Origin of Symmetry

[slaphappygarry]

Hey John,

I LOVE your work on Origin of Symmetry by Muse and always wondered why the production of the record was split over two Producers? Was it intended that the first two big singles were to be produced by Davin Bontrill or is that just how it worked out in the end? Was there a specific direction you wanted to go after Showbiz?

Also, is there more than one bass guitar in Citizen Erased? When it kicks in it is just HUGE! Its so sick!

And, lastly (promise) what have you made of subsequent Muse records? Do you find the direction the band with Rich Costey went is the natural progression? Where do you think they are likely to go with their next (self produced) record?

Cheers

Garry

[ze engineer]

Hey John!
Thanks for doing this!
Do you remember by any chance how you got this massive bass sound on Origin of Symmetry?
Thank you very much!
C.

[eternally]

Hey John
OOS is one of my favourite albums of all the time...
So I have a few questions and I hope you'll find the time to answer some of them.

How much influence did mat dom and chris take on the production and Sounds of the album, or how finished where the songs before you started to work with them? where there any songs that changed their feel and sound drastically during the recording process?

What Vocal Chain was used on matts vocals?

and this great Bass Sound in hypermusic and new born.
how did you achieve this sound, which distortion did you use that it didnt sound muddy?

That's all for now
thx again

Stefan

[Blind]

This album kicks a*s!
Seriously very well done... Muse is by far one of the most inspiring groups ever

If you have any production notes on Vocal Mics, Synths, Drum Mics and Setup or any secret things you did... time to reveal 'em :D

god i have so many questions... i guess i have to think about them again!

Thank you very much for being around here!!

[MTStudios]

Hi John,

There are some amazing effects on this album that contribute to Muse's epic outerspacey futuristic vibe/feel they have. One that I've always wondered about is, I think on space dementia and citizen erased I'm hearing a delay that decays upwards in pitch? It's a very bizarre sound and I absolutely love it! Is this a particular device or some cunning use of several?

Also, Muse make use of some really large piano sounds, that take place during heavy parts of their songs. And this works remarkably well, yet in my own experience I've found it hard to mix a piano part to sound heavy. What did you do? Lots of distortion on the bass? Is it common in these sorts of situations to record the piano twice and pan them each sort of from the centre outwards?? Much like people do when they do two takes of the same guitar part and hard pan them.

Thanks Heaps,
Anthony

[johnleckie]

Hi
Thanks for compliments on Muse record. Dave Botrill had already done and mixed his tracks and yes, the idea from the beginning was he would do the 'hits' and I'd do the more experimental weird stuff so those songs were done. We went to Real World Studios and recorded tracks in Big Room and then spent some time on Dave Gilmour's boat studio on Thames called Astoria. And then had week or so Abbey Road before band went off to Sawmills to mix with John Cornfield who they'd worked with before. All this was planned before we started. Massive bass sound? yes there's two and liberal use of Big Muff I'm sure. Matt was putting it on everything.
I think all their records since have been awesome and yes looking forward to where they go next!
Cheers JL