David Gilmour – On An Island

"They made a run of only 90 of these particular guitars in 1984/85 and we've now obtained three. Dave just really likes them; they sound great and they're really lovely to play. I've had them modified, they've got EMG acoustic pickups in, but they've also got small Crown microphones in them too. So there are basically two outputs from each guitar, two separate radio transmitters on them with two different signals. Then there's a Gibson Chet Atkins electro-classical which he uses on High Hopes and the two steel guitars which we talked about earlier." - Phil Taylor, David Gilmour's guitar tech.

David Gilmour is using a Gibson Country Western guitar on stage, notably during his "On an Island" and "Rattle That Lock" tours. This video showcases him playing the guitar, which dates back to 1959.

This replaced David's Coloursound Powerboost overdrive around the 80's. Two of these are part of his Momentary and Division bell setup in 1993 and 1994, and are still used in his solo shows.

(The source lists these as Chandler Tube Drivers.) Photo of David Gilmour's pedalboard with both Tube Drivers: http://www.kitrae.net/music/Division%20Bell%20pedals_enhanced.jpg

"I currently have two BK Butler Tube Drivers on my pedalboard, and I just use one or the other. If I need a little something more, I’ll stomp a compressor with a bit of drive onto the beginning of it, and that will turn things up another whole gear." - Guitar Player interview.

David Gilmour has used the pitch shift Digitech Whammy since early 90s recording the Grammy-winning song Marooned from the Division Bell album. In his solo album On An Island and in the recently Pink Floyd last album Endless River, he stills uses the same pedal. Of course, he always gets the best from every effect he uses and the Whammy isn't the exception.

David Gilmour used the Sovtek Civil War Big Muff in the Pulse Tour in combination with the B.K. Tube Overdrive to créate a new distortion sound that still uses in recent records.

David is seen using the EMS Synthi Hi Fli. This was used primarily in "On The Run", although some sources indicates that the auto filter was used to emulate Leslie tones on "Any Colour You Like" also.

Used for Gilmour's vocals on On An Island, as mentioned by sound engineer Andy Jackson in this July 2006 Sound on Sound article.

"Actually, it's very straightforward — voice — nice microphone, nice mic amp, nice compressor. There you go. For reverbs I tend to be old-school and use an EMT plate. I had a couple of plates and a Lexicon Hall — that was our palette. The vocal chain starts with that Sony tube mic with the heatsink on the side, the C800G, and it is the most fantastic microphone. We have a couple of those, one in the studio and one for David to use at home, which is another reason his demos sounded so good. That feeds an old Neumann V72 mic preamp and then EAR EQs and compressors like the ones I use here in my mastering system. I would compress his voice but only fairly gently with a tickle of 2:1, then maybe do that again on the mix. That's with the exception of the rock songs of course, which were completely mashed in a Fairchild! The thing is, David makes my life easy — stick him on the phone and he sounds great! He is not a difficult person to record — great technique and a great voice."

Despite the EAR EQ model going unspecified, Tape Op #46 features an interview with Gilmour's guitar tech Phil Taylor about Astoria, where On An Island would be recorded, in which he mentions the 825Q.

David Gilmour has been known to use Dunlop Herco Flex 75 Nylon 1.01mm Guitar Picks since the 1970s during his time with Pink Floyd. In 2015, a signature version of these picks was created for Gilmour’s "On an Island" tour. This is supported by a user-uploaded photo.

Used for Gilmour's vocals on On An Island, as mentioned by sound engineer Andy Jackson in this July 2006 Sound on Sound article.

"Actually, it's very straightforward — voice — nice microphone, nice mic amp, nice compressor. There you go. For reverbs I tend to be old-school and use an EMT plate. I had a couple of plates and a Lexicon Hall — that was our palette. The vocal chain starts with that Sony tube mic with the heatsink on the side, the C800G, and it is the most fantastic microphone. We have a couple of those, one in the studio and one for David to use at home, which is another reason his demos sounded so good. That feeds an old Neumann V72 mic preamp and then EAR EQs and compressors like the ones I use here in my mastering system. I would compress his voice but only fairly gently with a tickle of 2:1, then maybe do that again on the mix. That's with the exception of the rock songs of course, which were completely mashed in a Fairchild! The thing is, David makes my life easy — stick him on the phone and he sounds great! He is not a difficult person to record — great technique and a great voice."

Used for Gilmour's vocals on On An Island, as mentioned by sound engineer Andy Jackson in this July 2006 Sound on Sound article.

"Actually, it's very straightforward — voice — nice microphone, nice mic amp, nice compressor. There you go. For reverbs I tend to be old-school and use an EMT plate. I had a couple of plates and a Lexicon Hall — that was our palette. The vocal chain starts with that Sony tube mic with the heatsink on the side, the C800G, and it is the most fantastic microphone. We have a couple of those, one in the studio and one for David to use at home, which is another reason his demos sounded so good. That feeds an old Neumann V72 mic preamp and then EAR EQs and compressors like the ones I use here in my mastering system. I would compress his voice but only fairly gently with a tickle of 2:1, then maybe do that again on the mix. That's with the exception of the rock songs of course, which were completely mashed in a Fairchild! The thing is, David makes my life easy — stick him on the phone and he sounds great! He is not a difficult person to record — great technique and a great voice."

Used for On An Island, in addition to Pro Tools, as mentioned by producer Phil Manzanera in this July 2006 Sound on Sound article.

Work began in May 2004 and continued for six months at Gilmour's home studio and Manzanera's Gallery Studio, where he has a Euphonix desk and a Pro Tools setup, but works mainly in Logic. (...) "I also made up an ambient track for 'Red Sky At Night', with children's voices and other sounds, while 'Take A Breath' has underwater sounds and a bell, plus the sound of something being thrown in the water. I may also have some dolphin and whale sounds. I've always enjoyed doing things like that, and with Pro Tools and Logic it's become so much easier to do. Basically, the album ended up with sound effects all over the place."

Given that Logic Pro 6 was released in March 2004 and Logic Pro 7 was released on September 24, 2004, Manzanera would have owned Logic Pro 6, the latest version of the DAW in May 2004, at the time of On An Island's recording.

Used for Gilmour's vocals on On An Island, in addition to the title track's Les Paul solo, as mentioned by sound engineer Andy Jackson in this July 2006 Sound on Sound article.

"Actually, it's very straightforward — voice — nice microphone, nice mic amp, nice compressor. There you go. For reverbs I tend to be old-school and use an EMT plate. I had a couple of plates and a Lexicon Hall — that was our palette. The vocal chain starts with that Sony tube mic with the heatsink on the side, the C800G, and it is the most fantastic microphone. We have a couple of those, one in the studio and one for David to use at home, which is another reason his demos sounded so good. That feeds an old Neumann V72 mic preamp and then EAR EQs and compressors like the ones I use here in my mastering system. I would compress his voice but only fairly gently with a tickle of 2:1, then maybe do that again on the mix. That's with the exception of the rock songs of course, which were completely mashed in a Fairchild! The thing is, David makes my life easy — stick him on the phone and he sounds great! He is not a difficult person to record — great technique and a great voice."

(...) "Some of the guitars would be from David's home recording as he has a similar amp and effects setup at home. In fact on the guitar solo for 'On An Island' where there are two guitars, the first is a Les Paul and the second one a Strat. He recorded the Les Paul at home using the Sony mic and I recorded the Strat in the studio using the SM57 and the Coles ribbon, so if you want to hear how the two approaches compare, that's a good place to do it."

This is restated by Jackson in this interview from Vol. 6, #7 of Resolution Magazine.

Well David's very easy, he sounds good on anything, he sound pretty good on a 58, but it's the Sony C800G with the heat sink, horribly expensive, but they're fantastic. I've tried lots of things, and it's really good, it has an openness and a size. We've done all sorts of things over the years, 67, 47, I had him on a Brauner for a while — they all work, he's got a good voice and good technique, so it's not that difficult.

Used for Gilmour's guitar on On An Island, as mentioned by sound engineer Andy Jackson in this July 2006 Sound on Sound article.

"Everyone asks what reverbs David uses, and the answer is none! He uses delays, and it's usually around 700 milliseconds or so. That's on his pedalboard, but apart from that there's probably only one or two different distortion boxes and maybe a compressor. It's not that complex — it's just finely tinkered with and he's got some nice guitars and good fingers. The amp was generally an old Fender Tweed Twin Reverb, with a little bit from his Hi-Watts occasionally. When he's recording at home, he just kind of sticks that Sony mic in a non-specific place in front of the speaker and I tried to replicate that in the studio, but it wasn't really working in our room. Chris wanted to stick an SM57 on it, maybe four inches from the grille cloth and a bit off-axis, but then I put a Coles 4040 ribbon mic next to it, dead in the middle of the cone, and we found that mixing that in behind the 57 really worked. What you hear is mainly the 57, but when you bring up the Coles, the sound just goes 'expensive'. Nearly all the guitar I recorded ended up being done like that — you just have to be really careful about the mic positions and make sure both are exactly the same distance from the speaker.

"Some of the guitars would be from David's home recording as he has a similar amp and effects setup at home. In fact on the guitar solo for 'On An Island' where there are two guitars, the first is a Les Paul and the second one a Strat. He recorded the Les Paul at home using the Sony mic and I recorded the Strat in the studio using the SM57 and the Coles ribbon, so if you want to hear how the two approaches compare, that's a good place to do it."

This is restated by Jackson in this interview from Vol. 6, #7 of Resolution Magazine, which reveals that the mic was also used for the On An Island Tour performances at Royal Albert Hall.

Well oddly enough we went through lots of experiments on the last album, and mostly ended up using a 57, rammed right up the speaker, traditional style. I did put an STC 4040, which is the updated 4038, and snuck it quite a long way behind, but it just poshed up the 57, but it was mostly the 57.

And you put them next to each other? Yes, right together. Every time I try splitting it across speakers, it never sounds phase coherent.

And on stage? Oddly enough I ended up adding a 57, it was Colin Norfield who did FOH, traditionally uses the Shure KSM32s which are nice, but just because of the experience on the album, at the Albert Hall I put up the same thing, the 57 and the STC as well, and then the rest of the tour it was just a 57, which was really helpful: there's something about combining the mics that gives you something you can't make out of any one of them, it covers all the bases.