Genesis Duke equipment

Duke was Genesis' tenth studio album, released in March 1980 after a period of inactivity for the band.

By early 1979, Phil Collins and the band arranged for a brief hiatus so he could move to Vancouver in effort to rescue his troubled first marriage at the time. This allowed Tony and Mike to work on songs for their solo albums. However, Phil moved back to the UK in April 1979 after his attempts were unsuccessful. As Tony and Mike were already busy, Phil was left with lots of time to spare until Duke. In the meantime, he reprised his role as drummer in Brand X, did session/live work for John Martyn and Peter Gabriel and worked on 8-track demos at his Old Croft home in Shalford, Surrey. Two of the songs Phil wrote during this period - "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask" - would be selected for the album.

Although some songs are solo compositions, this album saw a return of making group-written songs through jams and improvisations, which they worked on at Phil Collins' home in Shalford, Surrey in the autumn of 1979. Then recording work took place during November-December 1979 Polar Studios followed by mixing at Maison Rouge Studios in London. Like the previous albums, production duties were shared between the band and engineer David Hentschel. Sounds-wise, the drum sound has greater emphasis on ambience mikes and hence the use of the room acoustics at Polar Studios for a more "live" sound. A sound which would be further explored and used to great effect in subsequent albums.

Phil Collins
Drums Setups varied between each song, including number of toms on kit
 * Premier 717 Elite Black custom kit /w Gretsch bass drum
 * Premier Soundwave kit (double-headed)

Cymbals
 * Zildjian & Paiste

Other
 * Roland CR-78 CompuRhythm - "Duchess"
 * assorted percussion

Source: various, Modern Recording & Music May 1981

Tony Banks
Keyboards & synthesizers:
 * ARP 2600
 * Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus
 * Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
 * Yamaha CS-80
 * Yamaha CP-70 grand piano
 * Yamaha 9' grand piano - belonged to Polar Studios, used on "Please Don't Ask" etc.

Effects
 * Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble - on CP-70 at least
 * MXR MX-134 Stereo Chorus
 * MXR Phase 90
 * misc. fuzz boxes

Mike Rutherford
note: the full extent of Mike's setup for the recording of Duke is not entirely known, so what is listed here is speculation based on existing sources from around the time

Guitars:
 * 1975 Fender Stratocaster USA Sunburst
 * Ibanez Artist 2622
 * Kramer DMZ-3000
 * Roland GS-500
 * Shergold double neck

Guitar synthesizers
 * ARP Avatar
 * Roland GR-500

Amplifiers
 * Yamaha G100?

Microphones
No detailed information can be found on the microphone setups utilised on the album by David Hentschel, but this probably depended on ones available in the studio at the time.

Mixing consoles

 * Harrison 4032 (Polar Studios, heavily modified)
 * Helios 32/24 at Maison Rouge /w Allison 65k programmer (final mixes at Maison Rouge)

Tape machines

 * MCI JH-24 24-track (Polar Studios)
 * Studer A80 24-track (Maison Rouge)
 * Studer A80 2-track (Maison Rouge)

Outboard gear
At Maison Rouge Studios:
 * Allison Research Kepex noise gates
 * Audio & Design compressors/limiters (x2)
 * EMT plate reverbs
 * Eventide digital delays - may include H910 Harmonizer?
 * Eventide FL201 Instant Flanger
 * Lexicon digital delay
 * Marshall Time Modulator
 * MICMIX reverb
 * UREI Graphic Equalisers
 * UREI 1176 peak limiters (x4)

Studio monitoring

 * Tannoy in Lockwood cabinets, driven by Crown DC-300A - Maison Rouge studios