The Police Reggatta De Blanc equipment

Reggatta De Blanc is the second studio album released by The Police in October 1979. It was engineered (and co-produced) by Nigel Gray. Chris Gray and (probably) Martin Moss were assistant engineers on the album, but uncredited.

The Police started this album with many months of gigging behind their backs, and this album was where things started to finally click with the band. They recorded the album in two stints: one in February 1979 and one in July-August 1979, and took about four weeks altogether. Sting wrote new songs like "Message In A Bottle" and "Walking On The Moon", but the band were incredibly short of material for the album. So older songs were reworked - e.g. "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (originally a Last Exit tune) and "Bring On The Night" (derived from "Carrion Prince", another Last Exit tune). A couple of songs - "Deathwish" and "Reggatta De Blanc" - originated from jam sessions and are one of the very few songs to credit all three members of the band as songwriters.

Reggatta also has the greatest number of Stewart Copeland compositions on a Police album - normally one or two tunes, but four on this album. Two of these began as Klark Kent tunes, but were chosen for the album due to shortage of material (as per The PoliceWiki): "On Any Other Day" and "It's Alright For You". On those tracks, Stewart plays all the instruments, apart from the guitar solo on "On Any Other Day" played by Andy.

Sting also played the guitar solo on "Bring On The Night", as per The PoliceWiki. Probably using Andy's equipment.

One song, "No Time This Time", was originally recorded for Outlandos D'Amour and released as a B-side to "So Lonely" in 1978, but was included on the album to fill in the space.

See alternate format page

Sting
Basses:
 * 1978 Fender Precision fretless
 * 1979 Ibanez Musician MC-900DS fretless
 * Kramer bass - possibly used someplace, looks like Godley & Creme's bass (another Surrey Sound client)

Amplification:
 * Ampeg SVT amp head
 * Ampeg SVT-810E cabinets (x2)
 * Marshall bass amps

Other
 * Moog Minimoog Model D - "Contact" synth bass line

Andy Summers
Guitars:
 * 1963 Fender Telecaster custom
 * Hamer Sunburst Cherry
 * 1959 Gibson Les Paul Junior ("It's Alright For You" slide guitar solo)
 * 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom
 * Roland GS-500 guitar synth controller

Effects:
 * Pete Cornish custom FX board
 * DeArmond 602 volume pedal

Amplifiers:
 * Fender Twin Reverb - later replaced with Marshalls
 * Marshall 100-watt amp heads
 * Marshall 4x12 cabinets
 * Music Man 212-HD 130-watt

Miscellaneous:
 * Roland GR-500 guitar synthesizer ("Walking On The Moon" bubbling sounds)

Stewart Copeland
Drums
 * TAMA Imperialstar Metallic Blue kit - replaced with a TAMA Imperialstar Midnight Blue kit for the Summer 1979 sessions

Cymbals (Zildjian Hollow Logo A series and possibly Paiste 2002):
 * 14" New Beat hi-hat
 * 16" Thin Crash
 * 18" Thin Crash (x2)
 * 22" Ping Ride
 * 8" splash

Miscellaneous:
 * Roland RE-301 Chorus Echo
 * Remo Rototom
 * TAMA Octobans
 * LP Maracas (assumed) - "The Bed's Too Big Without You"

Guitars-wise, on "On Any Other Day" and "It's Alright For You", Stewart likely played a Gibson SG and/or a Fender Stratocaster, and basses-wise a Fender Telecaster bass - those were his typical go-to instruments for Klark Kent tunes during that period.

The piano in the intro to "Does Everyone Stare" (which uses the demo version) is probably a W.H.Barnes upright piano Stewart once owned, as pictured with at home circa 1979. Studio piano was a Broadwood grand piano.

Production details
Like on the previous record, Sting's bass sounds on the record were a combination of both direct and bass amp signals. Amps were recorded probably with a PZM going through the wall and into the amp. Vocals were recorded with a Neumann U67.

Guitars were close-miked (possibly) with two Electrovoice RE20's or two Shure SM58's, with a Neumann U87 as an ambience mic 3 feet away. Andy's Echoplex had a noise gate applied to it.

Nigel Gray's typical microphone setup on Stewart's drums was as follows: AKG D-12 on the bass drum, (possibly) Beyer M260N on snare, Beyer M201's (or an unidentified Beyer condenser mic) on toms and AKG C451E's (for hi-hat and for overheads). Chris Gray recalls that any alternative microphones on drums would have been a Neumann KM84 on snare or Beyerdynamic Soundstar X1N's (Chris referred to these as "Beyer 421's") on the toms.

Studio equipment (Surrey Sound)
For more info, see Surrey Sound Studios page.

Outboard gear & effects:
 * Audio & Design (Recording) SCAMP units including S24 ADT module, noise gates etc.
 * AMS DMX 15-80 digital delay
 * EMT 140 plate
 * Eventide H910 Harmonizer
 * Rebis RA-402 Parametric EQ (vintage 70s model)

Tape machines:
 * MCI JH-24 24-track 2"
 * Studer 2-track
 * Revox A77 Mk. III (x2) - used for delay on kick drum in "Walking On The Moon"