Stewart Copeland
Stewart Copeland's Gear
His computer monitor can be seen at 3:00, where several tracks are labeled "K2500R."
Stewart Copeland has used an Oberheim DMX drum machine (available at the time at Tres Virgos studio facility) to record the Rumble Fish soundtrack in March 1983. He later used the DMX to program drum rhythms for the sequences Sting wrote in Los Angeles for the Synchronicity tour in order to keep in time with them, and clocked the DMX to Sting's DSX sequencer live on "Synchronicity I", "Walking In Your Footsteps", "King Of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger". He referred to it as "Mr. Oberheim". Source: The PoliceWiki, Down Beat May 1984, Jeff Seitz
Stewart had this to say about the DMX in Home Studio Recording magazine:
I've been using the Oberheim DMX up till now, and that in my opinion has the best sound, the best bass drum and the best snare sound. The cymbals on all of them are crap, you need to overdub live cymbals for that. But the triggering and so on, where you put down a trigger track on channel 1 and then you can overdub anything you want just by syncing it back in, are great. In the old days you would have to record your drum box first, then put everything else on top of it. Now you record just 4 beats in a bar and a sync pulse track.
In the 1983 live performance of The Police at Le Spectrum, as seen in the YouTube video by Obi Wan Kenobi, Stewart Copeland incorporates the Paiste 8" 2002 Bell to add subtle accents to the music.
In this 1983 article, Stewart Copeland mentions having an Otari 24-track recorder at his home studio, and it's visible in one of the photos included.
In this article, Stewart Copeland mentions mixing down the Rumblefish soundtrack onto the Sony PCM-F1 recorder, which he bought for £800.
Visible in this photo of Stewart Copeland's "hotel rig" (or "suitcase studio") from around the Synchronicity tour, featured in the Police Vintage gallery section of his website. Also visible in a photo of his "Rhythmatist" writing setup (though it looks reversed) here
From Down Beat magazine May 1984 issue:
On the road Copeland figures out his new charts on his "suitcase studio" - a Yamaha HandySound HS-5O1 polyphonic mini-synth, a Casio PT2O monophonic mini-synth (that also plays chords), a BOSS Dr Rhythm, the Scholz Rockman (for studio effects), a Fostex X-15 Multi-tracker cassette recorder, Sanyo C mini-monitor speakers, and Sony headphones, plus a Fender Stratocaster for that dose of heavy metal.
Visible in this photo of Stewart Copeland's "hotel rig" (or "suitcase studio") from around the Synchronicity tour, featured in the Police Vintage gallery section of his website. Also visible in a photo of his "Rhythmatist" writing setup (though it looks reversed) here
From Down Beat magazine May 1984 issue:
On the road Copeland figures out his new charts on his "suitcase studio" - a Yamaha HandySound HS-5O1 polyphonic mini-synth, a Casio PT2O monophonic mini-synth (that also plays chords), a BOSS Dr Rhythm, the Scholz Rockman (for studio effects), a Fostex X-15 Multi-tracker cassette recorder, Sanyo [MSP-5] mini-monitor speakers, and Sony headphones, plus a Fender Stratocaster for that dose of heavy metal.
In this Modern Drummer interview, roadie Jeff Seitz mentions Stewart Copeland using an AMS DMX 15-80 digital delay.
In this Modern Drummer interview from 1982, roadie Jeff Seitz mentions Stewart Copeland using a Deltalab DL4 delay for delay effects, replacing the Roland Echo.
Photo of Stewart Copeland's studio in which a Yamaha DX7 can be seen in the bottom left corner.
This is a community-built gear list for Stewart Copeland.
- Find relevant music gear like Microphones, Guitars, Amplifiers, Effects Pedals, Drum Sets, Cymbals, Snare Drums, Drumsticks, and other instruments and add it to Stewart Copeland.
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Discography
Wall Street (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
1987
The Equalizer & Other Cliffhangers
1988
Noah's Ark
1990
Rumble Fish (Original Soundtrack)
1992
Spyro
1998
Orchestralli
2004
La Notte della Taranta (Live in Melpignano 17.08.2003)
2004
Divine Tides
2021
Police Deranged For Orchestra
2023
Police Beyond Borders
2023
Stewart Copeland: Wild Concerto
2025