What are ABBA doing with the electric piano here?

[Guy Rowland]

Okay people. Verse 1 here.



The electric piano - a Wurli, is it? - sounds INCREDIBLE. It's either swimming in reverb / echo and then through a phaser, OR they're layering it with something. What's going on?

[Lawrence]

Sounds phased to me.

I didn’t know the song but it continued to remind me how resolved suspensions in vocals are so very pleasing to the ear.

Also, it reminded me of the first Boston album in that it doesn’t matter how insipid a lyric is, if a song is well constructed, well sung and played AND amazingly mixed, it’s a beyootiful thing.

[Piet De Ridder]

ABBA overdubbed/doubled/tripled just about everything they recorded (often at slighty different speeds) and with all the processing that’s going on, it’s impossible to say with any certainty which instruments combine into that electric piano sound. Some sources say it’s a Rhodes, but it could be Wurlitzer and there might well be an acoustic piano in there as well. Or maybe even a synth. I have no idea.

And yes, there’s definitely a phaser involved, but not any old phaser will do. Apparently, Bjorn, Benny and their engineer Michael Tretow were, like many musicians in the early and mid-70’s, enthusiastic users of the Maestro Phase Shifter, a device, by the way, which was designed and initially built by Tom Oberheim (before he began thinking about synths). But again, I don’t know if this is true.

(I just tried to get a similar sound with only a Rhodes and a stock phaser plug-in, but I didn't get anywhere near it. And neither did it happen with a Wurlitzer and a phaser. As far as the phasing is concerned though, the closest I can get, is with the Arturia Bi-Tron. But it's still not quite the same thing.)

Here’s a link to an old article by Michael Tretow for a 1980 issue of Sound International Magazine. “Knowing Me Knowing You” isn’t mentioned specifically, but there’s still lots of interesting info (for those who find this type of info interesting, that is).

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[Guy Rowland]

Excellent info, Piet. Without doubt Michael Tretow was a genius.

So curiosity got the better of me and I put verse 1 through RX's music rebalance:

Knowing Me, Knowing You verse epiano.mp3

(562.5 KiB) Downloaded 15 times

Now this might be a little deceptive, it could well have thrown some stuff away on this stem. But there's clearly the electric piano swimming in reverb with that glorious phaser and a 12 string acoustic guitar. Maybe some of his double tracking tricks there too. What I can't figure out is if there is also another elec piano accentuating some of the chords, or if this is just keys of the main piano being hit fff, but I'd have thought that would screw up the reverb effect.

Anyway, it's absolutely gorgeous. Have been listening to this song since I was about 8, and I never really noticed it before yesterday. No-one else ever made that stock elec piano sound like that, such an incredible arrangement.

I seem to recall the producer some big haired huge rock band of the 70s/80s - I forget which - sought an audience with Michael to learn how he did it. He was such a master craftsman. I know we've discussed the sublime SOS before - when that chorus hits its just unbelievable.

(minor tangent. I was watching a bit of Raiders of the Los Ark yesterday marvelling at the direction and Harrison Ford's brilliance, and reflecting how it was dismissed as popcorn back in the day, and Ford didn't start any "proper' acting until later in his career. I feel the same about Abba - now the world appreciates the songwriting and the production, but back then it was all just pop pap).

[wst3]

Abba - one of those acts I love to hate, well, not really... the songwriting (lyrics excepted) is great, and the production and performances are off the wall cool. They were a guilty pleasure.

And as with most guilty pleasures, I forgot about them. Haven't listened to them in ages.

And I avoided the musical and movie "Mama MIa" because I knew it was basically a showcase for Abba penned songs. How could that possibly work?

Well I saw it about a month ago at our local high school. I tend to be something of a theatre snob, so I seldom watch high school musicals. Our local high school does a pretty good job though, and there was one young lady who has held the lead in every show since she was a freshman. A previously unheard of accomplishment. She is that good. She has the voice, and the stage presence, and now the acting chops, and she did an amazing job.

But what really surprised / impressed me was how cleverly the songs were woven into a story line. It really is clever!

[Guy Rowland]

Piet, that link isn't working for me, btw - would you mind taking a look?

Nice interview with Michael here.

[Mike Greene]

It doesn't sound like Rhodes or Wurlitzer to me. I'm not hearing acoustic piano, either, even as a doubled sound. Maaayybe there's some doubling going on, but even for producers who love layering, I wouldn't think a part like this would be where you'd want to do that, since layering tends to make things less snappy, and this is a part that you want to be snappy.. I'd be tempted to guess electronic organ (Vox or a Farfisa, not Hammond), but I don't think that's quite right, either.

So I'm thinking ... none of the above. If I had to guess, though, my money's on organ. Or maybe one of those oddball electric pianos, like the RMI, which I don't really know what they sound like. Light phaser, but also a slower sweep of ... something.