The Police Outlandos D'Amour equipment

Outlandos D'Amour is The Police's debut album, released in November 1978 on A&M record label. The Police produced the album, with Nigel and Chris Gray engineering.

The album was recorded entirely Surrey Sound Studios in Leatherhead, Surrey in six months: sporadically between January and September 1978 as The PoliceWiki states. To save on recording costs, the band would often record during studio downtime or jump in whenever an artist (e.g. Godley & Creme) had cancelled their session.

To begin with, they were working with 16-track analog tape recorders, sometimes recording over used tapes as they couldn't afford new tape (which was expensive at the time). In May/June 1978, Surrey Sound was upgraded to 24-track, with new MCI equipment - from that point onwards, the remainder of the album work was done with the MCI gear.

Sting
Basses:
 * 1962 Fender Jazz

Amps: (based on live shows)
 * Marshall Super Bass 100-watt amp head (or Fender Dual Showman Reverb amp)
 * Fender Dual Showman 2x15" cabinet

Andy Summers
Guitars:
 * 1963 Fender Telecaster custom
 * 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior ("Next To You" slide guitar solo)

Amplifiers:
 * Ampeg amp
 * Fender Twin Reverb

Effects:
 * MXR Phase 90

Stewart Copeland
Drums: Cymbals:
 * TAMA Imperialstar Metallic Blue kit
 * TAMA Imperialstar King Beat 5" x 14" Snare
 * TAMA Imperialstar Concert Tom-Toms
 * Zildjian & possibly Paiste

Production
Production-wise, like how most Police records would be done, the band would record the basic tracks by doing live takes (with bass, drums, guitar and guide vocals), then they'd do overdubs and lay down the final vocals to tape. Stewart and Andy sometimes joined in for harmonies, but their voices weren't too loud in the mix.

The sound of the bass guitar on the record was a combination of both direct signal and the bass amp sound. The bass amp was recorded with a microphone going through the wall and into the amp - probably a PZM as per Chris Gray. Sting's voice was always recorded with a Neumann U67.

Guitar amps were close-miked (possibly) with two Electrovoice RE20's, and a Neumann U87 at least three feet away as an ambience mic. Andy did not have his pedalboard yet, so apart from using his own limited array of effects, his guitars were occasionally enhanced by Nigel using an AMS DMX 15-80 digital delay/harmonizer unit or other outboard units in the Surrey Sound rack. The AMS was also used for vocals, to give them a little "sparkle".

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 unspecified Beyer condenser mic) on toms and AKG C451E's for hi-hat and drum overheads. Chris Gray noted that any alternative microphones on drums would have been a Neumann KM84 on snare or Beyerdynamic Soundstar X1N's (referred to as "Beyer 421's" by Chris) on the toms.

Studio equipment
More information on the Surrey Sound Studios page - equipment from before upgrade to 24-track consisted of the following:

Outboard gear:
 * Audio & Design (Recording) SCAMP units
 * EMT plate
 * Rebis parametric EQ

Tape machines:
 * Ampex MM1100 16-track
 * Revox A77 Mk. III (x2)
 * Studer 2-track

Misc. studio equipment:
 * Alice 20/16 desk
 * Broadwood grand piano
 * Electrovoice Sentry III or Tannoy Reds monitors