The Police Synchronicity equipment

(last updated: 15/7/21)

Musical gear

Stewart Copeland:

TAMA Imperialstar 5-ply drums (Dark Blue):

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:

Paiste percussion rack
TAMA 14” x 22” Gong Drum
TAMA Supplementary Tom
5” LP Black Beauty Cowbell
TAMA Hardware

Cymbals:

Ictus 7.5 UFIP Ice bell
Paiste 8” 2002 Bell
Paiste 8” 2002 Splash
Paiste 10” 2002 Splash
Paiste 22” 2002 China Type
Paiste 16” 2002 medium crash
Paiste 18” 2002 medium Crash
Paiste 13” 602 heavy hi-Hats
Paiste 24" Rude heavy ride(?) or Paiste 22" 602 ride
Paiste 16” 602 thin crash
Paiste 18” 602 thin crash
Paiste Gong cymbal

Sticks:

Calato Regal Tip ‘Rock’ Model

Heads:

Remo Weather King on Toms batter side
Remo Ambassador on Tom
Remo CS (Black Dot) on Bass drum batter side
Remo CS (Black Dot) on Octobans
Remo Ambassador on the snare

Sting:

Basses:

1978 Fender Precision fretless
1962 Fender Jazz /w natural finish
Henck Van Zalinge Z-bass (a.k.a. “Brian”)
Steinberger L2 black /w Superwound SDB 505 strings

Effects:

Boss Chorus CE-2 pedal

Synthesizers:

Oberheim OB-Xa
Roland Jupiter-8 (possibly)

Woodwind:

Jupiter Oboe 335 ("Mother", "Tea In The Sahara")
Yamaha saxophone ("O My God" ending, assumed)

Other:

Oberheim DSX sequencer (Synchronicity I and Walking In Your Footsteps)
Oberheim DMX drum machine - used by Sting to sequence a drum beat on "Every Breath You Take" as a click track; only the kick drum remains on the finished record, while Stewart plays all the other drum parts.

Andy Summers:

Guitars:

1961 Fender Stratocaster
1963 Fender Telecaster custom /w Gibson Humbucker pickup and built-in preamps
1957 Gibson Les Paul (e.g. “Synchronicity II” break)
Gibson Chet Atkins CE
1958 Gibson ES 335
1964 Gibson ES-175
Roland G-303 guitar synth controller

Amplification:

Fender Twin Reverb
Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus
Roland JC-60 Jazz Chorus
Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead 100-watt heads
Marshall 1960A 4x12” cabinets

Effects:

Custom Pete Cornish FX board. Includes:

Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger
Musitronics Mu-Tron III
MXR Analog Delay
MXR Distortion+
MXR Dyna Comp
MXR Phase 90

DeArmond 610 Tone Volume
Maestro Echoplex(?)
Roland FV-2 Minimum Vol.

Synths:

Roland GR-100 guitar synth
Roland GR-300 guitar synth
Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 – mostly for blending with guitar lines/embellishments, like on "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "King Of Pain"

Recording gear & studio equipment

Microphones:

Drum kit:

Kick:

Neumann U47

Snare:

Shure SM57

Hi-hat:

Neumann KM84i (?)

Toms:

Shure SM57s (x4) – visible in photos of Stewart's kit. Sennheiser MD421s were used for toms on Ghost.

Overheads:

STC 4038 ribbon mics (x2)

Drum room:

Neumann U87s (x2) – placed 10-15 ft. away from kit

TAMA Gong drum:

Sennheiser MD421

Other percussion:

Neumann U47 FET - possibly used for Paiste Percussion Rack
Neumann U87 - Paiste gong cymbal

Guitar amps:

Shure SM57s

Vocals:

Neumann U47
Shure Unidyne 57 (guide vocals)

Outboard gear:

AIR Studios Montserrat sessions:

AMS dm2.20 tape phaser (x2)
AMS DMX 15-80 mono delay/harmoniser (x3)
Dolby M16 24-track noise reduction
Dolby 361 Processor /w CAT 22 Dolby A noise reduction card (x5)
DBX 160 compressor/limiter
EMT 140 reverb
EMT 240 gold plate
UREI 1176 compressor (x4)
UREI Graphic Equalizer model 527-A (x2)
Neve compressors/limiters

Le Studio Morin Heights sessions:

AMS DMX 15-80S stereo delay?
Dolby M16 24-track noise reduction (x2)
Eventide H910 Harmonizer
Roland Chorus Echo RE-301 tape echo (assumed)
Korg SDD-3000 digital delay - used on a hi-hat overdub on "Every Breath You Take" which was later erased

Note: there's currently very little information available about what outboard equipment was available at Le Studio around the time of making Synchronicity, but the information included here was largely based on photos from the late 1970s-80s period. But it's known that the effects used on the record were rather minimal.

Tape Machines & digital:

AIR Montserrat:

Ampex ATR-102 Analog 2-track 1/4-inch (x3) (for rough mixes)
MCI JH24 Analog 24-track 2-inch
MCI JH114 Analog 24-track 2-inch

Le Studio:

Studer A80 Mk. II Analog 24-track
Studer A800 Mk. III Analog 24-track
JVC BP-90 2-track digital processor

Mixing consoles:

Neve A4792 8078 custom-built console (AIR Studios, Montserrat)
Solid State Logic SL4000E Master Studio System, Serial No. 11 /w Total Recall (Le Studio, Morin Heights) – computerised console, for final mixing.

Miscellaneous:

Acoustic Research AR18S monitors (x2) (AIR Montserrat & Le Studio)
Auratone 5C Super Sound Cube monitors (x2) (AIR Montserrat & Le Studio) - note: both studios had different versions of the 5C
Bosendorfer 225 7’ 4” grand piano – available at the AIR Montserrat facility. Used by Sting (and probably Andy as well) for occasional piano lines on the album.
Yamaha 9' grand piano – available at Le Studio, possibly used on album
Yamaha CS-80 synth – seen in the background in photos taken during the Synchronicity sessions at AIR Studios. But it's not known whether it was used on any of the songs.

References:

Musician, June 1983

Classic Tracks: Every Breath You Take on Sound On Sound

Classic Tracks: Every Breath You Take on Mixonline

Amazona.de article on Synchronicity

Photos in The Police 1980-83: I’ll Be Watching You by Andy Summers

Police Confidential by Danny Quatrochi

SSL information Tree Sound Studios (also see equipment list): http://web.archive.org/web/20061216191333/http://www.treesoundstudios.com/studios.htm

Andy Summers guitar photos: http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-summers-collection/4627

Andy Summers guitar information: https://www.musicradar.com/news/andy-summers-career-in-gear-its-all-mythology-sometimes-old-guitars-are-great-but-not-always

Sting Bass Player April 1992

Sting’s gear info: https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/columns/gear-rundown-sting/