NOTE: This website is frequently updated. Last February 2023 |
INDEX SONG BY SONG GEAR GUIDE AND SOUND CLIPS ••• MY DARK SIDE GEAR ••• MY SOUND CLIPS ••• DARK SIDE BOOTLEG SOUND CLIPS BEST CDs VERSIONS and REMASTER HISTORY ••• SPOKEN WORDS ON DARK SIDE |
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON GUITAR TONES |
Left to Right - Original 1973 album sleeve art by Hipgnosis/George Hardie, 20th anniversary CD art, THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON GUITAR TONES - One of my all time favorite albums is Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It was recorded in the famous Abbey Road Studios in 1973, and its release on March 1st 1973 (March 16th in the UK) made Pink Floyd known worldwide. It basically put them on the map, and showed the public and the music industry that a "concept" album could be both popular and profitable. It also showed that the music, not the personalities behind it, could sell records. The four individual band members were relatively unknown and faceless at the time. Each was in top form and each wrote and contributed to the writing of what is arguably their greatest work. In some ways, Dark Side is the definitive Pink Floyd album. It combined the best elements of Floyd's previous works into one cohesive piece that showcased each member's talents equally. David's guitar work and tones were incredible, and Roger wrote some of the best songs and lyrics of his career. The mix of David and Rogers' individual voices singing lead on different tracks made for an interesting contrast of vocal styles, with each fitting the respective songs. Richard Wright's keys were both beautiful and haunting, and his voice perfectly harmonized with Davids. Nick Mason's drum work expertly kept it all together, and he and Roger formed the perfect rhythm back bone for the album. Together the Floyd produced one of the finest rock albums in history, encompassing a very broad range of blues based musical styles, soundscapes, and effects. DSOTM effectively creates a mood, and as you get sucked in from the very first track, it carries you on a musical journey centered around life and the short time each one of us has to live it. As a testament to how popular this album was, and remains to this day, it stayed in the charts for 591 consecutive weeks (over 11 years) on the Billboard top 200 charts. It ramianed in the charts for around 14 years until Billboard changed the way it calculated chart positions. Billboard cover from February 24th 1973 with Dark Side of the Moon release advertisement showing the US release date My first exposure to Pink Floyd was hearing the song Time on the radio when I was a child. I absolutely loved this song, from it's enigmatic rototom intro to David's searing guitar solo. At the time, this was the most incredible solo I had ever heard, and it caught my attention every time it came on the radio. There was a huge power behind that scortching sound that made an impression on me, as did the melodic way it wove in an out of the chords. It was almost a song within itself. No one else sounded quite like David did. It was my favorite guitar solo - at least until a little song called Comfortably Numb hit the airwaves a few years later. Money was also another track played heavily on the radio. That was my second favorite guitar solo. I thought that guy on Money was good, but not quite as good as the guy who played the solo on Time. A short time later I realized it was the same band! Almost every track on the record received airplay on the various radio stations I listened to, but it was not until I got my first job as a teenager and started buying LP vinyl records that I was able to hear Dark Side of the Moon as a whole. That first time listening from beginning to end was a very moving experience, and listening to it today I still have the same feeling I had when I first heard it. With Dark Side of the Moon David Gilmour's guitar playing and tones had reached a new level. His mix of modulated clean tones, echo drenched slide guitar, and screaming fuzz leads seemed to fit every song like a glove. The unique tones really stood out above other guitarists at the time, and still stand out today. He used a very simple setup by today's standards, but those were not very easy tones to replicate, as I leaned by trial and error. One of Gilmour's Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face pedals (left) and a later Fuzz Face (right) DAVID'S DARK SIDE GEAR - David Gilmour used Fuzz Faces extensively from 1968, shortly after the time he joined Pink Floyd, and throughout the 1970s. His first fuzz pedal was the Tonebender sometimes used by Syd Barret. He could not get along with it and soon switched to a Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face. His first was likely the type still being made with NKT275 Germanium transistors. Dallas began using more stable NPN Silicon transistors soon after, and those were possibly in production by late 1968 or early 1969. By 1971 David was almost certainly using the Silicon versions of the Fuzz Face, and they were used for most of the distortion/fuzz tones on Dark Side of the Moon. A simple description of the sonic differences between Germanium and Silicon circuits are that the Silicon had a brighter and more punchier attack and distortion than the tamer, warmer Germanium version. The distortion also cleans up better well when dialing the guitar volume down when using a Germanium version than Silicon. The Fuzz Face David is pictured using for the Obscured by Clouds sessions/Dark Side era, and shown in the Pink Floyd Mortal Remains exhibition, is a blue Fuzz Face with the wide raised top, marked Dallas-Arbiter-England. There are color photos of a dark blue Dallas-Arbiter FF David used around 1972, and the one in Pink Floyd's Pompeii film was dark blue, but he owned several Fuzz Faces. Some studio photos show 2 or 3 on the floor around David. Some concert photos show several on the stage floor as well. He likely tried dozens of them to find ones he liked, because the sound could vary greatly from one to another due to the different transistors used and the way they were biased.
David Gilmour using the 18v Colorsound Power Boost and a blue Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face on stage with Pink Floyd in the Netherlands in 1972. There is a unique, crunchy sag on the pick attack of David's fuzz solos on Dark Side, so David must have owned a few really good units. The note drops on the pick attack and then immediately recovers with a "bloom" as the note rises in volume and sustain. This is due to the transistor voltage dropping on the initial attack signal, then quickly revovering. I have played a lot of different Fuzz Faces and various clones, and have only come across a few that had that same kind of sag and bloom as I hear on Dark Side of the Moon. Those are the ones I use most, and both have BC108 transistors. There is some debate over which transistors were inside the Fuzz Faces David used, BC108 or BC109. Early Fuzz Faces used BC183L & BC183KA transistors, but by late 1969 or early 1970 Dallas-Arbiter began using BC108C transistors. This was around the same time they started painting the enclosures in various shades of blue, like the ones David was seen using. BC108C seem to be the more common transistor used in Fuzz Faces from the 1971-72 period, but we really have no idea which type was inside the various ones David owned. There supposedly were BC109 transistors in the Fuzz Face built into his 1976-79 Pete Cornish pedal boards (according to Cornish in a 1995 Guitar World), and indeed the mid 1970s US made Fuzz Faces used BC109, BC109C, BC209C transistors, but those were all made after DSOTM was recorded. There is very little difference between BC108s and BC109s as far as the sound. It all depended on the gain of the individual transistor and how it was biased, and that varied. You will hear far more difference between the Germanium NKT275 and the BC108/109s Fuzz Faces than you will between BC108s or BC109s.
For overdrive tones I believe David used a Colorsound Power Boost. Some sources say David used an Orange Treble & Bass booster for DSOTM. Orange was a small company making effect pedals in the early 1970s, but there is no evidence that they ever made a treble & bass booster, and this myth appears to be a misunderstanding of something David's gear tech, Phil Taylor, said in an interview. Phil was quoted saying David used an "orange treble and bass booster". This was actually a literal description of the Colorsound Power Boost , which was a bright orange colored booster pedal, featuring treble and bass knobs! It was capable of everything from light overdrive to full on fuzz distortion, on par with the Fuzz Face. One of David Gilmour's original Colorsound Power Boosts. This is one of the later production without the "Hit It" arrow graphic, circa 1972 An original Colorsound Power Boost with 18v circuit from 1969-70 David used the 18v Power Boost from 1972 to late 1977 and it is the primary overdrive used on the albums Obscured by Clouds, Wish You Were Here and Animals. Although David owned a Power Boost in 1972 there is no documentation of him using it for the recording of Dark Side of the Moon, but one can be seen in the '72 photos of the Obscured by Clouds recording sessions and and it can be seen on stage beside David's Fuzz Face in 1972, so it was most likely used in the DSOTM sessions as well. I think it may have been used in conjunction with the Fuzz Face for the Time and Money solos from DSOTM, and I hear it in Brain Damage and the early mixes of Eclipse. You can even hear David using what I beleive is the Power Boost in the studio clip of him playing fills for Brain Damage on his Lewis guitar from the Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii film. Two other key ingredients to the DSOTM guitar tones were modulation and echo delay. For modulation David used a Univox Uni-Vibe and two different types of rotating speaker cabinets, a RO-1 Mastero Rover and a Leslie speaker cabinet. It sounds like a rotary speakers were used on Us and Them, Brain Damage and Eclipse, but there is no documentation to indicate which one. Brain Damage and Eclipse sound like a Leslie to me. Us and Them does not have the Leslie sound to my ears, so I think that was the Rover. The Leslie David used was most likely a 147, which is the type he used on the DSOTM tour. A 40-watt tube amplifier splits the sound frequency to high and lows, driving a compression driver and a 15" woofer inside the Leslie cabinet, but the Leslie does not actually have rotating speakers. It has a rotating plastic treble horn in the upper part of the cabinet for the high frequencies and a fixed bass speaker pointing down into a rotating bass rotor in the lower cabinet for the lower frequncies. The horn looks like two horns facing opposite each other but only one emits sound. The other is to balance the horn when it rotates. The bass rotor is a spinning drum baffle, with one side of the drum open to reflect the sound from the speaker off the baffle as it turns. It is covered with a thin cloth on the sides. As the horn and bass rotor spin, they create a vibratto-like spacial doppler effect, where the sound appears to be going away and coming back to you with each rotation. It is sort of like a tremolo, vibratto, and chorus effect all-in-one. There is a speed control to set the effect to a fast or slow speed. David typically used a slow speed. A Leslie 147 cabinet and interior with spinning treble horn in upper cabinet and bass rotor in the bottom (left) Leslie rotating treble horn and (right) rotating bass rotor baffle The RO-1 Rover was one of David's favorite rotary effects. It actually has a rotating speaker inside. The RO-1 was made by Gibson in 1972 and had an adjustable speed knob, a built in amplifier, and a single 6" 35w speaker inside that spun on an axle. It created the warbly doppler sound effect, but not the high treble horn effect like the Leslie. Unlike the fixed speeds on the Leslie, the Rover speed control was adjustable from zero to twenty revolutions per second. It was adjusted using a foot pedal. About 3/4 of the drum-shaped cabinet was open. A switch on the Rover allowed the option of routing only the higher frequencies through the rotating speaker and lower frequencies to a regular amp, but it is not known if David did this. A 1970s Maestro Rover RO-1 rotating speaker cabinet, which the Doppolas were based on.
(left) Univix Uni-Vibe and speed control pedal (right) David's Uni-Vibe and Fuzz Face from 1972 The Univox Uni-Vibe effect pedal David used was supposedly invented to simulate a Leslie type rotating speaker cabinet, but the designer said he thinks he was actually trying to simulate the way distant radio stations faded in and out. Regardless, the Uni-Vibe really had its own unique phased-chorus rotary sound, different from the Leslie. It was actually a four-stage phaser invented by Japanese engineer Fumio Mieda in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Shin-ei for Univox to distribute. It was a signature sound for several well known guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower. The Uni-vibe was definitely used for Breathe. The track sheet notes from the recording sessions seem to indicate that David may have used both a rotating speaker cabinet and the Uni-Vibe for Breath and Us and Them but I only hear the rotary speaker in Us and Them. Both effects were also used for the 1973 Dark Side of the Moon tour. EMS Synthi Hi Fli effect processor. The Hi Fli circled in yellow was used for the Dark Side of the Moon tour. David also had an EMS Synthi Hi Fli effects processor, which creates phase, ring modulation, and other effects. David Cockerell, who designed the EMS VCS 3, also designed the hi Fli for EMS in 1971. Cockerell went on to design the Electric Mistress for Electro-Harmonix, which became one of David's favorite pedals. David owned two of ten rare pre-production prototype versions of the Synthi Hi Fl made in 1972, with slightly different controls than the later production version. They included two footpedals that could control the slider functions as an expression pedal. It was a very versatile analog multi-effects processor, housing a variety of effects in use for guitars at the time:
It was thought the Hi-Fli may have been used for Any Colour You Like, but David said in a 1982 interview that he actually used a Uni-Vibe for that. What I think David actually used the Hi Fli for was for its fuzz effect and modulation attack/decay controls, especially for the live performances of Dark Side of the Moon in 1972-73. It is not known if he actually used one for the DSOTM studio recordings.
For delay David used Binson Echorec analog delays, which were capable of delay times around 300-380ms, although there are longer delays featured on the album that were created in the mixing stage. David was a heavy user of the Binson Echorec from his early days with Pink Floyd in 1969 until the late 1970s. The Echorec was an old school mechanical delay that utilized a spinning drum disk wrapped in magnetic recording wire rather than magnetic tape. It was surrounded by a record head and four playback heads that gave it a wide range of double-tapped delay sounds. It also had had a rich and warm-sounding tube amplifier stage that gave it a beautiful and unique tone. A few of of David Gilmour's Binson Echorec 2 model T7E delays with the playback mode switch in position 1, which is singe playback Head 1 David used various Echorec models but he was most known for using the Echorec 2 model T7E. The motor had a fixed speed so one turn of the drum equated to approximately a 300ms delay, but that could vary slightly depending on mains voltage, and volatage fluctuations. David bought an Echorec PE 603 model in 1971 that had a maximum delay time of around 377-380ms. It was used for the early live version of On the Run in 1972, the third Money solo, and used on Pink Floyd tours until 1975. 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. The SELECTOR knob had three positions: ECHO = one repeat, REPEAT = more than one repeat, and SWELL = outputs of the playback heads were fed back to themselves to create a spacey type of reverb effect. The PE 603 Echorec had similar controls, but rather than having a switch to select different combinations of the four playback heads, it had individual buttons for each head. Vintage Binson Echorec II. Right photo shows the top removed from the Echorec to display the recorder tape drum and tape heads. Gilmour's Binson Echorec 2 and Echorec PE 603 stacked on top of his Hiwatts from 1973, There is a misconception that David always used the Echorec for its multi-head function, but in reality he primarily used it in single playback head mode, just like any other typical delay. He did sometimes use the Swell mode. One of the only audible examples of the multi heads in use in a Pink Floyd studio recording is the intro to the song Time from Dark Side of the Moon. There are numerous modern delays that try to replicate this multi-head delay sound, like the Catalinbread Echorec, Strymon Volante, and Boonar Multi-Head Drum Echo from Dawner Prince Electronics, which David himself has used. David Gilmours Black 1969 Fender Stratocaster and his custom made 1970 Bill Lewis 24 fret guitar used for the Money solo For guitars, David used a 1969 Fender Stratocaster (the famed Black Strat) with a 1963 rosewood neck, a 1970 Bill Lewis 24 fret custom guitar (used on the Money solo, and other tracks), and possibly a Fender 1000 pedal steel slide guitar that David acquired in 1968 at a pawn shop in Seattle, Washington. David thinks he used the pedal steel in the Dark Side sessions and has commented that he never used the pedals on it. Roger Waters' recollection is that David actually used a Strat on his lap to play the slide parts in the studio for DSOTM. David is seen doing this a few years earlier in the Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii film. Gilmour recording with his Fender silverface Twin Reverb for the Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions in early 1973 (from Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii) In the recording studio at the time David had a Fender Twin Reverb siverface 100w amp, his trusty Hiwatt DR103 100w amp heads, and WEM Super Starfinder cabinets loaded with Fane Crescendo speakers. These are two very good amplifiers that are very loud, yet very clean sounding with lots of head room. It is not known which amps were actually used for the stuio recordings, but engineer Alan Parsons has stated that he only remembers David using Hiwatt heads and cabs in the studio. When asked what he used in a 1993 Guitar World interview David Gilmour said, "I imagine it was a Hiwatt, but I'm not too certain. I used Fender Twin Reverbs in the studio a lot, too". Overall, I get best results matching the Fuzz Face tones with my Fender Twin Reverb. |
SOUND CLIPS - Below are some isolated sound clips for each song on Dark Side of the Moon, and my recommended gear and settings for each. Clips are ripped from the incredible 5.1 stereo mix of Dark Side of the Moon mixed by James Guthrie and released in 2003 (thirty years after the original release) and the quad mix created by Alan Parsons. I highly recommend you buy the 5.1 mix if you have a surround sound system. I have isolated the guitar tones from the surround tracks as best I could so that you can hear David's tones clearly to try and match them with you own gear, and so you can hear exactly what he is playing for learning reference. I also suggest anyone interested in Pink Floyd buy and study the original album. It should be in everyone's music library. The guitar solos on Time and Money are classics, but EVERY song on this record is superb. SOUND EFFECTS - I have also included some of the sound effects and voices from the album. EMI had a vast sound effects tape library and a master sound effect catalog at Abbey Road that they encouraged bands to use. Many of these sound effects appear on sound effects records to this day. Pink Floyd had been using the library for several years (The Beatles were also big users) but they were also beginning to create their own sound effects by the time of Dark Side of the Moon. When Alan Parsons started at Abbey Road as a staff engineer, part of his job was to record new sound effects for the EMI library. He was still doing this at the time he was assigned to Pink Floyd as recording engineer for DSOTM, resulting in his suggesting the clock sound effects for Time.
SPOKEN WORDS - There are soundclips of the spoken words used throughout the album below. This section explains how those came about and who the speakers are. SPEAK TO ME
BREATH
ON THE RUN I prefer the original pre-release version of On the Run that was performed live in 1972, called The Traveling Sequence or The Travel Sequence. It was a guitar and keyboard jam in Em. David jammed on his Strat in time with the 300ms echo repeats from an Echorec delay, in almost the same tempo as the later album version. There is also an attempted studio recording of a version similar to the way it was played live, but it was abandoned. It is more funky and not as driving as the live versions.
Although there are some backwards guitars in the album version of On the Run, this is obviously not a guitar song. The studio version was created primarily on an EMS Synthi A synthesiser, using an 8-note sequence that was played on a loop and sped up for the main rhythm. The passing airplane sounds and other effects were also created on the synthesizer. There are also voices, airport sounds, and running sound effects. Below are some extractions from the album version of On The Run.
TIME The intro to Time features of the only audible examples of the Bison Echorec multi-head mode in use in a Pink Floyd studio recording. The Echorec playback heads were spaced so the input signal would repeat at specific intervals, adding delay repeats upon delay repeats. Time also features one of the most incredible Fuzz Face guitar solos ever recorded.
BREATHE REPRISE / HOME AGAIN THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY
MONEY The solo is a mix of many layers of different guitar tracks. Some tracks are relatively dry with a bit of plate reverb and some have Echorec delay and heavy reverb. Some tracks are high gain fuzz, some medium gain overdrive. I believe both tracks in the first solo are a Fuzz Face played through Twin Reverb, but one may be the Hiwatt. I believe the dry solo is a Fuzz Face through a Twin Reverb, and the third solo is a Fuzz Face through a Hiwatt. It is possible David used the Colorsound Power Boost for some of these tracks, as it can do overdrive or high gain fuzz. It is difficult to replicate the studio recording sound with one guitar, since it is a blend of different tracks and effects. I get close to the first solo tone using a Fuzz Face or Colorsound Power Boost into a Twin Reverb with a 310ms delay and real spring reverb. For the third solo I use a 380ms delay and plate reverb. First Solo - David double tracked two different guitars in the left and right channels, each with a different fuzz tone. The right track sounds like the guitar volume or fuzz knob is backed off. The fuzz is maxed in the left track with heavy reverb. The delay is about 310ms with 2-3 repeats on both tracks. Alan Parsons has said David was generating all the effects himself for the first solo, so I believe the spring reverb sound is actually the spring Reverb in the Twin Reverb David used in the studio. A Fuzz Face was used for both tracks, and possibly a Colorsound Power Boost. Second Solo - Dry with no delay or reverb. I believe this is a Fuzz Face into a Twin Reverb. Third Solo - This solo that has been artificially double-tracked (ADT). I believe this is a Fuzz Face played through a Hiwatt. Because he needed a longer scale than his Stratocasters to play the high notes, it was played on his 24 fret Lewis guitar. The echo is about 380ms with 2-3 repeats, so this was likely head 4 on David's PE 603 Echorec. There is a short slapback echo, which David has confirmed is ADT. There is a heavy plate reverb, or possibly a distant room mic.
US AND THEM
ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE / BREATHE SECOND REPRISE
BRAIN DAMAGE
ECLIPSE
|
Kit’s Secret Guitar, Gear, and Music Page VISIT MY SWORDS, KNIVES and FANTASY ART WEBSITE www.kitrae.net |
LEGAL STUFF Kit’s Secret Guitar, Gear, and Music Page is a personal fan site. Information and materials from this website are intended for personal use only and may not be linked to via the internet/world wide web, republished, reproduced, re-written, reprinted, rebroadcast, disseminated, and/or duplicated in whole or in part, for commercial or any other purposes whatsoever and is strictly prohibited without prior WRITTEN consent from the publisher at www.kitrae.net. This is a personal fan site and is not affiliated in any way with Pink Floyd, any of its past or present members, their record label(s), or Pink Floyd Music Ltd. This is not an official Pink Floyd website. Please see http://www.pinkfloyd.co.uk for Pink Floyd's official website. "Pink Floyd" images and music are licenced under the trademark of Pink Floyd Music, Ltd. Links To Third Party Sites: Article written in 2009 |