How It Was Recorded

Billy Joel · Album, 1978

52nd Street

This is an album-level record: the sources describe how the album as a whole was recorded, not one song. Where a detail belongs to a single song, the row says so.

Songs this record stands for: Big Shot, Honesty, My Life. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalGuitarsBassDrum kitPiano and keyboardsTracking and mix roomVerified8Reported1

What the sources do and do not say

Single Mix Classic Tracks article with engineer Jim Boyer. Almost all gear statements describe the 52nd Street / Stranger era tracking sessions in general, so this is an album record. Only the Rhodes with tape phasing is tied to My Life, and Boyer hedges it. The article gives no settings, no vocal or bass preamp, and no mix chain beyond the EMT plates.

Lead vocal

Billy Joel

Microphone

Beyer 250

Verified

Used for Joel's lead vocals, which were recorded live at the same time as the piano.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Guitars

Steve Kahn

Microphone

Sony C-37

Verified

Microphones used on the guitars, which sat in an isolation booth with its front removed.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Bass

Doug Stegmeyer

Input chain

Lang Equaliser (model not stated)

Verified

Equaliser the DI bass signal was put through while tracking.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Heritage Audio LANG PEQ-2

equaliser

Models the Lang PEQ-2, the maker's best-known programme equaliser. The source does not name the model, so this stands for the maker's family of units: it is not a model of the one on the record.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Drum kit

Liberty DeVitto

Microphone

AKG D12

Verified

Kick drum microphone, described as a fairly new mic at the time.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Sennheiser MD 421

Verified

Microphones on the toms.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The MD 421 is still made.

Piano and keyboards

Billy Joel

Instrument

Rhodes Electric piano

ReportedOne song

Boyer thinks the main keyboard sound on this track was a Rhodes, processed with tape phasing, and that there were probably only two keyboards.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Arturia Stage-73 V

instrument

A physical model of the Rhodes Stage and Suitcase electric pianos.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Tracking and mix room

Input chain

Neve 8078

Verified

Console in the A-1 control room used for tracking at the 7th Avenue studio.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer

console emulation

A console-summing plugin that includes one Neve desk. It gives a Neve flavour, not this console's channels.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Ampex 24-track tape machine (model not stated)

Verified

Multitrack recorder for tracking, with two 16-track machines sometimes used instead for cleaner sound.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines

tape

Models two Studer machines, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Mix effects

EMT Plate reverb (model not stated)

Verified

Modified plate reverbs at the 48th Street studio, where the album was mixed, which Ramone liked.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Universal Audio EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator

reverb

The 140 is the EMT plate most studios have; the source does not name the model.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates (Models the EMT 140 plates at Abbey Road).

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: “My Life,” Billy Joel, Mix, 2013-10. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.