David Sylvian's Gear

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Here you'll see a photo of Sylvian sitting with his Fender Stratocaster at Nomis Studios in London. The picture shows his Fender GoldGold Stratocaster 1982 collector's edition

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In a Sound on Sound article titled "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian discusses using a Steinberger M Series Electric Guitar.

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In the Sound on Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian discusses using the Zoom 9030 effects processor, as mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 4th line.

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David Sylvian with Japan using a Shure SM58 onstage. The Shure sm58 is widely used onstage and often in the studio with a preamp.

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David Sylvian used a Roland JC-120 amplifier, according to this article.

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‘I’ve lived with the Prophet since the days of Quiet Life. I still use it because it has a more organic sound than something like a Kurzweil or Fairlight. But I did become very frustrated with it when I first started recording Gone to Earth. I’d just sit in the studio for ages staring at it thinking: “why can’t I get a different sound out of this thing?”.’

David Sylvian did intense synth programming on the Tin Drum almost exclusively with the Prophet-5. For example, the synth pluck chords from Ghosts in the choruses (according to Richard Barbieri in interview published in Sound On Sound magazine July 2021 issue) which some mistook for a DX7 sound (when in fact the song predates it, and is testament to the programming done). Some cassette interfacing was also done with the Prophet on Tin Drum, where sounds from various tapes were triggered and gated off the synth (e.g. the outro voices in Talking Drum), hence the credit of ‘tapes’ on the LP. (Source: SOS July 2021)

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In a Sound On Sound article, David Sylvian discusses using the Roland JD-990 during the recording of "Tin Drum" and "The First Day." The synthesizer is mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 3rd line.

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gear mentioned in paragraph 17 and line 3

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In the Sound on Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian discusses using the Yamaha KX88 Synthesizer, as mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 3rd line.

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In the Sound On Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," the Korg Wavestation A/D is mentioned in the 14th paragraph, indicating its use in David Sylvian's work.

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In the Sound on Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian discusses using the Korg M1R sound module, as mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 4th line.

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In an article from Sound on Sound, David Sylvian discusses his use of the Akai S1100 sampler in the recording process of "Tin Drum" and "The First Day," mentioned specifically in the 14th paragraph, 4th line.

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In the Sound on Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian mentions using Opcode Studio Vision in the 23rd paragraph, 2nd line.

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In an article by Soundonsound, David Sylvian is noted to use the Mackie CR-1604 mixer during the recording of "Tin Drum" and "The First Day."

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In an article on Soundonsound about David Sylvian's recording process for "Tin Drum" and "The First Day," it is mentioned that he used the Amek Tac Scorpion Console.

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Sylvian and Torn also spent some time building up guitar tape loops recorded on Sony PCMF1 that contributed to the atmospheres of songs like 'Mother and Child'.

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David Sylvian used a "Chorus Echo 301," according to this article.

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Transcript from Musician magazine May 1988 mentions Prophet VS as of David Sylvian’s touring keyboards. He supposedly also used this keyboard on Gone To Earth.

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This transcript of a Musician magazine article from May 1988 states the Roland PG-1000 being one of Sylvian’s keyboards on tour.

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This 1988 article lists a Yamaha SPX90II as one of David Sylvian’s rack FX units on tour.

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This 1988 article mentions David Sylvian using an Apple Mackintosh computer.

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This 1988 article lists an E-max sampler among David Sylvian’s gear.

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This mini article lists a Roland Stereo rackmounted flanger (referring to the SBF-325).

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This is a community-built gear list for David Sylvian.

  • Find relevant music gear like Microphones, Guitars, Amplifiers, Effects Pedals, Pianos, Keyboards and Synthesizers, and other instruments and add it to David Sylvian.
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Discography

Album Credits

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