...fascinated with the tones Chris manages get out of his guitar in "We Laugh Indoors"?

They are so eerie but yet they complement the song so well. I've tried to re-create them but to no avail. Any idea what gear he's using here?

I was thinking maybe some delay, chorus pedals?
Discuss.

I am. I don't know about guitar effects though

quote:

Originally posted by false grimaces:
...fascinated with the tones Chris manages get out of his guitar in "We Laugh Indoors"?

They are so eerie but yet they complement the song so well. I've tried to re-create them but to no avail. Any idea what gear he's using here?

I was thinking maybe some delay, chorus pedals?
Discuss.

I think the trick here is simple, of course to get the right tone you need the right G&L guitar and all, but you should be able to accomplish similar tones with a basic mexican Fender.

Chris definitely does not use any chorus here. Lots of reverb and lots of delay for sure. It's all classic "post rock'ish soundscape guitar". He uses a light distortion - a kind that really reacts when you hit the strings hard, and really sustains the tone but also doesn't drown the notes. Notice how he also manages to get some good light feedback too... amazing.

For what he actually plays: The trick is to plan out your voicings beforehand. Figure out what three/four/two-note combos sounds good with each chord in the song (he likes to surf the fretboard here and just mix it up live, listen to the record for one-note melodies to follow). Then mix it up. Pick the strings with your volume knob on the actual guitar turned all the way down - then (with mellow reverb, distortion and a dense slow delay on) turn up the volume on the guitar. The guitar signal will feed into the distortion which will sustain while the sustained tone will be extended by the delay. While the chord/voicing is still ringing you turn down the guitar volume to pick another chord only to turn up the volume again to drown out the old chord which is still ringing - ---- you know... space guitar. The entire "pick-while-volume-is-down" thing prevents the actual pick / the "attack" of the chord to be heard, creating a sort of synthesizer like tone where you only hear the "swell" of it all.

yeah Kasper, I do that all the time. Ben uses the same technique on the second verse in Bixby. Radiohead use it quite a bit also.. There There, I Might Be Wrong, off the top of my head.

I have a Boss DD-6, here are my settings. if you have a delay pedal they should be similar. level: 100%. feedback: 60%. delay time: 55%. rate: 800ms.

Just keep your pedal on with a little distortion, play the notes/chords with the volume down and slowly turn it up for a few seconds, then back down and play the next.

I don't use much reverb but I'll try that out.

Exactly. I also think the "lots of reverb" was an exaggeration. But try expermenting with that. A dash of old tube amp spring reverb is preferable but rare. I've spent many hours just playing around in "epic soundscape land"

Thankfully, both my amps are tubes. Although one of em is an old Pevey, so I may get some weirder sounds out of that one. Once I get my guitar back from the shop I'll experiment. I'm getting a killswitch installed.

Wow, you two know your stuff.
I'm not sure my little 20 watt amp can get the right sustained tones though, but I have a DOD Delay pedal, as well as a wah pedal that also acts as a volume control. Also, when you turn the volume down the second time as the first chord is ringing, won't that just lower the volume of that ringing chord? I do understand the concept of the synthesizer like tone though, as I have tried it before. Thanks though, and once again you two seem to really know your stuff.

Nope, shouldn't lower the volume since it's only effecting the guitar volume, not the volume of the delayed note. As long as you have the feedback/intensity knob on your pedal high enough, it should keep ringing for just the right amount of time.

And your amp should be fine. I just got a small (I think it's 20 watt) Fender amp a few months ago, but they started making them with tubes again so it's way louder than you'd expect. Regardless, you should be ok.

Great, I'll have to try this out tomorrow when nobody's sleeping

For that mild distortion, do you use a certain type of pedal, or just the gain on your amp?

I have a Boss DS-1... pretty much the best distortion pedal you can get for the price.

You could probably get away with using gain from your amp, I haven't tried it though.

Thanks.
Would you recommend the Boss DD's?

The Boss DD's are probably the best standard digital delay pedals you can get without overspending. For distortion I think chris uses the Fulldrive for those things, but i get by just fine with some mild fuzz-like stuff (like a Rat set somewhere in the middle).

Much appreciated, guys.

Yeah Boss delays are very nice for the money. However if you can't spend too much and you're not sure about delay, get a Behringer DD400. They're dirt cheap, and I still use mine even though I got a DD-6.

Thanks
By the way I tried your techniques today and was very happy with the results. I didn't know I could get tones like that.
I really appreciate it.