Sting & Sting – Brand New Day

Used on Brand New Day, as stated on the official album page of Sting's official website and in a compilation of interviews on the same page.

"I play all the bass on my Fender P-bass, and then I play a Roland guitar synthesiser, and a classicla guitar. I typically play the simple guitar bits, the centre of the songs. Dominic Miller plays the colours, which he's really good at. I don;t play any piano or keyboards on this record; I was in love with this guitar synth. It gave me so many opportunities to have fun.

(...) Bassist, 10/99

"I wrote most of 'Brand New Day' on a Roland VG-8 [guitar-synth system] with synthesizer sounds. That gave me a shot in the arm about being creative on guitar. I created most songs by jamming with a drum machine and getting riffs - that sound is all over the album. The theme from 'A Thousand Years', for instance, comes from the VG-8. I do sometimes write on the bass, though."

Revolver, 3/00

(...) Sting: Vocals, Bass, Vg-8 Guita [sic] Synth, Bv's

Used on the vocals for “Every Breath You Take” and Brand New Day. The former is mentioned by producer Hugh Padgham in this March 2004 Sound on Sound interview.

Back in the control room, Sting recorded his vocals with an AKG 414, compressed through a UREI 1176, to attain a brighter top end. "His voice was always fairly dull," Padgham explains, "and I was never totally happy with his vocal sound until we came upon the Sony C800 tube mic much later on. Recording him in the studio was always quite hard — generally, rather than doing takes, he'd just sing along, and then if he messed up or didn't like something we'd just stop, drop in and build a vocal that way. On things like choruses, where there are loads of harmonies, the actual lead track gets watered down to the point where you don't really need as much of a performance. In those days there was no such thing as tuning, so if a harmony was out of tune, it was my job to stop and redo it — to police the recording, so to speak."

The latter is mentioned by recording engineer Simon Osborne in this transcribed October 1, 1999 Audio Media interview on Sting's official website.

When it comes to recording Sting's vocals, Simon has a standard way of operating, too: "I always go straight to tape rather than through the desk. I use AMS Neve 31105s and a Demiter valve mic amp, which I've used for a long while. I've also got all the usual stuff like Urei 1176s and such. I'll start with a general setting, so a 4:1 ratio, not too fast, with a quick release as a guide. His voice obviously changes depending on the key and dynamic of the tune, so it's important to have an initial set-up that can be tweaked as necessary. In terms of mics, we normally use the Sony C800G, it just works well with Sting's voice."

Used for vocals on Brand New Day, All This Time and more. It is mentioned by recording engineer Simon Osborne in this transcribed October 1, 1999 Audio Media interview on Sting's official website.

When it comes to recording Sting's vocals, Simon has a standard way of operating, too: "I always go straight to tape rather than through the desk. I use AMS Neve 31105s and a Demiter valve mic amp, which I've used for a long while. I've also got all the usual stuff like Urei 1176s and such. I'll start with a general setting, so a 4:1 ratio, not too fast, with a quick release as a guide. His voice obviously changes depending on the key and dynamic of the tune, so it's important to have an initial set-up that can be tweaked as necessary. In terms of mics, we normally use the Sony C800G, it just works well with Sting's voice."

This is restated by Osborne in this December 1, 2002 Mix interview about Brand New Day, also transcribed on Sting's official website.

"For Sting's vocals, we use a Sony valve mic - the C-800G - the one with the little radiator [Peltier cooling device] fitted on the back. It looks a little daft, but it works. I have some Shep preamps - the Neve copies - which are great on drums. I have a Summit and a couple Demeter valve preamps I use on vocals and bass. Most of the other sounds go through the Shep Neve copies which sound good. The design might be 25 or 30 years old, but the sound is state of the art."

A pair was used for "some acoustic guitar" on Brand New Day, as stated by recording engineer Simon Osborne in this October 1, 1999 Audio Media interview transcribed on Sting's official website.

Simon also had an exciting time experimenting at Sting's Italian villa. "I got into using M&S miking a bit on this album," he says, "using a pair of Audio Technica 4050s in the chapel. It's got brilliant acoustics. We recorded some acoustic guitar there, so I did M&S recording of the ambience. I experimented a lot to get the right balance between the close mic and the ambient mics. Real reverb was just lovely; it really makes you realise what you're missing when you use digital reverbs!"

Used for vocals on Brand New Day, as mentioned by recording engineer Simon Osborne in this transcribed October 1, 1999 Audio Media interview on Sting's official website.

When it comes to recording Sting's vocals, Simon has a standard way of operating, too: "I always go straight to tape rather than through the desk. I use AMS Neve 31105s and a Demiter valve mic amp, which I've used for a long while. I've also got all the usual stuff like Urei 1176s and such. I'll start with a general setting, so a 4:1 ratio, not too fast, with a quick release as a guide. His voice obviously changes depending on the key and dynamic of the tune, so it's important to have an initial set-up that can be tweaked as necessary. In terms of mics, we normally use the Sony C800G, it just works well with Sting's voice."

Used for vocals on Brand New Day, All This Time and more. It is mentioned by recording engineer Simon Osborne in this transcribed October 1, 1999 Audio Media interview on Sting's official website.

When it comes to recording Sting's vocals, Simon has a standard way of operating, too: "I always go straight to tape rather than through the desk. I use AMS Neve 31105s and a Demiter [sic] valve mic amp, which I've used for a long while. I've also got all the usual stuff like Urei 1176s and such. I'll start with a general setting, so a 4:1 ratio, not too fast, with a quick release as a guide. His voice obviously changes depending on the key and dynamic of the tune, so it's important to have an initial set-up that can be tweaked as necessary. In terms of mics, we normally use the Sony C800G, it just works well with Sting's voice."

This is restated by Osborne in this December 1, 2002 Mix interview about , also transcribed on Sting's official website.

"For Sting's vocals, we use a Sony valve mic - the C-800G - the one with the little radiator [Peltier cooling device] fitted on the back. It looks a little daft, but it works. I have some Shep preamps - the Neve copies - which are great on drums. I have a Summit and a couple Demeter valve preamps I use on vocals and bass. Most of the other sounds go through the Shep Neve copies which sound good. The design might be 25 or 30 years old, but the sound is state of the art."

Sting is listed as a user of the item on the official product page.