David Gilmour's Sound

David Gilmour's sonic whys and wherefores are the main points of this article. Little known facts are here as well as effect units tips.

In the years 1962-1970, an Italian company named Binson made an echo unit called the Echorec. In 1979, the Echorec2 was manufactured as an upgraded version. David Gilmour has used these units and other digital delay lines to further his sound and sculpt his music. He has also mentioned that as long as these ddl's were not to high in quality, they suited his purposes.

The earlier units had a wider bandwidth and the pinging sound was not as apparent as with later units. The Binson units gave the user a choice of 3 ins and 3 outs. This allowed a player to route the unit back into itself. This is significant because it provided 1 or 2 lines out of the unit into 2 other amplifiers or or into other effects units. It is also interesting because this is how David Gilmour was able to achieve the oscillating effect in the latter part of the jam section of the song Echoes. Binson has a website at Binson.com.

The Binson units have long been out of production. Of note as well is a website for a unit that has 3 models and is currently in production. The brand is Echomatic and the website is Echomatic.co.uk. The samples on the website are great and the units are available in colors. Fulltone is another company more than worthy of mention and they make a tubed version echo for added fidelity.

There are many aspects to David Gilmour's sound live and in the studio sound. In 1994, some 20 effects units and rack mounted gear were used to recreate the Dark Side of the Moon sound as heard on the recording.A specialized switching system, custom made rotary speakers, a wireless system, a Peterson Tuner, and Digitech 33B harmonizer were some of the equipment used for aural integrity and sonic consistency while on tour.

The companies represented in pedal units and otherwise were Boss, Electro-Harmonix, TubeWorks, TC Electronics, MXR, Alembic ,Samson, Binson, Univox, Ibanez, ProCo, Dynachord, and Pete Cornish. HiWatt Amps and WEM speaker cabinets were used for guitar amplification.