EJ Piano Sound

[garyd]

I wonder if anyone here knows any details about how Gus Dudgeon got the great piano sound on classic Elton John recordings (the Madman album comes to mind). Of course, a great piano, great player and great gear make an enormous difference, but I'm curious about the specific technical details. I read an interview with Dudgeon many years ago and seem to remember him saying he took off the lid and put a large box over the piano so he could get the mics a distance away from the strings without leakage. Does anyone here have any knowledge of this or know where I could read any interviews with Dudgeon?

Thanks!
Gary

 

[MPlancke]

Originally posted by garyd:
I wonder if anyone here knows any details about how Gus Dudgeon got the great piano sound on classic Elton John recordings

I heard a rumor that there were a couple of
LA2A's strapped across the bus on that piano sound and that it wasn't subtly applied.

 

[simonsez]

rumours, rumours,
I know absolutely nothing about recording
a real piano, but I read or "heard" somewhere
that on EJ's early records.......
"they would record with noise reduction 'ON'
and then during playback or mixing it would intentionaly be left 'OFF'." The theory is this would make the piano sound overly bright.
I have never tried this so I have no idea how or if this would work.

Someone feel free to "debunk" this one...
I may have my head up my ass.

;-)
simonsez