Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - Andy Summers Police Era Effects - Let's Work These Out

tj7 · June 27th, 2009, 06:12 AM

let's get to the bottom of some of those vintage andy summers sounds, shall we?
afficionados / police 'experts' know that andy often used an out of phase setting, and an electric mistress to get his nice. watery guitar sounds. his mxr dyna comp (and / or any other compressors he may have been using) contributed significantly to the creaminess of his sound.

to access samples:

login - zenyatta
pass - mondatta

here is a sample from a '79 performance of 'message':

http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...e79-sample.mp3

what else is going on here? there are chord progressions in the chorus in which the chords flow into each other, blending like a keyboard - you can't really hear the 'strum' between them and as far as i can tell this isn't a case of some very clever volume knob work between chords because i've seen footage of this era. i have been trying to work out what the hell is happening for ages now.... it's as if there is no attack happening at all, just a sustain that swells the chords into greater volume as they are held.

here's a video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUpw8VqT5Io

however there isn't much andy-cam.

the same thing happens in 'shadows' but there is some other effect there too. i know there's electric mistress in there again, but there's also this gassy, wafty 'shhhhccraaaahhhh' undertone going on. ie aside from the obvious moog synth which is being played on top).

*postscript* obviously there's delay in there too. Andy used echoplex machines.

http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...s80-sample.mp3

finally, i have often wondered what effects andy used to get his sound on the synchronicity tour:

http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...e83-sample.mp3

obviously there is a lot of compression there but what else? it is such a unique, distinctive sound - it's a very clinical, spectral kind of sound - very sharp and at once organic and artificial sounding.... any ideas..??

for fun i uploaded a couple clips of my tele run through a vintage mxr dyna comp and electric mistress. i may have recorded the message chorus part with my pickups out of phase but i can't remember....

http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...io%2010_03.mp3
http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...io%2011_16.mp3

June 27th, 2009, 06:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
tj7 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 66	Andy Summers Police Era Effects - Let's Work These Out - audio samples within let's get to the bottom of some of those vintage andy summers sounds, shall we? afficionados / police 'experts' know that andy often used an out of phase setting, and an electric mistress to get his nice. watery guitar sounds. his mxr dyna comp (and / or any other compressors he may have been using) contributed significantly to the creaminess of his sound. to access samples: login - zenyatta pass - mondatta here is a sample from a '79 performance of 'message': http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...e79-sample.mp3 what else is going on here? there are chord progressions in the chorus in which the chords flow into each other, blending like a keyboard - you can't really hear the 'strum' between them and as far as i can tell this isn't a case of some very clever volume knob work between chords because i've seen footage of this era. i have been trying to work out what the hell is happening for ages now.... it's as if there is no attack happening at all, just a sustain that swells the chords into greater volume as they are held. here's a video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUpw8VqT5Io however there isn't much andy-cam. the same thing happens in 'shadows' but there is some other effect there too. i know there's electric mistress in there again, but there's also this gassy, wafty 'shhhhccraaaahhhh' undertone going on. ie aside from the obvious moog synth which is being played on top). postscript obviously there's delay in there too. Andy used echoplex machines. http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...s80-sample.mp3 finally, i have often wondered what effects andy used to get his sound on the synchronicity tour: http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...e83-sample.mp3 obviously there is a lot of compression there but what else? it is such a unique, distinctive sound - it's a very clinical, spectral kind of sound - very sharp and at once organic and artificial sounding.... any ideas..?? for fun i uploaded a couple clips of my tele run through a vintage mxr dyna comp and electric mistress. i may have recorded the message chorus part with my pickups out of phase but i can't remember.... http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...io%2010_03.mp3 http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/pol...io%2011_16.mp3 Last edited by tj7; June 28th, 2009 at 02:55 AM.