Ghost In The Machine equipment

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

Recording 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, who was at the time best known for his work on records by Peter Gabriel, XTC, Phil Collins and Genesis.

For this album, each of the three bandmembers recorded the backing tracks live but in different rooms of the AIR 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. They attempted recording drums in the main studio but it sounded relatively dead, so the kit was moved to the living/recreation room instead where the drums 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 to work nor were they as good as the demo was, which was cut in Canada with session musician Jean Roussel. In the end, they decided to keep the demo and overdub new drum and guitar parts onto it to make the record.

This album features a more prominent use of keyboards compared to previous albums. All three members of the band played keyboards to varying extents on different tracks (with the exception of Jean's keyboards "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"). Although Stewart claimed to have done much of the keyboard work.

On the note of equipment, an endorsed fanzine known as *The Police Official file* stated that the band brought at least 500 pieces of equipment onto Montserrat, which included complete collections of guitars, synthesizers, drums, home equipment and so on - some were flown over from Nice and the rest from London. The *Ghost In The Machine* tour program includes what is likely the complete compiled list of everything they flew over to Montserrat. However, only the selection of gear they had in the studio are listed 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

**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.

**Miscellaneous**

* Yamaha Alto saxophone
* Yamaha Tenor saxophone - listed as a Selmer Tenor on the *Ghost In The Machine* tour program

## 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 Jazz Chorus JC-60
* Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120

**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' (backup) kit in the main studio – this was largely identical to the 'A' kit, except it was shipped 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

## References

* Various photos
* *Musician*, December 1981
* Jeff Seitz
* *Music U.K.*, October 1981
* *Rolling Stone*, 18 February 1982