to alter the sound or style of Abacab or the relationship towards him or Rutherford as they had been friends for a long time. Recording Genesis recorded Abacab in 14 weeks, and they typically worked between 12 and 14 hours a day while making it. The new studio environment had a productive effect on the writing process and the band had enough material for a double album, but they discarded one hour of music because they considered the songs were too similar to their past albums. Though the band did not alter the way in which they approached the songwriting for Abacab, Banks said a conscious effort was made by the group to avoid "Genesis cliches" such as using tambourines during a chorus, reprises, extended solos, lengthy instrumental passages, and keeping melodies simple, which signalled further changes in their direction. Because of this, Banks considered Abacab to be the least technical Genesis album at the time of its release. Rutherford said the omission of songs that were too familiar to what they had done previously was required to avoid Genesis becoming a caricature of itself, and so the change in direction was therefore necessary. He picked the songwriting periods for Duke and Abacab as a "rethink" of Genesis' approach. Collins said the group adopted what they had done for Duke and took it further for Abacab, specifically with group improvisational jams and writing with the aid of electronics such as a drum machine. The home studio allowed the group to stop working on a track if a rehearsal failed to produce any desired results and switch to another, which was not possible at a professional facility due to the limited time available. The band's shift in direction was also underlined in their production with the departure of producer and engineer David Hentschel, who had worked with them since 1975. He was replaced by Hugh Padgham, who had worked with Collins on Face Value and former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel's third solo album which featured Collins on drums. Gabriel's track "Intruder" features a gated reverb effect on Collins's drums that Banks and Rutherford liked, and wanted Padgham to do the same on Abacab. The album marked the first time Genesis produced an album on their own, with Padgham credited as engineer. The decision to bring the drums to the forefront of a song caused Banks to change his usual approach of