The sound of that studio was the desk," referring to the Neve 8078 board. "It was a good-sounding studio," Dorfsman later recalled, "but the main room itself was nothing to write home about. The studio itself was small, with a 20 x 25-foot recording space that offered virtually no isolation. The studio lineup included Knopfler (guitar), John Illsley (bass), Terry Williams (drums), Alan Clark (piano and Hammond B3), and Guy Fletcher, who was new to the band, playing a synth rig that consisted of a huge new Yamaha DX1, a couple of Roland keyboards, and a Synclavier. He was always willing to spend on high-quality equipment."īefore arriving at Montserrat, Knopfler had written all the songs and rehearsed them with the band. "One of the things that I totally respected about him," Dorfsman observed, "was his interest in technology as a means of improving his music. The decision to move to digital recording came from Knopfler's constant striving for better sound quality. Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums to be recorded on a Sony 24-track digital tape machine. In 1982, Knopfler asked Dorfsman to work with him on the 1982 Dire Straits album, Love over Gold, and his 1983 soundtrack album Local Hero. Knopfler became aware of Dorfsman through his 1981 recording of the Wanderlust album by jazz vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. The album was produced by Mark Knopfler and Neil Dorfsman. Brothers in Arms would become Dire Straits' final album until they reunited and recorded 1991's On Every Street.īrothers in Arms was recorded from November 1984 to March 1985 at AIR Studios on the island of Montserrat, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. Q magazine placed the album at number 51 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The album won two Grammy Awards in 1986, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards. The album is the eighth-best-selling album in UK chart history, is certified nine-times platinum in the United States, and is one of the world's best-selling albums, having sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
Brothers in Arms charted at number one worldwide, spending 10 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart (between 18 January and 22 March 1986), nine weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 in the United States, and 34 weeks at number one on the Australian Album Chart. Brothers in Arms is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released on by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros.