The Police Synchronicity equipment

Synchronicity is the fifth album by The Police, released in June 1983.

Recording for the album took place over six weeks, between December 1982 and January 1983 at AIR Studios in Montserrat, with further overdubbing and mixing done at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Canada in January-February 1983. Hugh Padgham was engineer and co-producer on the album. The album saw an introduction of sequencers into the band's music, and was a radical departure from Ghost In The Machine with far fewer saxophone parts and less vocals & instrumentation. Considerably more "spartan", in the band's own words.

On this album, the recording techniques were the same as the previous album. Which involved recording live takes with each bandmember in different rooms: Stewart in the living room, Sting in the main studio with Hugh and Andy in the main studio. The live takes were often spliced (edited) together to create master backing tracks, then overdubs (including vocals) would be done on top. "Every Breath You Take", however, is an exception: the song was done entirely with overdubs - the drum parts being recorded separately, for instance. This was because the normal method of recording did not quite work and because of the song's simple arrangement. They had even used an Oberheim DMX on the track for the kick drum pattern, one of the few occasions they used a click track (although Stewart played live to Sting's sequencer on the first two songs of the album).

Sting
Basses:
 * 1962 Fender Jazz
 * 1978 Fender Precision fretless
 * Henk Van Zalinge Z-bass
 * Steinberger L2 Black /w Superwound SDB-505 strings

Sting's basses were recorded directly via the console, often with overdubs. He'd use a bit of Boss Chorus on his bass.

Synthesizers & electronics:
 * Oberheim OB-Xa
 * Oberheim DSX
 * Oberheim DMX ("Every Breath You Take")

Sting reportedly also had a Roland Jupiter-8 around, which possibly belonged to the studio. He played piano parts on a Bosendorfer 225 grand piano which was available at AIR Studios in Montserrat.

Wind:
 * Jupiter Oboe 335
 * Yamaha saxophone (assumed, "O My God")

Microphones
Sting's vocals were recorded with a Neumann U47 FET microphone, as seen in photos from around the time of making Synchronicity. Hugh Padgham vaguely remembers the microphone being an AKG C414. In a photo seen in Danny Quatrochi's Police Confidential book, Sting is seen singing into what looks like a Shure Unidyne 57(?) which was probably for guide vocals during live tracking.

Source: Sound On Sound

Andy Summers
Guitars:
 * 1963 Fender Telecaster custom - not used much
 * 1961 Fender Stratocaster
 * 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (e.g. "Synchronicity II")
 * 1958 Gibson ES-335
 * 1964 Gibson ES-175
 * Gibson Chet Atkins CE classical electric guitar
 * Guitarman custom electric 12-string
 * Roland G-303

Effects
 * DeArmond 610 Volume Tone pedal (assumed)
 * Maestro Echoplex EP-2 tape echo
 * MXR M-101 Phase 90 - outside pedalboard
 * Pete Cornish custom FX board
 * Roland FV-2 volume pedal (assumed)

Rack units in 'The Roland Rack' case - possibly used:
 * Alembic F-2B Stereo Preamp
 * Roland SDD-320 Dimension D
 * Roland SIP-300 Guitar Pre-amp (or SIP-301 Bass Guitar Pre-amp)
 * Roland SPA-240 Stereo Power Amplifier (x2)
 * Roland SRE-555 Chorus Echo

Amplification:
 * Marshall 100-watt amp heads
 * Marshall 1960A 4x12 cabinets
 * Roland Jazz Chorus JC-60
 * Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120

A Fender Twin Reverb amp was also available at the studio to use - probably a 1968 silverface model.

Miscellaneous:
 * Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer (x2)
 * Sequential Circuits Prophet-5

Microphones
Andy's guitar amps were close-miked with either Shure SM57's or Sennheiser MD421's.

Stewart Copeland
Drums (TAMA Imperialstar dark blue drums, except where noted):
 * 14" x 22" Bass Drum
 * 8" x 10" Rack Tom
 * 8" x 12" Rack Tom
 * 9" x 13" Rack Tom
 * 16" x 16" Floor Tom
 * Pearl 5" x 14" Snare (B4514 Custom Deluxe Chrome-Over-Brass)
 * TAMA Octobans (70s Model Royalastar Lugs)

Additional drums & equipment:
 * Paiste Percussion rack
 * Premier Marimba ("King Of Pain")
 * TAMA 14" x 22" Gong Drum
 * TAMA Supplementary Tom
 * 5" LP Black Beauty Cowbell
 * TAMA Titan Hardware

Cymbals (Paiste, except where noted):
 * Ictus UFIP 75 Ice Bell
 * 8 2002 Bell
 * 8" 2002 Splash
 * 10" 2002 Splash
 * 22" 2002 China Type
 * 16" 2002 medium crash
 * 18" 2002 medium Crash
 * 13" 602 heavy hi-Hats
 * 22" Formula 602 medium ride
 * 16" 602 thin crash
 * 18" 602 thin crash

Sticks:
 * Calato Regal Tip 'Rock' Model

Drum Heads:
 * Remo Weather King on Toms batter side
 * Remo Ambassador on Toms
 * Remo Black Dot on Bass drum batter side
 * Remo Black Dot on Octobans
 * Remo Ambassador on the snare

Microphones
Stewart Copeland's drums were recorded with the following microphones: Neumann U47 FET (kick drum), Shure SM57 (one on the snare and at least four on toms), Coles 4038 ribbon mics (overheads) and a pair of Neumann U87s (ambience mics - placed 20 ft. away from drums). The TAMA Gong drum was miked a Sennheiser MD421.

Hugh Padgham mentions using 421s for toms, but those were on a spare kit set up in the studio (as seen in photos) but hardly used during the making of the album. While the microphone used for the hi-hat is not known, it could be speculated to have been either an AKG C451E (which Hugh Padgham said was his preferred hi-hat microphone) or a Neumann KM84i.

Percussion parts were recorded with both Neumann U87s and U47s, as seen in photos.

Sources: Recording Engineer/Producer June 1990 issue, various photos including those from I'll Be Watching You: Surviving The Police 1980-83 book

Recording & studio equipment
Outboard gear: Le Studio sessions:
 * AMS DMX 15-80S digital delay (possibly)
 * EMT 140 plate (possibly)
 * Eventide H910 Harmoniser
 * Korg SDD-3000 digital delay
 * Roland RE-301 Chorus Echo tape delay

Tape machines:
 * AIR Montserrat:
 * MCI JH24 24-track 2-inch
 * MCI JH114 24-track 2-inch
 * Ampex ATR-102 2-track ¼-inch (for rough mixes) (x3)
 * Le Studio:
 * Studer A80 Mk. II 24-track
 * Studer A800 Mk. III 24-track
 * JVC BP-90 digital 2-track processor (mixdown)

Mixing consoles:
 * Solid State Logic SL4000E Master Studio System /w Total Recall automation, Serial No. 11 (Le Studio, Morin Heights) - for final mixing. This exact console resides at Tree Sound Studios, Atlanta

Monitors:
 * Acoustic Research AR18S pair (AIR Montserrat & Le Studio)
 * Auratone 5C Super Sound Cube pair (AIR Montserrat & Le Studio) - note: each studio had different versions of the 5C monitors

Miscellaneous studio equipment:
 * Yamaha 9' grand piano (Le Studio) - possibly used
 * Yamaha CS-80 - this synth was around at AIR Studios as seen in photos, but it's not known if it was used on any songs.