Echoes, by Pink Floyd

Muffled Tom

Senior Member
Is the first part of Echoes, by Pink Floyd--before the drums come in, with the little "ding!"--is it completely arythmic? I mean I can't find a rhythm to the dings and the piano and the guitar and the synth pads.. it totally baffles me.
Anyone on here tried to analyse this yet, or read something by someone who has?
 
It's actually quite regular if you listen to the Live at Pompeii version.

Incidentally, the original was a high piano note put through a Leslie Cabinet. Brilliant idea there.
 
ive been wondering what that was for a while, now i know thanks
 
It's actually quite regular if you listen to the Live at Pompeii version.

Incidentally, the original was a high piano note put through a Leslie Cabinet. Brilliant idea there.

yes the live in pompeii version is easier to understand but that's also because they had to make it performable live like that.

A Leslie speaker is the rotating one, am I right? Like what John Lennon's voice goes through in Tommorow Never Knows?
 
A Leslie speaker is the rotating one, am I right?

Yessir, the Leslie rotating speaker...another reason to consider Pink Floyd true innovators in sonic idealism. Man, Echoes is one of the best songs ever(in my opinion). I ve often wondered what sound would sounds would become of a theramin played through a Leslie speaker with loads of delay,reverb, and about 30+ other effects ...maybe add som wah-wah and pitch flanging....sounds like a good time. WHOAAA
 
I can't remember which PF video it was in, but I remember seeing David Gilmour sitting on the ground plucking the strings on his guitar above the bridge to make those little ping sounds.
 
yes the live in pompeii version is easier to understand but that's also because they had to make it performable live like that.

A Leslie speaker is the rotating one, am I right? Like what John Lennon's voice goes through in Tommorow Never Knows?

Dead on. Yeah, the Leslie idea was used by The Beatles on Tomorrow Never Knows - absolutely - and that's the first use I know if it for anything other than the 'standard' use, which was as a speaker for a Hammond electric organ (even though that wasn't recommended by the manufacturers). Funnily enough I just found out yesterday that an old mate of mine got given a Wurlitzer. Whoa.
 
I ve often wondered what sound would sounds would become of a theramin played through a Leslie speaker with loads of delay,reverb, and about 30+ other effects ...maybe add som wah-wah and pitch flanging....sounds like a good time. WHOAAA

Haha don't ruin it with too MANY effects. then you'll get a bunch of garble that'll blow out your speakers. but man.. I can't get over how the floyd did amazing things with a bunch of analog equipment.. I can't stop thinking about how I was born into the wrong generation (I'm 16 by the way). My school has garage band and a bunch of MIDI keyboards, and I spend hours in there playing with the analog synth simulators, but still, its nowhere near the same. And actual synthesizers cost a fortune.

you know what else is awesome in Echoes? The ear-piercing guitar after the funky part (you know, during the ghostly interlude). I read that Gilmour did that by reverse-plugging a guitar through a wah-wah, like the input in the output and the output in the input. But what's REALLY cool is how he just mastered that effect. I've seen videos of guys on youtube trying to do the same thing, but only Gilmour can make that guitar sound like an actual living being from another planet like that.

Whoa.

PS: I'm thinking of making my own Leslie speaker one of these days (haha one of these days GET IT?).. who out there with some electrical know-how wants to help me with the design?
 
Tom, get yourself Max MSP. That, sir, is where we are today in terms of sound manipulation technology. Think of a sound in your head, Max can do it if you know how. I'm not there yet, I'm very much learning (and I left my damn compatible computer at Uni - running Linux right now) but it is an INCREDIBLY powerful bit of software. Complicated, but well worth it.

The Live at Pompeii version of Echoes is the best version. The ear screaming guitar part actually sounds like a flock of Valkyries on their way to Valhalla. It's from another planet and I've never heard anything quite like it.
 
Tom, get yourself Max MSP. That, sir, is where we are today in terms of sound manipulation technology. Think of a sound in your head, Max can do it if you know how. I'm not there yet, I'm very much learning (and I left my damn compatible computer at Uni - running Linux right now) but it is an INCREDIBLY powerful bit of software. Complicated, but well worth it.

The Live at Pompeii version of Echoes is the best version. The ear screaming guitar part actually sounds like a flock of Valkyries on their way to Valhalla. It's from another planet and I've never heard anything quite like it.

I like the Pompeii version better except for the fact that the guitar doesn't come through very well during the last part of what comes after the eerie interlude (aka Part 2).. you know, when the "ding" makes its reapperance, then the music gets kind of heroic, the guitar goes into a slightly One-of-these-days-ish riff, the organ gets a kind of a solo, and then (on the record), this amazing dreamy guitar riff comes through.. it gets me every time. But on Pompeii, the guitar doesnt come through very well right then.

On this video it's at 3:18 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxfnPl2mu5M)
 
I tend to watch Part 1 more, just because of those killer 5 seconds or so when Gilmour first breaks the sound out of his Strat. I got a Start last year and tried to get a Gilmour out of it. Bizarrely it only happened when I plugged it into an AC30. Straight away, the sound that I've wanted for a few years just happening.

Oh. And I'm buying a Big Muff at some point for some serious fuzz. I'm using a Zakk Wylde Overdrive at the moment that is actually really great (on the clean channels) at raunchy, twangy overdrive. Slapback delay and some single coils and you're actually in Psychedelic heaven. Astronomy Domine gets broken out a lot when I play my Strat.
 
I tend to watch Part 1 more, just because of those killer 5 seconds or so when Gilmour first breaks the sound out of his Strat. I got a Start last year and tried to get a Gilmour out of it. Bizarrely it only happened when I plugged it into an AC30. Straight away, the sound that I've wanted for a few years just happening.

Oh. And I'm buying a Big Muff at some point for some serious fuzz. I'm using a Zakk Wylde Overdrive at the moment that is actually really great (on the clean channels) at raunchy, twangy overdrive. Slapback delay and some single coils and you're actually in Psychedelic heaven. Astronomy Domine gets broken out a lot when I play my Strat.

How did you get your hands on an AC30? my friend has a 60's anniversary strat and he says he can get the gilmour sound out of it.. I've never heard him try though. you're more of a guitarist than a drummer aren't you (no offense intended).

I gotta say that one of the moments that defined my love for the Floyd was when I saw Echoes at Pompeii, when the band breaks into what I call the "funky section" (around 7:38 on the DVD). Waters, Mason and Wright really lay it down, and man, when gilmour starts playing, it totally blew my mind. I'd never seen someone do something like that on a guitar and I didn't know what the hell was going on but I knew it was good. plus that camera moving around on .. pfffff. I love PF.
 
I play more guitar, but I'm a better drummer - although give it about a year and we might see the swap around. I'm a decent rhythm player but I can't play lead to save my life - nor do I particularly want to actually. Acoustic is my usual gigging weapon and occasionally I break out the fingerpicking...

I have a friend in a neo-shoegaze band who has a reissue AC30. Phenomenal bit of kit - I want one and there is actually one for sale in an old TV repair shop down the road from me; although I haven't checked if it's still there and it's probably in a state and I kind of need one with a master volume, so that cancels out the original release. I'm tempted by an AC15, too... and getting a little Danelectro guitar.

That's actually the bit I'm talking about. During the funky section when Gilmour first unleashes that one lick. Good God... if I could play like that I would officially be a deity.
 
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