Andy Summers Police Era Effects - Calling guitar-heads!

Andy Summers Police Era Effects - Calling guitar-heads!

Postby New Zealand Promoter on 04 Jul 2009 04:16

I'm trying to 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, delays 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.

[b]to access samples:

login - zenyatta
pass - mondatta[/b]

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. i believe it is probably a volume pedal in dextrous use here....

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 and echo / delay 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. someone has suggested that this is the sound of sting disappearing up his own arse, which is entirely possible.

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

[b]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..??

here is a clip from the 'ghost album. the guitar sound here reminds me of the above 'message' audio as it has a similar sharp, spiky kind of sound. is it a tight slap delay type thing? a pitch shifted sound low in the mix?

http://www.thedelorean.net/audio/police ... sample.mp3[/b]

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

one last thing, here's a known source of info about andy's effects:

http://web.tiscali.it/andatta/menu.htm
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New Zealand Promoter
 
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