How It Was Recorded

Supertramp · Album, 1979

Breakfast in America

This is an album-level record: the sources describe how the album as a whole was recorded, not one song. Where a detail belongs to a single song, the row says so.

Songs this record stands for: Breakfast in America, Goodbye Stranger, Take the Long Way Home. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalsBassDrum kitSynth stringsVerified5Reported8

What the sources do and do not say

The only usable source is a Sound On Sound Classic Tracks piece on The Logical Song, with Peter Henderson describing the Breakfast in America sessions. It mentions Take The Long Way Home only to say it was arranged late and to praise Thomson's bass part, so every row is album-level. Mix's Logical Song piece (read) repeats the same gear but adds nothing for this song; the Crystal Studios mix console and the Harrison/Ampex tracking room are not rows because no unit model is given.

Lead vocals

Roger Hodgson

Microphone

Neumann U 47

Reported

Microphone used for Roger Hodgson's lead vocals during the Breakfast in America overdubs.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Input chain

UREI 1176

Reported

Compressor the lead vocals were recorded through.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio 1176 Classic Limiter Collection

compressor

Models several revisions of the 1176, including the blackface units.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter (Models two 1176 revisions (blacky and bluey)).

Bass

Dougie Thomson

Instrument

Music Man StingRay

Reported

Thomson's new bass for the album, played with flat-wound strings; Henderson rates it among the best basses he has recorded.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. A bass guitar is the source of the sound, not a process applied to it. No plugin stands in for it.

Amplifier

Recorded direct (DI), no amplifier

Reported

Bass was taken direct rather than through an amp.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Recorded direct, so there is no amp to model. Leave the amp simulator off.

Input chain

Harrison Console (model not stated)

Verified

Henderson boosted the bass heavily on the Harrison desk and says the console gave it a good low end.

Settings
+10 dB at 100 Hz and +10 dB at 200 Hz

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Harrison Audio 32Classic Channel Strip

channel strip

Harrison's own channel-strip plugin, taken from its 32-series desks. The source does not name the model, so this stands for the maker's family of units: it is not a model of the one on the record.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

UREI 1176

Verified

Compressor the heavily EQ'd bass was put through after the console EQ.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio 1176 Classic Limiter Collection

compressor

Models several revisions of the 1176, including the blackface units.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter (Models two 1176 revisions (blacky and bluey)).

Drum kit

Bob Siebenberg

Instrument

Ludwig Drum kit (model not stated)

Reported

Siebenberg's kit for the album, with a 24-inch bass drum, Superphonic snare and Fiberskin-covered toms.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Toontrack Superior Drummer 3

drum instrument

A sampled drum instrument. It does not claim to be this kit or drum.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Microphone

Sennheiser MD 421

Reported

Microphone on the bass drum in the album's drum-miking setup.

Position
On the bass drum

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The MD 421 is still made.

Sennheiser MD 421

Reported

Microphones on the toms in the album's drum-miking setup.

Position
On the toms

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The MD 421 is still made.

Neumann KM 84

Reported

Snare microphone; Henderson says it was probably the main factor in the drum sound, soft yet bright.

Position
On the snare

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Synth strings

Instrument

Oberheim Four-voice

Verified

Henderson says an Oberheim Four-voice was used a lot, in the synth-string approach used pretty much throughout the album.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Arturia SEM V

instrument

Models the Oberheim SEM. The Four Voice and Eight Voice are built from several SEM modules.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Elka Rhapsody

Verified

String ensemble keyboard that Henderson says sounded brilliant through a Boss chorus pedal, an approach used across the album.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

GForce Software VSM IV

instrument

A string-machine instrument built from samples of the original hardware, with the Elka Rhapsody among the machines included.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Arturia Solina V (Models the Solina String Ensemble, a divide-down string machine from the same years with a similar chorused sound).

Input chain

Boss Chorus pedal (model not stated)

Verified

Chorus pedal the Elka string ensemble went through.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro

amp and cabinet simulator

Includes a range of modelled pedals. Whether this exact pedal is among them was not checked.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: Supertramp 'The Logical Song', Sound On Sound, 2005-07. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.

Songs from this album