Peter Gabriel So equipment

So was the fifth solo studio album released by Peter Gabriel, released in May 1986. It has also been his most commercially successful, yielding "Sledgehammer", "Big Time" and "Don't Give Up".

Production for the album took one year overall, starting in February 1985 at Peter's Ashcombe House studio after finishing the Birdy soundtrack. The first song to be worked on was "Milgram's 37 (We Do What We're Told)", a leftover from the Peter Gabriel 3 album (a.k.a. Melt) sessions. It marked Peter's transition back into traditional songwriting and recording, having recently finished Birdy. Peter considered working with Nile Rodgers or Bill Laswell for So, but settled with Daniel Lanois with whom he developed a working relationship on Birdy and wanted to take a step further.

For the album, the keyboards and guitars were usually laid down first to a drum machine first, then other instruments like bass and drums were added. Although "Sledgehammer" was recorded live in the studio. Some of the early sessions revolved around Peter, Daniel Lanois and guitarist David Rhodes jamming together on songs. Then gradually more musicians became involved, including Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta, plus violinist L. Shankar, drummers Manu Katché & Stewart Copeland and more. Engineer David Bascombe (best known for work with Genesis and Tears For Fears) was involved in the initial recordings, but left two months into the project over disagreements with Daniel Lanois. His replacement was engineer Kevin Killen, who joined in May 1985.

Much of the album was recorded to analog 48-track (two 24-track machines synchronised togehter): the Studer "B" machine was used for recording the demo tracks, while the "A" machine was used for recording musicians' overdubs. Due to synchronization issues between the two machines and the risk of tape wear, the decision was made in September 1985 to make digital masters of the songs using a rented Mitsubishi digital 32-track (either an X-800 or X-850 depending on the source). After this, Daniel Lanois and Peter went to New York to record horns, piano and some keyboards.

Of all the Peter Gabriel albums, this album is probably the most well-documented in terms of the equipment and production. Microphones (on drums in particular) may have varied according to experimentation.

Peter Gabriel
Instruments
 * Aiwa CA-W20 boom box
 * Linn LM-1 drum machine ("Don't Give Up")
 * LinnDrum drum machine ("This Is The Picture")
 * Linn 9000 drum machine ("That Voice Again", "Big Time")
 * E-mu Emulator II
 * Fairlight CMI Series IIx (or Series II)
 * Friendchip SRC SMPTE Reading Clock
 * Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (rev 5 and rev 3.3)
 * Yamaha CP-70 grand piano
 * Yamaha CP-80 grand piano
 * Yamaha CS-80

Effects
 * Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble
 * Boss CE-3 Chorus (x2)

Simon Clark

 * Hammond B3 organ /w Leslie 122 speaker ("Big Time")
 * Fairlight CMI Series IIx
 * Yamaha CS-80 ("Don't Give Up" choruses)

David Rhodes
Guitars:
 * Steinberger G2 6-string (“Big Time” & “We Do What We’re Told”)
 * 1962 Fender Stratocaster
 * 1963 Fender Jazzmaster
 * Ovation 12-string
 * Shergold Custom Masquerader 12-string

Amps:
 * Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus
 * Marshall
 * Mesa/Boogie

Effects:
 * Boss CE-2 Chorus
 * Boss DS-1 Distortion
 * Boss SD-1 Overdrive (“Big Time”)

Daniel Lanois
Guitars:
 * Fender Jazzmaster (green) - e.g. surf guitar parts on "Big Time"
 * Ovation 12-string?

Amplifiers:
 * 1958 Fender Deluxe

Tony Levin
Basses:
 * Music Man Black Sabre 4-string (“Sledgehammer” bass)
 * Music Man 5-string
 * Steinberger(?)
 * Chapman stick

Effects:
 * Boss OC-2 Octaver e.g. "Sledgehammer"
 * Boss DSD-2
 * Ibanez UE-303B(?)

Manu Katché

 * Pearl (or Yamaha) drums
 * Zildjian cymbals
 * assorted African and Latin percussion instruments

Sources: Modern Drummer December 1987, Musician July 1986

Jerry Marotta

 * Yamaha drums
 * Zildjian cymbals

Stewart Copeland

 * Pearl 5" x 14" snare /w Chrome over brass shell ("Big Time")
 * Paiste Formula 602 13" hi-hats (on "Red Rain" and "Big Time")

Stewart's drum parts on "Big Time" were largely sampled into an AMS and flown into the song so it could be kept in time with the Linn drum machine. Jeff Seitz (Stewart Copeland's drum tech) on Stewart's So setup: "It was a PG studio drum set that everybody used [probably a Yamaha kit]. I just brought a snare [Pearl 5" x 14" snare /w Chrome over brass shell], hi-hats [Paiste Formula 602 13" heavy hi-hats], pedal and his special backrest throne along with a cymbal bag that may not have been used."

Larry Klein

 * Yamaha BB5000 5-string fretless ("In Your Eyes", "Mercy Street")
 * volume pedal

Sources: Bass Brain: How Larry Klein Shapes The Sound Of Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, Don Henley...

Chris Hughes

 * Linn LinnDrum (LM-2): used for "Red Rain" drum programming, but not heard in final version?

Microphones

 * AKG:
 * C414 EB: occasional drum overheads
 * C-451E: hi-hats
 * D-12(?): bass drum
 * Electrovoice:
 * RE-20: bass drum
 * Neumann:
 * KM84i: drum tracking (hi-hat?)
 * U47 valve: Peter Gabriel lead vocals, background vocals
 * U67: Kate Bush co-lead vocals on "Don't Give Up", background vocals
 * U87: drum overheads, amplified keyboards (via PA)
 * Sennheiser:
 * MD-421: tom-toms
 * Shure:
 * SM57: snare, guitar amplifiers, PG guide vocals
 * Sony:
 * C-500: guitar amplifiers

Outboard gear
Delay lines/pitch shifting/chorusing/sampling:
 * AMS DMX 15-80S stereo digital delay/harmonizer with 1.6-second sampling
 * AMS DMX 15-80S stereo digital delay/harmonizer with 14-second sampling (received July 1985)
 * AMS DMX 15-80 mono delay/harmonizer
 * Deltalab DL-2 acoustic couplers (x2)
 * Eventide H910 Harmonizer
 * Korg SDD-3000 digital delay
 * Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
 * Roland SDD-320 Dimension D
 * MDB Window Recorder

Reverberation:
 * AMS RMX-16 (x2)
 * EMT 140 plate
 * Lexicon 224
 * Quantec Room Simulator
 * Sony DRE-1000

Compressors:
 * Audio & Design Vocal Stresser F769X-R
 * Brooke Siren DPR402
 * Dbx 160's
 * Decca compressor (x4)
 * Universal Audio LA-2A (x2)

Equalisation:
 * MXR 10-band graphic EQ
 * Rebis parametric EQ

Tape machines & mastering

 * Studer A80 (stock)
 * Studer A80 (modified)
 * Lyrec TR532 24-track - only for early So sessions
 * Mitsubishi X850 (or X-800) digital 32-track
 * Ampex ATR-100 1/2-inch - mixed down onto this
 * Revox B77 1/4 inch
 * Sony PCM-F1

Mixing console

 * SSL 4048 E-series with Total Recall automation (a.k.a SSL 4000): Peter's Ashcombe House studio
 * Neve 8068: Power Station Studio A (New York) overdubs

Miscellaneous studio equipment

 * Adams-Smith 2600 synchronizer
 * Auratone 5C monitors
 * Tannoy monitors
 * Yamaha NS-10 monitors