Sting

In this photo from a concert in Paris on 3 May 1986, Sting can be seen playing a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.

In this 1982 photo, the MXR Phase 90 pedal is visible.

In this 1981 interview with Jools Holland on Montserrat, Sting does a demonstration of "Message In A Bottle" with the aid of a Sony CF-900S tape recorder with a built-in drum box. This first appears at the 1:18 mark.

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 Sting's vocals for Sting: A Winter's Night... Live From Durham Cathedral, as featured in this video from DPA's YouTube channel.

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

In the 2018 official music video for "Don't Make Me Wait," Sting can be seen playing a Gibson Custom SG Special Electric Guitar.

According to Bass Magazine 2003 (Japanese), Sting used a custom-made Ibanez MC940 bass with Pearl white finish, a maple fretless neck and two Super P5s pickups mounted.

Sting received this bass in January 1981 while on tour in Japan with The Police, and used it for the rest of the Zenyatta Mondatta tour.

In this article from International Musician magazine (reproduced on Sting's official website), long-serving tech Danny Quatrochi explains that Sting has used an SRE-555 as part of his live rig.

In this article from International Musician magazine (reproduced on Sting's official website), long-serving tech Danny Quatrochi explains that Sting has Regular Slinky strings on his non-bass guitars.

According to the DPA website, Sting is an endorsing artist and has been using their d:facto microphone both onstage and in the studio.

In the March 2012 issue of Total Production International magazine, Sting's then-production crew was interviewed and it is stated that he was using the SR 2050 IEMs.

1987 - Sting dons a black Paul Reed Smith Guitar for the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia Italy.

According to an interview with Musician magazine December 1987 issue, Sting mentions using a Paul Reed Smith guitar on the Nothing Like The Sun album.

Mentioned by producer Hugh Padgham in this March 2004 Sound on Sound interview.

"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."

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."

In a live performance of "We Work the Black Seam Together," Sting uses the NED Synclavier II, showcasing its role in the pre-production phase of his solo career. This is documented in a YouTube video by bedz2big.

Sting is photographed (by Andy Summers and Lynn Goldsmith) playing a Prophet-10 synthesizer in the studio during the Ghost In The Machine sessions. So the Prophet-10 possibly appears on the album in places.

According to Bass talk forums, Sting picked up a fretless version of the Ibanez MC-980 8-string bass in February 1980 during the Regatta De Blanc tour and used it regularly for part of the set until April 1980.

In this 1981 Jools Holland interview with Sting in Montserrat, he does a demonstration of "Message In The Bottle" with a TEAC portastudio and "Dennis" the drum machine at around the 3:11 mark.

In this article from International Musician magazine (reproduced on Sting's official website), long-serving tech Danny Quatrochi explains that Sting has used a Crown PSA-2 for the bottom and low-mid portion of his bass signal.

In this article from International Musician magazine (reproduced on Sting's official website), long-serving tech Danny Quatrochi explains that Sting has used a Crown DC-300A for the high frequency portion of his bass signal.

The Getty image shows Sting playing one of the 70 Van Zalinge Z basses.

The item can be seen 1:02 into this video

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."

Here you can see 2 ML18s sitting underneath the 2 12AMs in between the two ampeg 810s. He uses these in conjunction with the 12AMs to basically make a full range stack with the 12AMs being the high and mid and the ML18 being the low.

Sting in live show with Gretsch G6136T

The Oberheim DMX was used the kick drum on "Every Breath You Take".

The Casio was Sting's main writing tools around the time of the Ghost In The Machine album in 1981. For instance, he wrote the main riff to "Spirits In The Material World" on the Casio in the back of a tour bus somewhere.

In photos from the Montserrat sessions, the band can be seen fiddling around with the Casiotone M-10. In footage of the Jools Holland interview, the Casio is visible in front of the Portastudio near the 3:00 mark.

Plus, Stewart Copeland remembers in a Songfacts interview that the mallet line in "King Of Pain" originated as a set of chords played by Sting on a Casio keyboard, with a rather "clinky sound". But it was decided that the riff be played on a Xylophone instead to make it sound more organic.

One of Sting's onstage instruments during the Regatta De Blanc and Zenyatta Mondatta tours between 1979 and 1981, before it was replaced with the Oberheim OB-Xa polyphonic synth. He dabbled with the Minimoog occasionally during the setlist, in particular "Walking On The Moon" at around the 5:15 mark in the video above.