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The Police - "Don't Stand" effect???


mstreck

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What effect is Andy Summers using when he plays the muted chords behind the first verse of "Don't Stand So Close To Me"... some kind of chorus? Flanger? Anybody know? I can't isolate it enough to get a good listen.

 

A speedy respoinse would be greatly appreciated. I've got three days to figure this out. :cool:

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

Petting Hendrix

 

Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked in the head by an iron boot? Of course you don't--no one does--that never happens.

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I was just down in the studio jamming and this was one of the tunes. Just piddled with guitar over the jamtrax on this one, I was paying more attention to the vocals. This is really a hard song for me on vocals. Sting is so.... in his own kindof key. I don't find most of the other Police songs that difficult, but this one is a bear for me. Just giving you a little heads up to make sure the vocalist has the "Sting-vibe" down. Cool song in any case.

:thu:

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Yeah, like Roy said, compression, and the aforementioned chorus. Maybe a Boss?

 

I think there's some short, almost slap-back delay there, too. And the nearly everpresent 'verb.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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There was a recent thing in Mix magazine about this. If I remember right, a big part of the " Summers sound" is from the Roland Jazz Chorus amp. This amp had 2 speakers, 12s I think, and I believe it sent the main signal thru one speaker, and a slightly out of phase signal thru the other, simultaneously. Compressed, as pointed out.

Very specific sound.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Originally posted by wraub:

There was a recent thing in Mix magazine about this. If I remember right, a big part of the " Summers sound" is from the Roland Jazz Chorus amp. This amp had 2 speakers, 12s I think, and I believe it sent the main signal thru one speaker, and a slightly out of phase signal thru the other, simultaneously. Compressed, as pointed out.

Very specific sound.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

My Peavey Studio Chorus 210 does that too. I swear that thing is nothing short of amazing, at least to my ears.

BlueStrat

a.k.a. "El Guapo" ;)

 

...Better fuzz through science...

 

http://geocities.com/teleman28056/index.html

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In my opinion Andy Summers' work with the Police is the only chorus I ever want to hear. Mostly I feel that "chorus must die!" I'm thrilled Scofield finally ditched his. with all due respect to those of you who like it...

 

And I'm not a total Luddite; though I usually run sans effects I have been known to use distortion, envelope filter and delay. I just really detest chorus... :D

 

 

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Thanks! We were looking to add a few 80's songs. It seems like most of the songs we've added so far were pretty cheesy.

 

Our vocalist REALLY wants to do this song. Since not everyone knew it off-the-cuff, I was asked to work out an arrangement for our next practice. For me, that means learning all the parts AND effects.

 

I agree with the "vocalist" comment. I'm not sure if he can handle it, but we'll see. He's surprised me more than once.

 

Mike

Petting Hendrix

 

Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked in the head by an iron boot? Of course you don't--no one does--that never happens.

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Originally posted by Mark Zeger:

Originally posted by chad:

In my opinion Andy Summers' work with the Police is the only chorus I ever want to hear.

You could probably add James Honeyman-Scott to that short list of late-'70s/early-'80s guitarists who used chorus tastefully.
Oh, yes. It is still a short list, though, IMO...

 

 

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Hi Mike,

 

I was checking out your website, which is very well done btw, and I noticed you playing a Strat with a Floyd. Is that a Fender American or Mexican? I've been wanting get one of those but haven't been able to find one anywhere but online. How do you like it?

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Summers is said to have used the "Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble" pedal in earlier Police years (which appeared in 1977 & was predecessor to the baby-blue CE-2 chorus pedal that was everywhere in the early 80's). However, that particular track does indeed sound more complex, like he's got 2 similar devices in parallel or series. In his live rig about that time, he was playing the Tele, of course, & using a very full Peter Cornish pedalboard w/lots of routing possibilities, plus some rack delays etc. whose returns came up into a small mixer (Yamaha?) that he could access at the side of the stage. So, it's a good bit that the effect treatment on this studio track wasn't anything as simple as a single pedal!

Check out this website for great info on his effects setup at the time. (BTW, they say he used an E-H Electric Mistress flanger pedal on "Don't Stand".)

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The only difference between a chorus and a flange is the amount of predelay. If you take a flanger and add a slight (10ms) delay before the input, that's a chorus. So you might be able to dial that Electric Mistress to get that chorus effect, if that's what he's using.
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