How to Set Two Delays for Run Like Hell - one in 380ms and one in 507ms, in series so the 380ms delay is repeated by the 507ms delay (actual DD-2 settings shown above), Example of Two Delays Run In Stereo - parallel delays, 380ms (both channels) and 507ms (right channel only), going to separate amps, Example of Two Delays Run In Stereo - prallel delays, 380ms (left channel) and 507ms (right channel), going to separate amps. But delay is not the only effect that Gilmour tends to use. Unfortunately the Catalinbread Swell control cannot be set as high as it needs to be for the Time intro, but it gets close. Mar 8, 2013. That second delay should just barely be audible, as too much volume can make a double tapped mess of the main delay. Using spring or digital reverb does not even get close, but some people struggle getting a delay pedal to sound right. He set the time to 310ms for most everything. I use the MXR Digital Delay. David Gilmour is famous for his unique use of delay and echo. Pink Floyd is known for their use of soundscapes and textures that would later characterize genres such as progressive rock and psychedelic rock. It is actually dotted-eighth-notes, or one eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes. Below is a link to a song-by-song list of Gilmour's delay settings, compiled from measuring the echo repeats in official releases and bootlegs of live recordings, and from delay times visible on the LCDs of his digital delays. Solo: 300ms. The Mooer Elec Lady is a good, inexpensive clone of the Electric Mistress that sounds much closer to the original large box Mistress. Give Blood It's just like the old Echoplex unit, David bought an Echorec PE 603 model in 1971 that had a maximum delay time of around 377-380ms. tremolo effect for middle section: 294ms delay, 7-8 repeats / tremolo with gated square wave, depth set to maximum, and speed set for I have two units, and I have different echo settings on both. 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. Most digital delays create an accurate, pristine repeat that only decays in volume with each repeat, not in quality. Run Like Hell Tone Building - Boss CS-2 compressor, Hartman Flanger, and two Boss DD-2 delays. Delay time depends on the era. Instead, it used a metal recording wheel. It still retained the warmth of the original signal rather well, but there is no high end roll-off in the repeats, so it is not "warm" analog delay in that regard. That came from an old trick I'd been using, which is having a DDL in triplet time to the actual beat. Guitar stuff, gear stuff, soundclips, videos, Gilmour/Pink Floyd stuff, photos and other goodies. Below are some specific Gilmour settings I use. Basically anything prior to 1977 is 300-310ms, which is the best delay time for the Echorec IMO, and Program position 1 is the standard for most DG solos from the Echorec period, equivalent to Switch Position 4/Head 4 on a real Echorec. One is added before the signal hits the amplifier and speakers, so the reverb itself is amplified and prcessed by the amplifier circuitry. If you don't have a delay with a millisecond display, it is still possible to find the proper 3/4 delay time in a 4/4 time signature. David maintained his Echorecs well and replaced them often however, so his sound only had minimal high end roll-off in the repeats. David Gilmour is famous for his unique use of delay and echo. Some of the other Program Select positions work for the Time intro too, like position 12. Every aspect of his tone can change on different albums, even on different tracks of the same album! Copyright 2023 Killer Guitar Rigs. If you break the beat into a four count, that second repeat would be on 4. The notes fade in and out, like a pedal steel guitar. Great Gig Slide Guitar Breakdown. Fine tune it until you hear the repeats are exactly in sync with the song tempo. David used his Workmate Esquire guitar for the studio recording, and usually used a Telecaster when playing it live. Pink Floyds and Gilmours music is timeless, and the albums are a must-listen for any musician who wishes to define and expand genres. Listening to this track helped me realize how delay and reverb trails interact with what I'm playing in a way that makes unintended diads that could . solo: 380ms -- feedback: 5-6 repeats, Marooned - 1994 live version: Coming Back to Life Intro Tone Build - Boss CS-2 and Dyncomp compressors first, then CE-2B chorus in left channel added, the delay added, then plate reverb added. It was my very first delay and one of my favorite pedals for Gilmour-ish delay. 380 divided by 3 = 126.7ms. The first Money solo, for example, sounds like it is awash in spring reverb. To add some modulation and a spacious feel to the delay tone on the studio recording David used either a Yamaha RA-200 rotary speaker cabinet or an Electric Mistress flanger. rhythm and solo: 460ms, Brain Damage - Pulse version (TC2290 Digital Delay): He always kept the Echorec in tip top shape, and after the MXR Delay System used a variety of digital delays, including the DD2 and later the TC 2290. One set for a slighly shorter delay time, and a lower echo repeat volume, running into a longer delay with a slightly louder echo repeat will give you a very smooth sound. 650ms delay first, with 2 repeats, and 1400ms delay second with 1 repeat. As the magnetic tape began to wear out and stretch over time, the repeats would start to degrade and sound dirty and warbly. As the recording drum and playback heads aged there was a slight loss of high end that added a unique high end roll-off as the echoes decayed, . The S-O-S unit was basically a buffered interface with two send/returns. The 3/4 "triplet" time will be inbetween in between these 4/4 and 2/4 settings on your delay. Tim Renwick solo: 520ms, Louder Than Words: He then upgraded to an MXR Digital Delay System II. intro: Unless otherwise noted, all delay times are shown in quarter notes 5,744. 1st solo: 310ms Copyright Kit Rae. The 4/4 delay can barely be heard on the studio recording and is really not necessary, but it is fun to experiment with two delays. David primarily used the Binson Echorec delay/echo unit for his early work with Pink Floyd. slide guitar solos: 400ms, On the Run (The Traveling Section) - early live guitar version from 1972 (Echorec PE 603): I'm not saying David sounds nothing like this live, but you are hearing the natural hall or stadium reverb of the venue in these recordings and in many cases, studio reverb added in the mixing stage. Using spring or digital reverb does not even get close, but some people struggle getting a delay pedal to sound right. Syd's theme: 375ms and 500ms Occasionally David may be using a long repeat time on one delay, and a shorter repeat time on another delay simultaneously. On the one hand, finally cracking one of my favourite guitar player's [] Brian Eno did something similar later in the early-mid '1970s with his famous reel-to-reel frippertronics tape delay effect. If using a 2 amp setup, you can try running one 380ms delay to each amp and keep the volume and delay repeats about the same for each, or you can run the 380ms delay to one amp and the 507ms dealy to the other for a slightly different feel to the stereo separation. But fear not, if you want a semi-authentic Echorec experience, Catalinbread makes an Echorec pedal that sounds very close to the original. David's Echoes delay time of 300ms, one for the delay in Time, and 423ms in the display. That ADT slapback sound can also be heard on other Run Like Hell concert recordings, like Delicate Sound of Thunder, Pulse, and David Gilmour Live at Pompeii, but to a lesser effect. - 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. In the studio recording I hear one guitar playing the single note triplet time rhythm, a second guitar playing the fills, and a third guitar playing occasional accents on top of the fills. This would not only be one of the only times David is known to have used a tape delay effect live, but he seems to have used it much earlier than other guitarist more well known for this effect. Next cut that delay time in half so you hear two repeats per beat, or 2/4 time. His most commonly used delay times were in the 294-310ms range and 430ms. Kits Secret Guitar, Gear, and Music Page Playing the RLH Rhythm Fills - with and without the delay, Playing the RLH Verse Chords - with and without delay. All rights reserved. It is impossible to achieve the exact same tone as a player without using the same equipment. 2,434. This is a big part of Pink Floyd's sound. for a song-by-song list of Gilmour's delay times, but it is easy to find a delay time that works with a song tempo, even if you can't clearly hear the echo repeats when listening. He became known for this effect as he used it for his guitar solo in practically every queen concert. 4. To add space to your tone, add a clean digital delay at the end of your signal chain. The other output went to a Sound-on-Sound interface built into David's rack, which fed a second Hiwatt amp and 4x12 speaker cabinet. David usually used positions 1-4, for single playback repeats of heads 1-4. first solo: 507ms -- feedback: 2-3 repeats It had a maximum delay time of 320ms, but could be expanded to 1280ms by adding additional memory chips. 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. I'll keep this simple rather than going into an explanation of time signatures. As the song plays on I dial the delay volume and number of repeats higher and higher. The delays are set in series like this: It was surrounded by a record head and four playback heads that gave it a wide range of double-tapped delay sounds. If you are playing at home on your amp with delay, the delay sound will be much more apparent than when you are playing with a full band, where the delay repeats will blend in the band mix much better. David Gilmour used the MXR Digital M-113 Delay, the Binson Echorec, and the TC Electronic 2290 in his recordings. Guitar stuff, gear stuff, soundclips, videos, Gilmour/Pink Floyd stuff, photos and other goodies. This is actually not quarter-note triplets. Guitar stuff, gear stuff, soundclips, videos, Gilmour/Pink Floyd stuff, photos and other goodies. The clip below is played with those same 428ms and 570ms delay times. The type of multi-head repeats varied depending on which of the four playback heads were selected. The settings Gilmour uses usually create a minimal effect, but his sompressors really helps to smooth out the tone and playing. Too much volume from the first delay will make a mess of double tapped delay sounds on the second, so be careful not to over do it. Head 3 = 3/4 The second delay David used was the MXR Digital M-113 Delay. It takes some practice, and you have to be very precise with your timing or you can easily get out of step with the song tempo. The delay time on head 4 was approximately 300ms, but it could vary depending on the mains voltage. The exact delay times would be 450ms for the 3/4 time and 600ms for the 4/4 time. The volume swells can be easily created today with a delay and a volume pedal. BKB Tube Driver, Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, TC Nova delay. A few of David Gilmour's vintage Binson Echorec 2 model T7E delays. solos: 660ms -- feedback: 6-7 repeats, Time: The repeats had a warm high end roll off, similar to David's Binson Echorecs. Parallel is better than in series because the one delay does not repeat the other, and the repeats can run longer without going into oscillation. 540ms, Take A Breath: David has used many different types of compressors throughout his career, but a few common ones are the MXR Dynacomp, Boss CS-2, and Demeter Compulator. Electro-Harmonx has made a few small boxed versions of the Electric Mistress, but these have different circuits and sounds as the originals. 2nd delay 375ms. Record yourself playing alone verses playing along with a backing track to see what I mean. 240ms and 165ms actually sound more like David's delay times, but there are other times that have the same feel. So why don't you hear the repeats most of the time? 2. Electric Mistress V2, V3, or V4: 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. second solo: 490ms, What Do you Want From Me? I have a slight roll off of the high frequencies on the repeats to mimic the Echorec sound. If you look at head 4 as 4/4 time, the others would break down like this: Head 4 = 4/4 The MXR 113 was released in 1976 and David first used it for Pink Floyd's Animals tour in 1977. first solo: 450ms -- feedback: 4-5 repeats -- delay level: 20% -- delay type: analog Note that I am not talking about spring or amp reverb, or a reverb pedal, which is a completely different sound. Gilmour used a similar gated tremolo effect for the sustained chords in the verse sections of Money, using the noise gate from an Allison Research Kepex (Keyable Program Expander) studio module, modulated with an external sine wave generator (according to engineer Alan Parsons). In fact, there was a time when Pink Floyds original road manager, Peter Watts, and I were the only two people who could actually maintain a Binson.They are so noisy, and I guess all the ones weve got now are so old that it is impossible to keep them noise free. For example, take 450ms divided by 3 = 150ms. It sounds very complex because the delay is filling in and creating a rhythm in between the notes David plays, but it is actually rather simple to do. DAVID GILMOUR DELAY TIME LIBRARY - Song by Song. The level or volume knob would be set to maximum on most delays for this. I use two delay pedals for Run Like Hell. I used to be expert with Binsons. Great Gig Slide Guitar Breakdown, Here's another, starting with the dry guitar in the left channel, then the right channel with the 440ms delay. slide solo: 550ms -- feedback: 4-5 repeats You can also add a second delay in series to thicken the sound, combining the 3/4 time with a 4/4 time delay. There are many effect pedals that simulate those sounds, and those types of simulated reverbs are also usually called plate, room, or hall reverb. The tempo is much slower, but the delay is played in 3/4 "triplet" time, exactly like RLH. outro solo : 550ms -- feedback: 3-4 repeats, Take It Back: You should keep in mind that these official recordings have been sweetened to sound as good as possible. Adjust the tone to suit your amp/speaker tone. Gear used: Telecaster into a fender twin Reverb and Reeves Custom 50, Boss CS-2 Compressor, Tube Driver set for light overdrive, Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, TC Nova delay. Its a core part of Pink Floyds earlier sound, and not just for Davids guitar. His delay times are slightly faster here. Often during the live songs that do have very loud delays, you do hear the repeats clearly. bass guitar rhythm delay (two bass guitars): 294ms, 7-8 repeats To sound like David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, start with the following amp settings: Gain: 3-4. Or you can simply multiply the 4/4 time x75% and get the same 3/4 time. It also stems from the fact that people tend to look at things with their wallets, and analog gear is often much more expensive than its digital counterpart. Even better is to run the delays parallel so one delay does not repeat the other, which sometimes sound messy. Set the delay time so the repeats are in time with the song tempo (beats per minute) or drum beat, approximately one repeat for every beat. solo: 500ms, High Hopes - live versions This unit can also be heard on the The Wall album. David Gilmour has always made a very precise use of delays, since the early eras, even combining two delays to create his textures. Gilmour uses pristine delays. Hes got the sort of guitar-god charisma that comes with his insane talent. second solo before verse: 350ms -- feedback: 3-4 repeats The reverb could have been added in the mixing stage, or it could be natural room reverb from mics positioned in the recording studio to capture the natural room sound. It was usually set for single head and a fixed time at about 310ms. You can simulate the amp tremolo with just about any tremolo pedal or tremolo amp with a square wave shape. I use the MXR with the read-out on it, so I instantly have the right tempo. Some delays allow you to dial the volume level of the repeat louder than the signal level, which usually means 100% is when the knob is set to 12 o'clock. Remember that these settings should just be used as a starting point. The best representation of this is a 340ms delay set for 3-4 repeats, On An Island: It also had a similar Sweep section to create chorus and flange effects, but every photo I can find showing this rack delay in David's live rigs shows the sweep knobs set to zero. 8-10 repeats on each delay. Brian May (of Queen) did the same effect a few years later on Brighton Rock and Son and Daughter using his modified Echoplexes. The third solo is also artificially double tracked, which you can simulate with a short 60-90ms slapback delay with one repeat. These effects combined with Gilmours guitars, amps, and more importantly, his fingers, all add up to the legendary sound we love, and the signature sound that will send any 40+ year old into a state of ecstasy if it comes on the radio. You can change the feel of the delay repeats by cutting the 600ms delay time in half to 300ms, 1/4 time to 150ms, or double it to 1200ms, et cetera. David bought an Echorec PE 603 model in 1971 that had a maximum delay time of around 377-380ms. The second delay should just be accenting the first, filling the space between the 3/4 repeats. I change my echo settings fairly often in concert. It was used for the early live version of, 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. Last update July 2022. solo: 430ms -- feedback: 7-8 repeats - delay level: 20% -- delay type: digital, Time - 2016/15 live version: Although it is not often that this roll-off effect was heard in David's use of the Echorec, you can clearly hear it in the echo repeats in the very beginning of the song, I started off with a Binson Echo unit, which is like a tape loop thing. It is actually dotted-eighth-notes, or one eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes. solos: 440ms -- feedback: 7-8 repeats - delay level: 15% -- delay type: analog 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. Speaking from personal experience, furthering my understanding of tone has simultaneously been one of the most rewarding and frustrating experiences of my life. It was set for a light overdrive setting and was most likely an always-on pedal. Then I have two regular Boss units (DD2) which I set so one works in a triplet and the other in a 4/4 time - they're actually set in time with each other, so they combine and make a nice sound. Another interesting effect heard in the middle section of One of These Days is the use of that same "triplet" time delay along with a gated tremolo effect. Assume a 100% delay level means the delay repeat volume is exactly the same as the original signal volume, so the dry signal and the delay repeats will be exactly the same loudness. The primary delay sounds best when in time with the heartbeat tempo in Time, usually somewhere around 240 - 250BPM (beats per minute). You can use two delays in series (one after the other) or in parallel (each in a seprate signal path) to get David's multi-head Echorec style repeats. Even though the DD-2 delay chip only produced a 12 bit sample, the circuit blended part of the clean signal back in, producing a crisp, accurate digital repeat. NOTE: This website is frequently updated. delay time to simulate offset multi track recordings: 930ms -- feedback: 4-5 repeats -- delay level: 30-35% -- delay type: analog, Breathe - Pulse version (TC2290 Digital Delay):