Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon

This has been David’s main guitar for many years now. He bought it at Manny’s guitar store in New York, in May 1970 during Pink Floyd’s North American tour, because he needed a new guitar after his old one was stolen along with the rest of Pink Floyd’s rig just couple of weeks earlier. This guitar has gone through many modifications. At this moment it is fitted with the Fender 1983 C shape maple neck, 1971 Fender pickups in the neck and middle, and a SSL-1C (SSL-5 Prototype) in the bridge. Original white pickguard has been replaced with a black one, and the body which is from 1969 has been repainted black (originally sunburst). The 3-way pickup switch has been replace with 5-way switch. Here’s a short interview with David Gilmour featuring his Black Strat (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVjFJFEQ_OU). In the mid '80s David replaced all his strats with Fender 1957 reissue models. He donated this particular guitar to Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas where it was on display until 1997 when David requested it back. It was refitted by his technician Charlie Chandler, and David used it ever since it has been played for the first time upon repair at Pink Floyd reunion in 2005. Pink Floyd’s technician Phil Taylor wrote a book about David’s iconic Black Stratocaster. You can check it here (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1423492706/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1423492706&linkCode=as2&tag=ground09-20).

https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=66

David used it during Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions.

David started using the Uni-Vibe around 1971 for the Obscured by Clouds recordings and live performances. The Uni-Vibe was also used in the Dark Side of The Moon recordings and early in the tour. It was replaced in 1974 with an MXR Phase 90.

"You remember the old Univox Uni-Vibes? I had one built into a rack system. We even had the old logo embossed on the face plate." - Phil Taylor, David Gilmour's guitar tech.

In the article, it is shown that Gilmour used a Powerbooster during the DSotM years...

David Gilmour had two Dallas Arbiter Fuzzes (one blue with silicon transistors and one red with germanium transistors) shown in this photo from the Pompeii concert. As Gilmourish.com points out, these two fuzzes were used alternately on Pink Floyd's early albums, between 1968 and 1983 (https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=9919).

Used for the tremolo on "Money", as stated in this March 9, 2012 Premier Guitar article and interview with Dark Side of the Moon sound engineer Alan Parsons. The use of the Kepex has also been supported by the research of Gilmour scholar Kit Rae, who states the following in this page from the David Gilmour Tone Building section of his website.

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).

The presence of the Kepex at Abbey Road, where Dark Side was recorded, is confirmed by Parsons in this June 1998 interview with Media&Marketing. Parsons states that the "heart beat" in "Speak to Me" was a bass drum gated by the Kepex.

The opening [heart beat] was just a gated bass drum. Kepex noise gates or expanders were quite a new technology at the time. It actually explains a lot about the sound of the album, since the Kepex had a sound of its own.

Used for Gilmour's guitar on Dark Side of the Moon, as mentioned by recording engineer Alan Parsons in this March 9, 2012 Premier Guitar interview by Mitch Gallagher.

What about with Gilmour on Dark Side of the Moon?

Probably a [Neumann] U 87, possibly a U 86. I’ve carried that through right to the present day.

Did you use both of those together or did you use them separately?

Just one or the other.

Despite Parsons' uncertainty, a U87 is visible next to Gilmour in this footage from the Dark Side of the Moon sessions at 3:55.

Used for vocal overdubs on Dark Side of the Moon, as mentioned by recording engineer Alan Parsons in this March 9, 2012 Premier Guitar interview by Mitch Gallagher.

By the time we got around to overdubs, probably the only mic I actually had set up would be a [Neumann] U 47 so that we could do vocals. I might have stuck that on it, on occasion.

The EMS Synthi A is a synthesizer which uses exactly the same electronics as the VCS 3, but rehoused in a Spartanite briefcase. Instead of routing signals using patch cables, as a Moog did, it uses a patch matrix with resistive pins. The 2700 ohm resistors soldered inside the pin vary in tolerance - 5% variance and later 1%. The pins have different colours: the 'red' pins have 1% tolerance and the 'white' have 5%, while the 'green' pins are attenuating pins having a resistance of 68,000 ohms.

The later Synthi AKS incorporated an early digital 256 event KS (Keyboard Sequencer) sequencer in the lid, input provided by a capacitance sensitive Buchla like keyboard.

Perhaps its most prominent use is in Pink Floyd's "On the Run" from their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, as well as the introduction to The Alan Parsons Project's "I Robot." Along with Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, other frequent users of the instrument include Tim Blake & Miquette Giraudy of Gong, Richard Pinhas of Heldon, Merzbow, Thomas Lehn, Cor Fuhler and Alva Noto.

From Wikipedia's page on the EMS VCS3

David Gilmour used a Fender 'Silverface' Twin Reverb (1972-1976) during the recording sessions for "The Dark Side of the Moon," as confirmed by Kit Rae on the "David Gilmour Tone Building" page.

"Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon is famous for its extensive use of the VCS3 by Roger Waters, and On The Run is perhaps the classic VCS3 track... but there is no VCS3 on it!" says Sound On Sound magazine in its article 'All about EMS'. "Alan Parsons (the engineer on the album) later revealed that the track was recorded using a Synthi AKS. It was, as he put it, the 'hot synth of the year'.

Because of the lack of synchronisation technology at the time, the track (except for the spun-in sound effects) was recorded live. The sequence was laboriously programmed using the AKS's membrane keyboard, and then played back at high speed to produce the effect that you hear. Considering the complexity of the sequence, the amount of sound modulation going on, and the hi-hat sound that is also being produced by the synth, it's remarkable that everything worked as well as it did. More so when you realise that the same rigmarole was required before every concert -- there were no stage sequencers in 1972!"

The original VCS 3 is a portable analog synthesiser developed by Electronic Music Studios (EMS) in 1969. It has three oscillators, and a unique matrix-based patch system. Instead of patch wires, the VCS3 uses a patchbay grid in which the synth components are laid out, and signal routing is accomplished by placing small pins into the appropriate slots. The VCS3's basic design was reused by EMS in many other of their own products, most notably in the EMS Synthi AKS (1972) which had a built-in membrane keyboard and sequencer.

On the official site of Rotosound (www.rotosound.com) in the Artist category, it is written that Roger Waters used these strings to record 'The Dark Side of the Moon'

Used for vocal overdubs on Dark Side of the Moon, as mentioned by recording engineer Alan Parsons in this March 9, 2012 Premier Guitar interview by Mitch Gallagher.

By the time we got around to overdubs, probably the only mic I actually had set up would be a [Neumann] U 47 so that we could do vocals. I might have stuck that on it, on occasion.

The RT-3 Model (1972-1973) was used in the Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions

Richard Wright with his model D on stage (behind him) , during "The Dark Side of the Moon" tour .