, the ZVex Super Hard On, which gives a nice clean boost so it distorts the amplifier, the Super Duper, and the Machsonic Thrust Drive pedal, which is made by someone in Turkey, and which we used with the Ampeg head for a very scooped–out fuzz sound, the JHS Colour Box, which mimics the sound of the Neve 1073, and a Roland SDD 3000 pedal."

Matthew Bellamy uses the Teenage Engineering OP-1 Portable Synthesizer during the creation of the album "Drones," as shown in a video on Muse's Instagram, where he's exploring synth sounds.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "There are fewer keyboards on Drones than on previous albums, and the ones we did use are the usual suspects, like the Buchla 200e, ARP 2600, Korg MS20, Prophet 5 and Moog Voyager."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "There are fewer keyboards on Drones than on previous albums, and the ones we did use are the usual suspects, like the Buchla 200e, ARP 2600, Korg MS20, Prophet 5 and Moog Voyager."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "There are fewer keyboards on Drones than on previous albums, and the ones we did use are the usual suspects, like the Buchla 200e, ARP 2600, Korg MS20, Prophet 5 and Moog Voyager."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "There are fewer keyboards on Drones than on previous albums, and the ones we did use are the usual suspects, like the Buchla 200e, ARP 2600, Korg MS20, Prophet 5 and Moog Voyager."

This mic was used to record Matt's Vox AC-30 on Drones

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "During tracking we had an amp setup consisting of hand–wired Marshall 1959, Diezel VH4, and vintage 1960s JMI Vox amps, recorded with a standard Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 pair, and just a mic pre and some desk EQ, keeping things quite simple."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "[Matt] tends to rely on the Neumann U67, which [he] owns, and the AEA R44, which sounds amazing and which is really good for more intimate things."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "[Matt] tends to rely on the Neumann U67, which [he] owns, and the AEA R44, which sounds amazing and which is really good for more intimate things."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "For the final takes [we used a] Neumann FET47 and SM57 on the Diezel VH4 with Mills cab."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "For the final takes [we used a] Sennheiser 421 and Josephson e22s on the modded Marshall 1959HW or Ampeg V4 with Mills cab."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "The synths on the album are mostly hardware, though we did keep some of the soft synths from pre–production, during which Matt likes to use Native Instrument’s Massive, Rob Papen’s Predator and Air Music’s Vacuum Pro."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "The synths on the album are mostly hardware, though we did keep some of the soft synths from pre–production, during which Matt likes to use Native Instrument’s Massive, Rob Papen’s Predator and Air Music’s Vacuum Pro."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "The synths on the album are mostly hardware, though we did keep some of the soft synths from pre–production, during which Matt likes to use Native Instrument’s Massive, Rob Papen’s Predator and Air Music’s Vacuum Pro."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Matt always tracks the vocals by himself. I set things up for him, and the mic pre we use is always a Neve 1073, usually with an 1176 compressor. I dial in some settings and he may nudge things up or down, depending on the kind of vocals he’s tracking. We also very occasionally used a Mercury M76 tube mic pre, and on a few songs Matt wanted to hold the mic in his hand, but we didn’t like the sound of a dynamic mic too much, so we ended up using a FET47 which I took out of the mic mount and wrapped in foam. "

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Matt always tracks the vocals by himself. I set things up for him, and the mic pre we use is always a Neve 1073, usually with an 1176 compressor. I dial in some settings and he may nudge things up or down, depending on the kind of vocals he’s tracking. We also very occasionally used a Mercury M76 tube mic pre, and on a few songs Matt wanted to hold the mic in his hand, but we didn’t like the sound of a dynamic mic too much, so we ended up using a FET47 which I took out of the mic mount and wrapped in foam. "

He used ATH M50x while recording the album 'Drones'. Can see it on 6:35.

This microphone was used as a kick drum microphone for song "Drones", according to Sound on Sound interview.

"Dom loves that mic because of its clicky feel, and also uses it live — and we had a [Neumann] FET47 on the outside kick drum, which was placed kind of exactly in the middle of the hole in the resonance skin, and because you get that blast, we had to put a pop filter on it." - Colliva about "Drones" recording.

Used as a bottom snare mic during the Drones sessions.

Also used on percussion live.

Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We had the Sony C48 on the kick resonant head."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "For the snare top we had a Sony C47, which is an amazing microphone."

This microphone was used for overheads during the recording of Drones.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Toms were recorded with Sennheiser MD421s on the top and Neumann U87s on the resonant head."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Toms were recorded with Sennheiser MD421s on the top and Neumann U87s on the resonant head."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We had some stereo room mics, like [...] some AKG C460s up in the balcony."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We had some stereo room mics, like the DPA 4006s and Coles 4038s."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We had some stereo room mics, like the DPA 4006s and Coles 4038s, and some AKG C460s up in the balcony."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We had a few mono room mics, like the Neumann U47, an amazing RCA 44, and a couple of PZMs that we moved around."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "On some songs the room microphones would be quite compressed, usually using an Audio & Design Compex F760X RS."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Most of the microphones went through the Neve desk, and we also had some EQs and compressors in the chain. [We] used compressors and the [SPL] Transient Designer on the room mics."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Most of the microphones went through the Neve desk, and we also had some EQs and compressors in the chain. For example, I had [...] a GML 8200 EQ on the overheads."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “We had the bass cabs in the basement, which meant quite a long cable run, and for this reason we also had the mic pres in the basement, which usually were Neve 1081s, going into an [Teletronix] LA2A or [Empirical Labs] Distressor for compression, and then into insert returns on the desk, where we could apply some final level and EQ while bypassing the line amp on the desk.”

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “We also took a DI from the bass guitar, which allowed us to re–amp things later on if needed, and a distorted DI, taken post–pedal, and I sometimes had an LA3A or a Distressor on the DI.”

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “We had the bass cabs in the basement, which meant quite a long cable run, and for this reason we also had the mic pres in the basement, which usually were Neve 1081s, going into an [Teletronix] LA2A or [Empirical Labs] Distressor for compression, and then into insert returns on the desk, where we could apply some final level and EQ while bypassing the line amp on the desk.”

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “The mics on the bass cabs were a Neumann FET 47 with a [Shure] SM57, Beyerdynamic M88 or Electro–Voice RE20 on the clean amp, and the same on the distorted amps, but we also tried the Shure SM57 or Sennheiser 421 on the latter.”

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “The mics on the bass cabs were a Neumann FET 47 with a [Shure] SM57, Beyerdynamic M88 or Electro–Voice RE20 on the clean amp, and the same on the distorted amps, but we also tried the Shure SM57 or Sennheiser 421 on the latter.”

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “The mics on the bass cabs were a Neumann FET 47 with a [Shure] SM57, Beyerdynamic M88 or Electro–Voice RE20 on the clean amp."

This microphone is also the go-to bass amp mic for Muse's live sound engineer, Marc Carolan.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “The mics on the bass cabs were a Neumann FET 47 with a [Shure] SM57, Beyerdynamic M88 or Electro–Voice RE20 on the clean amp."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We use quite a few ZVex pedals, like the Mastotron and the Woolly Mammoth, because they have really crazy sounds, and while some of them are not controllable enough for a live scenario, they are really useful in the studio if you want very extreme sounds."

Used during the recording of Drones

Used during the recording of Drones

In this photo, you can see a few of Chris's many pedals. Though he's mainly used a Black Russian Big Muff Pi since the early 2000s, a regular Big Muff Pi can be seen here on his Drones-era board.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Our bass setup was song–specific, but our usual arrangement would have been one clean amp, usually an Ampeg SVT–VR, that is going all the time, and that provides the bottom end and the warmth."