The Police

[Lord Fear]

And yes the good kind...

Does anybody have any info on how the police albums were recorded? I know that alot of those sounds were based around how good the players/songs were, but I am in love with some of the sounds on their records, the drums especially...any ideas...???

[audioez]

if you can get your hands on the box set...you can find some pics of the drumset, I rememebr a couple of U87 in front of the drums, specifically in front of the toms.

[raal]

kind of on topic - would anyone know the details on 10 summoner's tales? never heard reverb sound so good. that thing still blows my mind everytime i hear it... thanks.

[zarembo]

isn't Hugh Padgham going to be a guest moderator here sometime soon?


wouldn't that be nice....

[hopeless_opus]

http://mixonline.com/recording/inter...ath/index.html

here is a great interview with Stewert Copeland and Hugh Padgham about the recording of Syncronicity. Even gives some insight into some of the gear, including how the drums were mic'd and George Martin's Neve console.

Enjoy!

[James Lugo]

I know they did some records in A&M studio A - A Range Trident. I made a record on it.

[Tubthumper]

.... this time in Sound on Sound, for "Every breath you take".

Hugh P. talks openly about the sessions. It's funny to hear more about the animosity (read: open warfare) between Stuart Copeland and Sting. Apparently Stuart once wrote F*CK OFF YOU C*NT across his 4 rack toms as an acknowledgement of his undying admiration for the Sting thing.

[Tetness]

I got to jam with Stewart Copeland at Backstage in Bev Hills. We played some of the Police tunes. He seemed very angry and played with differnent tempos, especially on Message In A Bottle, anything to throw the band off. Anyway...I'll say this, it doesn't matter what kind of drums he plays. He makes them sound great.

[Jules]

They started their first album where I interned at (before my time) they ran out of money and offered my old boss points. He turned em down.

[Rodney Gene]

Originally Posted by Jules

... and offered my old boss points. He turned em down.

What a common theme...! Since nobody knows anything in this business...nobody can predict anything...nobody can guarantee anything...nobody knows what the next hit sounds like...or what the next hit band sounds like...nobody knows how much ambition an artist has...nobody know shit about shit... (as much as you think you do)...Any major A&R fool is constantly grasping...as are the labels. I have friend who own well to do labels..they tell it like it is!!

I am surpised at how many people in history (and I am certain still today) turn down points or a piece of something that 'might' happen...instead they opt for a few bucks now.

I love the idea of investing in another human beings future...It is just your time and a little faith.

Put faith in anothers dream...

[AlexLakis]

Well, if it's any help, a friend of mine who recorded Sting told me that he always recorded very softly...played/strummed very lightly...he said it resulted in the hugest bass tone ever...

[opentune]

Originally Posted by Rodney Gene

I love the idea of investing in another human beings future...It is just your time and a little faith.

Put faith in anothers dream...

Yeah, well said!

[macr0w]

I spent alot of time early on in my drum playing trying to emulate Stuart Copeland. I used to listen to the old police albums and think "How the hell is he doing that?" The high hat patterns are crazy. Then I read and article that said he would sometimes put a delay on the high hat. And I said "holy shit! no wonder I couldn't pull that shit off.

[Bishbashbosh]

And sometimes the hats were overdubs!!!

Yep... I spent a lot of time trying to emulate him too!!!!

[macr0w]

Yeah but just think what we learned how to do trying to pull off shit that was humanly impossible to do.

[themaidsroom]

so much of the police thing for me is now about stewart copeland.......that energy is just
fantastic.........that three piece band.......
those five records........
after that there are a couple of sting songs
i don't mind if i hear them at my dentist's office........
the energy has never been the same......

does anyone know a great record that
stewart copeland has made in the last couple
of years ??



- jack

[tvanveen]

As a guitar player I have to say...that Stewart rules.

[PRobb]

The raw trio stuff is what kills me. Especially Reggatta De Blanc and Zenyatta Mondatta. After that it gets a bit self consciously serious. Sting really needs to grow a sense of humor.
I always assumed that early stuff was tracked live. Can anyone confirm?

[themaidsroom]

if not, those are two good examples of what live recordings should
sound like.....

[Jeff Goodman]

Originally Posted by James 'LA' Lugo

I know they did some records in A&M studio A - A Range Trident. I made a record on it.

A&M studio A was a Trident TSM. Our very own gearslut Paul McKenna used to own that console.

Sorry for the off topic response.

Jeff

[dbock]

"Live at Hatfield Polytechnic" radio broadcast was what even ever got me into that band (My daughter thought she hated them until she heard that tape, since all she had heard was synchronicity).
Years later we recorded Stewart @ OWR (Oceanway) for a Nissan commercial, it was the most astounding 20 secomds of drums I had ever heard and I HATE drum solos!
I've argued with people who thought the Police was all about Sting, but, after experiencing working on a sting album I think we can say the whole of the police was lager than the sum of the parts, and without stewart, it would have been... Loverboy, the competing music format at the time!
regards,
DB

[Frequency]

I'm a huge fan of The Police and it's good to see a thread about them here.

Jules, you interned at Surrey Sound? Did you work with Nigel Gray?

The first three records sound good, but somebody went bezerk when they mixed it. There must be a high pass filter set at 3 khz on the guitars.... They sound so thin, which is a shame considering what a brilliant guitar player Andy Summers is...

Ghost in the machine and Synchronicity sound modern still today. Padgham is great.

[AlexLakis]

Yup, Paul Mckenna was the friend I was talking about...perhaps he'd like to chime in?

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Frequency

Jules, you interned at Surrey Sound? Did you work with Nigel Gray?

No that's where they went to when they ran out of money.

I interned at Matrix, Little Russel St, London. Where they STARTED the record. Was before my time there, I started as a tea boy in 1982.

I had seen them live 3rd on the bill supporting Randy California's band - Spirit. It was punk fast, 3 part harmonies and blond hair.. I thought they had ... 'something'. there was an undercurrent of bitterness towards them at the beginning in the UK, they were not real punks, were middle class and had jobs teaching at private schools, in an ad agency and one was the son of a rich ex CIA director. (all uncool attributes in the day and age of punk rock street cred)

In fact there is a theory that the father of Miles & Stewart Copland was in charge of funds to subvert Russia via "artistic initiatives"... and that some of this covert source of US government funding - found its way into the coffers of his own sons IRS Records, a label that was seemingly unsustainable (they had a zillion tiny bands, very few ever making money) Anyway, if the CIA money was going somewhere, better to a record label than a mercenary...

Roxanne was released THREE times before it became a hit. It wasn't instant for these guys.

[cgarges]

Originally Posted by Jeff Goodman

A&M studio A was a Trident TSM. Our very own gearslut Paul McKenna used to own that console.

Those are great consoles when they work!

Man, Stewart Copeland is the reason I started playing drums. I can't believe how unsung the Police have gone since their demise.

The older I get, the more I realize that The Police was really Stewart's band. Yeah, Sting penned the hits, but everything really cool abut that band had to do with Stewart. Stewart started it, the whole punk-reggae thing was what he was into, and most of the tension was from his relationship with Sting. Have you guys ever seen that "History Of The Police" live video? There are some really great fight scenes on it (in addition to some amazing live footage). I love that part at the beginning where you can see Andy yelling at Stewart, "Too fast!"

A couple years ago, a discussion about Stewart insued on the TapeOp board and somebody posted a great link to a page about Stewart that had lots of information about how those records (especially the early ones) were tracked. Apparently they would just play the different sections of the songs for long periods of time and when they got the different sections or some of the transitions feeling good, they'd just splice them together. Same thing goes for the tops of the tunes and all the drum solos at the end of "No Time This Time." A lot of times at the top of a tune, they would just edit in at the top of a drum fill and unmute Sting and Andy on "one." I also recall at some point hearing during tracking that they would have an assitant whose job it was to turn the click off and on, so that the fills and transitions could ebb and flow naturally without the tempos skyrocketing. (Like, off on the downbeat of the eighth measure, back in on beat two of the next section.)

Did Nigel Gray do much after the Police records? I always loved those records and don't recall ever really seeing his name after that.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Jules]

Matrix had an A Range at that time BTW (and TSM)

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by Lord Fear

And yes the good kind...

Does anybody have any info on how the police albums were recorded? I know that alot of those sounds were based around how good the players/songs were, but I am in love with some of the sounds on their records, the drums especially...any ideas...???

I've done some work with Hugh Padgham (he's done pretty much all their records, and Sting's records) - he's an AMAZING engineer, and quite a musician, as well. He's also an incredibly cool guy, with some FANTASTIC stories about the blokes. Any questions in particular, I could give him a call. : )

[cgarges]

Originally Posted by Sqye

I've done some work with Hugh Padgham (he's done pretty much all their records, and Sting's records)

He is a great engineer, but he only did two of the five Police records and he didn't really have anything to do with "Dream Of The Blue Turtles."

Ask him about the Sheryl Crowe record.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Chokoo]

NO question that this band wrote big music history- . I remember they stayed in the neighbour village at their munich time (around 1975/76??) and I friend of mine had drum lessons with copeland. I heard they released a indie-record in that time, but never heard this record. Anyone heard that????? Want a copy!

[cgarges]

Originally Posted by Chokoo

I heard they released a indie-record in that time, but never heard this record. Anyone heard that????? Want a copy!

Are you talking about the Strontium 90 record with Mike Howlett or something else? I think there was an earlier single vesion of "Fall Out," too. I can't remember if Henry Padovanti is on that or not.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC