How They Mic’d the Leslie Speaker for Richard Wright’s ‘Us and Them’ Organ

On ‘Us and Them,’ Richard Wright played a Farfisa Compact Duo organ through a Leslie 122 speaker cabinet. The Leslie’s rotating horn and lower drum create a natural Doppler pitch shift, giving that slow, swirling motion that defines the song’s mood.

To capture that movement, engineer Alan Parsons and the team typically used two Neumann U47 microphones placed at 90-degree angles to the upper rotor, about six inches away, and a third mic for the lower bass rotor. This setup caught the stereo image as the horn spun, avoiding phase issues while preserving the full swell. They sometimes added a distant room mic to blend in natural ambience, keeping the sound airy and unhurried.