How Pink Floyd Built the Cash Register Loop for 'Money' – Real Coins and Tape Splicing

When engineer Alan Parsons first heard the rough mix of “Money,” he thought the loop of cash registers and coins was a sample from a sound effects library. It wasn’t. Roger Waters had recorded the sounds himself by taping coins clinking, a cash register drawer opening, and paper tearing, then chopped the tape into a repeating 7/8 loop that ran through the entire song.

Waters used an old Binson Echorec and manual tape splicing to create the loop, which he then laid over a click track. The original recording of the coins was done in the studio with real money—British coins shaken in a metal bowl and dropped on a hard surface. The register was a real mechanical unit borrowed from a local shop. So yes, they used real money, but the iconic result is a tape loop, not a live performance. The rhythm changes to 4/4 for the guitar solo, making the loop even more striking.