BREATHE and GREAT GIG IN THE SKY SLIDE GUITAR VOLUME SWELLS - Breathe from Dark Side of the Moon features some beautiful David Gilmour slide guitar work. David primarily used the Binson Echorec delay/echo unit for his early work with Pink Floyd. Digital delays Gilmour used several digital delay units trough time, starting from the Wall in 1979. Regardless, it is the combination of both delay and reverb that makes the delay sound so smooth in some instances. Dec 23, 2015. His delay times are slightly faster here. It had a maximum delay time of 320ms, but could be expanded to 1280ms by adding additional memory chips. This may be a form of Automatic/Artificial Double Tracking (ADT) or simply a short slapback delay. slide solo: 550ms -- feedback: 4-5 repeats It was surrounded by a record head and four playback heads that gave it a wide range of double-tapped delay sounds. A 300ms and 380ms delay had the heads repeating in these specific delay times. This is similar to the sound David had for his 1984 live performances of Run Like Hell, as heard on the David Gilmour In Concert video released in 1984 by CBS, and the Westwood One Radio Network FM broadcast of the July 12th concert in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. I use the Tremotron from Stone Deaf Effects for this. Give Blood Note that setting. SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND 1-5 settings. Head 2 = 150ms (or 75ms x 2)..Head 2 = 190ms (or 95ms x 2) 1st solo: 435ms 570 x 75% = 427.5. I usually try, in solos, to set the DDLs to have some rhythmic time signature in common with the tune. Great, lets get started. I started off with a Binson Echo unit, which is like a tape loop thing. MXR Digital Delay System II showing David's knob settings, Part of the effects rack from David's 1994 Pink Floyd tour rig with the MXR Digital Delay System II mounted in the middle, David's MXR Digital Delay System II rack unit from the On an Island tour showing a note for Solo: 440ms ? slide guitar: 440ms -- feedback: 5-6 repeats -- delay level: 30-35% -- delay type: analog tremolo effect for middle section: 294ms delay, 7-8 repeats / tremolo with gated square wave, depth set to maximum, and speed set for He also used an Echorec PE 603 model from 1971-75 that had a maximum delay time of around 377-380ms. outro solo: 430-450ms, One of These Days studio version (Binson Echorec): It can be simulated with a short 40-50ms digital delay with one repeat, like this: PARALLEL MIXING DELAYS - Stacking one delay after another in your signal chain can degrade your tone because your original signal travels through, and is altered by, two delay circuits before coming out the other end. The second delay should just be accenting the first, filling the space between the 3/4 repeats. Most analog type delays have a lower quality repeat decay that rolls off more high end on each repeat. Syd's theme - Hollywood Bowl March 2016. Its hard to give an estimate as every pedal will respond differently. He then upgraded to an MXR Digital Delay System II. Brain Damage - Pulse version (TC2290 Digital Delay): Breathe - studio version (several duplicated multi track recordings offset to create the long delay repeats): Breathe - Pulse version (TC2290 Digital Delay): Coming Back To Life - Pulse version (MXR Digital Delay II and TC 2290 Digital Delay): Coming Back To Life - 2015/16 live version: Comfortably Numb - 1986 live version / Columbian Volcano Appeal Concert: Comfortably Numb - Pulse version and most Division Bell tour performances: Eclipse first solo: 340ms -- feedback: 3-4 repeats 530ms -- feedback: 4-5 repeats, Coming Back To Life: For The Wall he switched to the MXR Digital Delay for those accurate and pristine time setups. delay 1: 90ms That is an example where David seems to have set the delay speed by ear, rather than going by an exact Echorec formula. 1st solo: 310ms Brian May (of Queen) did the same effect a few years later on Brighton Rock and Son and Daughter using his modified Echoplexes. Great Gig Slide Guitar Breakdown. The best way I have found to create the smoothest delay is to simply set it in time with the song tempo. Members; 529 Members; Share; Posted December 21, 2005. April 9, 2022. by Joe Nevin. The level or volume knob would be set to maximum on most delays for this. The 3/4 time delay is 380ms and the second 4/4 delay time is 507ms, or one repeat on every quarter note (one beat). It is meant to simulate the sound of old analog tape delays as they aged. When the IC chips became less expensive to manufacture Boss simply rebranded it as a new, lower priced version rather than lowering the price of the DD-2. Start new topic; Recommended Posts. Alternate (Pulse): Delay 1 = 430ms / Delay 2 = 1023ms, Hey You: Most digital delays create an accurate, pristine repeat that only decays in volume with each repeat, not in quality. 1. Unfortunately the Catalinbread Swell control cannot be set as high as it needs to be for the Time intro, but it gets close. The first Money solo, for example, sounds like it is awash in spring reverb. To add space to your tone, add a clean digital delay at the end of your signal chain. It was set for a light overdrive setting and was most likely an always-on pedal. David often uses long echo delays to help create a his big, smooth, and liquidy solo tones. WHY CAN'T I HEAR THE ECHO REPEATS IN SOME GILMOUR/PINK FLOYD SOLOS? If you listen to some of the better bootleg recordings and compare them to the official live releases, you will find David's real live sound is typically drier, with less delay. Set the 600ms dealy to half the repeats of the main delay, with a MUCH lower delay volume. - David often has a big, watery delay tone, as if he were playing in a large hall, but the actual audible echo repeats in his solos are almost absent in many cases. NOTE: This website is frequently updated. solo: 380ms -- feedback: 5-6 repeats, Marooned - 1994 live version: First is the delay, then the square wave tremolo, then both together. second solo: 750ms -- feedback: 4-5 repeats, Comfortably Numb - MLOR tour: In live performances he usually used playback Head 4 for the maximum delay time of around 300ms. USING TWO DELAYS AT ONCE - David has sometimes simultaneously used two separate delays with different delay times to create a larger sound, similar to what can be accomplished with the multi heads on an Binson Echorec. The Echorec 2 had six knobs - INPUT CONTROL (volume), LENGTH OF SWELL (number of repeats), VOLUME OF SWELL (volume of repeats), BASS/TREBLE (tone knob for the repeats), a three position SELECTOR knob, and a SWITCH knob that selected various combinations of the four playback heads. solo: 560ms That may be just my fantasy; I don't know. The tone is broken down to illustrate what each effect adds to the sound, in this order: Boss CS-2 compressor, Boss CE-2 chorus, Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble, FTT Future Factory stereo delay, BKB/Chandler Tube Driver. - David Gilmour from Guitar for the Practicing Musician, 1985, We also have an old MXR DDL (MXR Digital Delay System II) digital delay unit built into a rack unit. #4. Alternately, you can use 380ms as the long delay and 285ms as the short time delay, equivalent to Head 3 and Head 4 on the PE 603 Echorec, but that creates a slightly different delay rhythm than the album sound. How to you get the proper 3/4 delay time from that 4/4 time? David bought an Echorec PE 603 model in 1971 that had a maximum delay time of around 377-380ms. second solo: 380ms -- feedback: 6-7 repeats, Comfortably Numb - 1986 live version / Columbian Volcano Appeal Concert: Shown below are some typical Gilmour DD-2 delay times. - engineer Alan Parsons, on the 1973 Dark Side of the Moon sessions, (left to right) Gilmour's Binson Echorec 2 and Echorec PE 603 stacked on top of his Hiwatts from 1973, and an Echorec 2 from 1974, Binson Echorec PE 603 like the one Gilmour used from 1971-74 in his live rigs. I don't care how I get it. You can also do the volume swells with the guitar volume knob, although it is much easier with a volume pedal. 4. DELAY SETTINGS - Most of the delay times David Gilmour used in the early 1970s with Pink Floyd were around 300ms long, since that was the approximate delay time of head 4 on the Binson Echorecs he was using at the time. The 3/4 "triplet" time will be inbetween in between these 4/4 and 2/4 settings on your delay. This way the echo repeat from one delay is not repeating the echo repeat of the other, and the original guitar signal is kept pristine rather than altered by going through two different delays. Starting with the finer details of the setup's tone like amp EQ and drive pedal levels and EQ will help you hear everything much more clearly before adding all the delay and reverb. The slide parts actually were played on a pedal steel, a Fender 1000, but David just used it as a slide guitar and removed the foot pedals. David probably just uses the term triplet because what he does has a similar feel. bass guitar rhythm delay (two bass guitars): 294ms, 7-8 repeats An examination of the individual tracks from some of the 5.1 surround sound studio album releases reveals both were used. It is a great example of what David calls "triplet time" delay playing, which is actually dotted eighth notes. If you have a good sound in the room or hall you are playing in, there is no need to add reverb, but in small or dead sounding rooms, adding a small amount of reverb in your effects rig can really enhance the sound. To avoid this, and to keep the dry signal more pure, the delays in David's live rigs have sometimes been split off and run parallel with the dry signal, then mixed back together before going to the amp. This 3/4 and 4/4 delay can be used for more than just some Echorec effects. This creates a different bouncy feel to the delay rhythm. slide solo: 550ms -- feedback: 7-8 repeats David primarily used the Binson Echorec delay/echo unit for his early work with Pink Floyd. On Reverb, the average Echorec sells for between 3500$ to 5000$. I use the MXR with the read-out on it, so I instantly have the right tempo. That sounds complicated, but to recreate this sound all you really need is one digital delay set to 380ms, as David did whenever he played it live. intro slide guitar: 1023ms Two guitars were multi tracked in the left and right channels. USING TWO DELAYS - David has stated he used two delays, one in 3/4 time (dotted eighth notes) and one in 4/4 time (quarter notes). The third and final (that we know of) delay he usd was the TC Electronic 2290 rack unit. The MXR Digital Delay System II was an upgraded version of the 113 that showed the delay time in milliseconds on the front panel and featured additional fine tuning controls. A Great Day For Freedom - Pulse version (TC2290 Digital Delay): Another Brick in the Wall Part II (live): Any Colour You Like - 1994 live versions: Astronomy Domine - Pulse version (MXR Digital Delay System II for solo). That's another one of the personal esthetic judgments that you use in trying to get something to sound nice to yourself. Its a core part of Pink Floyds earlier sound, and not just for Davids guitar. The exact delay times would be 450ms for the 3/4 time and 600ms for the 4/4 time. Many of the sound effects youll hear on the earlier albums were created with this machine. There are lots of different ways to use two delays at once for an integrated rhythm like this, so use your ears and experiment.. If you have different subdivision settings on your delay, you can then try some of those as they will also be in time with the song tempo. He notoriously used a Binson Echorec for his delays, and many other vintage pedals and studio outboard gear to achieve his tone. I'll keep this simple rather than going into an explanation of time signatures. - David Gilmour interview by Bob Hewitt from Guitarist, June 1986.