Mike Mills

Mentioned in this July 13, 2017 Music Radar interview.

His strings of choice are D’Addario nickelwounds, 45-100 gauge. “I’m a roundwound guy,” he says. “I like a lot of midrange, a lot more than most bass players. And I like a little buzz in there.”

Listed on REM's official Dean Markley artist page from 2005. It is corroborated by an August 2, 2011 TalkBass forum reply and a mention by Mills' technician, Mark "Microwave" Mytrowitz, in a Bass Player interview published to Guitar World's website on November 11, 2023.

Dean Markley Artist Page

REM uses Nickel Steel Bass Med. Lt, Nickel Steel Electric, and Vintage Bronze Med. Lt.

TalkBass user 597feetdown, post #8 on "REM Mike Mills strings of choice"

The Dean Markley website is accurate. Mills uses Dean Markley NickelSteel Bass (the ML or .045-.105 set). When I saw R.E.M. back in '04, Mills's bass tech gave that exact set to a fan when she asked what strings he used. As far as the strings on "Animal," they do look like flats, but damned if I know what brand.

Karl Coryat, "'Early on I discovered that the bass player decides the chord – not the guitar player': R.E.M.’s Mike Mills on finding the perfect bass part and becoming a 'one-bass guy'", Bass Player via Guitar World, November 21, 2023

Although Mills has gathered about a dozen basses over the years, he usually favors his 1969 Fender Precision, which he bought during the recording of 1992's Automatic for the People. “Mike's pretty much a one bass guy,” R.E.M. tech Mark ‘Microwave’ Mytrowitz told BP. “His strings are Dean Markley Medium Roundwounds, and his picks are large, triangular and Dean Markley Extra Heavies. They're the heaviest picks made, you could crack ice with those things!”

In the 1980s, Mike Mills used Rotosound RS66LD Swing Bass 45-105 strings on his modified Rickenbacker bass, identifiable by the distinctive red silk wrapping at both ends of the strings, as evidenced by a photograph on TalkBass.