The Cash Register Sound on Pink Floyd’s 'Money' – Real Register or Library Loop?

That cash register clatter and coin-drop that opens “Money” on Dark Side of the Moon came from a real register – specifically, a domestic cash register that engineer Alan Parsons and the band recorded in the studio. They didn’t pull it from a sound effects library. Instead, they gathered a pile of coins, a paper tear strip, and the machine itself, then manually triggered and recorded each sound onto tape.

The most impressive part is that the whole loop – register drawer slamming, coins jingling, paper ripping – was physically spliced together into a repeating 7-beat rhythm. The result is a tape loop that runs throughout the song, locking into the odd time signature (7/4) that makes the track so distinctive. It’s a perfect example of Pink Floyd’s hands-on approach to studio craft: no samples, just microphones, splicing block, and a lot of patience.