How the Echoes 'Ping' Was Made: A Grand Piano, a Leslie Speaker, and a Feedback Loop

The opening of “Echoes” is one of the most recognizable sounds in rock—a single, shimmering note that seems to hang in space and slowly morph. It started as a single piano note played by Richard Wright on a grand piano in Abbey Road’s Studio Two. But the magic came from sending that note through a Leslie speaker, the rotating cabinet often used for Hammond organs, which created a natural Doppler pitch shift as the speaker spun.

What turned that simple piano hit into an evolving, otherworldly ping was a feedback loop. The band routed the sound from the Leslie back into the mixing desk and then back into the Leslie again, creating a controlled, sustained resonance. By carefully adjusting the volume and the speed of the rotors, they could hold the note indefinitely and let it bloom into harmonics—a happy accident that became the sonic anchor for the entire 23-minute piece.