How Syd Barrett and David Gilmour Used the Binson Echorec to Define the Pink Floyd Sound — and the Songs That Prove It

The Binson Echorec wasn’t just another delay pedal — it was a tape-based echo unit that could produce up to four distinct, wobbling repeats thanks to its rotating magnetic drum. Syd Barrett got his hands on one early and used it to turn his Fender Esquire into something that sounded like it was spinning in zero gravity. You hear it most clearly on Piper at the Gates of Dawn tracks like “Astronomy Domine” and “Interstellar Overdrive”, where the Echorec gives those gong-like, fractured delays that made the band sound less like a rock group and more like a radio transmission from another galaxy.

After Syd left, David Gilmour kept the Echorec as a central tool — especially for his solos. He used it to create that famous watery, reverb-before-delay sound. The Echorec’s unique feature was that the repeats were slightly degraded each time, which added warmth instead of harshness. You can hear it in the long, weeping notes of “Echoes” and the solo in “Time”, but the absolute peak might be “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (parts 1-5), where Gilmour’s guitar sounds like it’s swirling through a dark, empty space. He also used it on “Comfortably Numb” — the second solo especially gets that layered, cathedral-echo feel. The Echorec was so crucial that when it became hard to find parts, Gilmour eventually had custom clones built. Without it, the Pink Floyd