The Police Ghost In The Machine equipment

Ghost In The Machine is the fourth studio album by The Police, released in 1981.

Recording and mixing for the album took place between June and July 1981 at AIR Studios, Montserrat over the course of six weeks - it was "a 12 hour flight from the nearest record company", as Stewart Copeland noted, allowing the band to concentrate on recording their songs without pressure from the record company, unlike the previous album Zenyatta Mondatta. They recruited co-producer/engineer Hugh Padgham for this album, best known for his by Peter Gabriel, XTC, Phil Collins, Genesis, Split Enz amongst several other clients. Previously Nigel Gray was The Police's engineer/producer.

This album saw the band take a radical departure from their previous work. It features a more prominent use of keyboards compared to previous albums, and introduced saxophone into the band's music. All three members of the band played keyboards to varying extents on the album (with the exception of Jean's keyboards on "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"), although Stewart claimed to have done all of the keyboards. Andy also made use of Roland guitar synthesizers on the record, for example the opening to "Secret Journey". Previously he played it on "Don't Stand So Close To Me" during the bridge section.

On the note of equipment, an endorsed fanzine known as The Police Official file reports the band to have brought at least 500 pieces of equipment onto Montserrat, which included complete collections of guitars, synthesizers, drums and so on - some were flown over from Nice (where they worked on a tour film soundtrack) and the rest from London. The Ghost In The Machine tour program includes what is likely the complete list of everything they flew over to Montserrat. However, only the selection of gear they were known to have in the studio is included here.

Sting
Basses:
 * 1963 Fender Precision standard sunburst - loaned from Andy Summers
 * 1978 Fender Precision fretless
 * Henk Van Zalinge Z-bass

Effects:
 * Boss CE-2 Chorus
 * Boss FV-100 Guitar Volume

Basses were recorded directly via the console, with no bass amps.

Synthesizers:
 * Moog Minimoog Model D
 * Oberheim OB-Xa

A Prophet-10 is also seen in photos, which possibly belonged to the studio. The extent to which it appears on the record is unknown.

Saxophones
 * Yamaha Alto saxophone
 * Yamaha (or Selmer) Tenor saxophone

Andy Summers
Guitars:
 * 1963 Fender Telecaster custom
 * 1961 Fender Stratocaster
 * 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop
 * 1958 Gibson ES-335

Other guitars Andy had around but might or might not have used on the album:
 * Danelectro Longhorn Guitarlin
 * Guitarman custom electric 12-string

Amplification:
 * Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead 100-watt heads
 * Marshall 1960A 4x12 cabinets
 * Roland Bolt 60
 * Roland Cube 60
 * Roland JC-60 Jazz Chorus
 * Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus

Effects:
 * DeArmond 610 Volume Tone pedal
 * Pete Cornish custom FX board
 * Roland FV-2 volume pedal

Guitar synthesizers:
 * Roland GR-100
 * Roland GR-300

Keyboard synthesizers:
 * Moog Minimoog Model D - unclear if used on the album but is seen in quite a few photos, probably for rehearsals
 * Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 ("Spirits In The Material World" solo)

Stewart Copeland
Stewart had two kits for this album - one being the 'A' kit, which was set up in the living room adjacent to the dining room in Montserrat (which had the best room sound) and used for most songs. In addition to that, there was a TAMA 'B' kit in the main studio – this was largely identical to the 'A' kit, except it was shipped by TAMA with Remo CS drum heads on the toms. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” was likely recorded on the “B” kit. However, only the 'A' kit setup is described here.

Drums (TAMA Imperialstar Midnight Blue 5-ply kit 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 (70’s Model Royalstar lugs)

Additional drums/percussion:
 * TAMA 14" x 22" Gong Drum
 * TAMA Supplementary Tom
 * 5” LP Black Beauty Cowbell
 * TAMA Hardware
 * Ludwig Temple Blocks

Cymbals (Paiste, except where noted)
 * 13” Formula 602 Hi-Hats
 * 8” 2002 Bell
 * 16” Formula 602 Thin Crash
 * Ictus UFIP 75 Ice Bell
 * 8” 2002 Splash
 * 11” 2002 Splash
 * 16” Rude ride/crash
 * 18” Rude ride/crash
 * 24” Rude ride/crash or 22” 2002 medium ride

There has been some confusion over the ride cymbal pictured in the studio setup - even though Stewart was already a Paiste endorsee, the ride cymbal appears to have a Zildjian-like bell shape as per Jeremy Truitt. Perhaps it was one of the Zildjian cymbals listed in the tour program (a 24" ride) that they happened to bring over to Montserrat, so it must have found its way into Stewart's studio setup.

Sticks:
 * Calato Regal Tip ‘Rock’ Model

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

Effects & electronics:
 * unidentified studio digital delay ("Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" hi-hat)
 * Simmons Claptrap]] ("Darkness")
 * Roland RS-505 Paraphonic

Production
This album marked a change in recording technique: each of the three bandmembers recorded the backing tracks live but in different rooms of the AIR Montserrat facility: Stewart in the living room with his kit, Sting in the control room with Hugh and Andy Summers in the main studio with his guitars and amps. This worked for sonic and personal reasons, according to Hugh. At the beginning, they attempted recording drums in the main studio (while recording "Demolition Man") but Hugh found the drums sounded relatively dead, so the kit was moved to the living/recreation room instead where the they sounded better.

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" was a rather difficult track to record: the band had the challenge of working out an arrangement for the song, but after about a week or so of attempts none of them seemed as good as the demo was, which was originally cut in Canada with session musician Jean Roussel. In the end, they decided to use the demo and overdub new drum and guitar parts onto it to "Police-ify" it.

In terms of microphones, Sting's voice (and saxophone) was recorded with a Neumann U47 FET. Sting often played saxophone during vocal takes, and Hugh used to have trouble trying to accommodate for that - so the mic was in an average position, which meant Sting could play saxophone into the microphone and then stoop over to sing. A Neumann U87 was also used for occasional background vocals, as seen in some photos.

Andy's guitar amps were close-miked, either with Shure SM-57's or Sennheiser MD421's.

Hugh Padgham's mic setup on Stewart's drums in the living room would have consisted of the following: a Neumann U47 on the kick, a Shure SM-57 on the snare, Sennheiser MD-421's on the toms and U87's for overheads. Octobans, as seen in photos, were miked with an SM-57 underneath. A pair of U87's were used as ambience mikes about 20 feet away from the drums.