Re: Creative doldrums and compressors

[Dave Stagner <dstagner@icarus.net>]

On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, Dr M. P. Hughes wrote:

> >I tried the Carl Martin compressor at the TC booth, and it was quite 
>nice,
> >although I was dismayed that it doesn't do the famous Bill Frissel
> >"squeeze" trick (wherein lowering the volume level on the guitar can
> >result in the threshold of the compressor causing notes to fade in). 
> 
> I thought Frizell used a volume pedal for that.  You can use a compressor
> to lose the attack of a signal by adjusting the "attack" parameter, but 
>I'm
> not sure if that's level dependent (AFAIK).

Bill Frisell uses a volume pedal to take the attack off of notes.  You
can do it with a compressor (the TC Sustainer is terrific for it), but
it doesn't give the same degree of control that a good volume pedal
does. 

I've found that the best way to do the Frisell sort of thing is to use
light compression just to even out the notes, and have a volume pedal
after the compressor.   I've always loved how he uses the volume pedal
and a bit of echo to build chords, where different notes in the chord
have different attacks.  Then again, I love just about everything he
does.  Frisell is one of those rare few who make magic with just about
every note they play, and one of even fewer who don't sound like a
refined imitation of someone else. 

-dave

By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete.
Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. 
Venus De Milo.
To a child she is ugly.       /* dstagner@icarus.net */
   -Charles Fort