Binson Echorec 2
Posted on 15/09/2011 by ozzy in Effects
1968 - 1977
Binson was an early manufacturer of echo machines. Unlike most other analogue echo machines, they used an analogue magnetic drum recorder instead of the tape loop. Their most famous product was the Binson Echorec.
In Pink Floyd's 23-minute long song Echoes, Roger Waters used a Binson Echorec to create the eerie underwater wind noise heard during the first interlude (10:40-15:02 on studio recordings, underneath the screaming seagull sound produced by Gilmour); he vibrated the strings of his bass guitar with a steel slide and fed the sound through the Echorec. Waters reproduced this sound during live performances.
Also One of These Days is an another typical example where the Binson Echorec was used on the bass. In the interview for Guitar World, Gilmour explains: "One of these Days evolved from some of my experiments with the Binson, as did Echoes. One day, Roger decided to take some of the techniques that I was developing and try them out himself on bass. And he came up with that basic riff that we all worked on and turned into One of these Days. The opening section is me and Roger. For some reason, we decided to do a double track of the bass. You can actually hear it if you listen in stereo. The first bass is me. A bar later, Roger joins in on the other side of the stereo picture. We didn't have a spare set of strings for the spare bass guitar, so the second bass is very dull sounding. We sent a roadie out to buy some strings, but he wandered off to see his girlfriend instead."
The Binson Echorec was a major part of the Pink Floyd sound-image until 1977.