Great Gig in the Sky pitch change

[Peter Beasley]

I'm not familiar with 1972 live versions but I'd be very surprised to find the pitch change, unless Roger lent into the piano, spanner in hand and manipulated it.

I wouldn't have thought the pitch change has any link to the cash registers (whenever I hear the very start of 'Money', I imagine it's a Monty Python sketch). How many artists in the early 70s had the foresight to see that one day people would be able to listen to a whole album without having to get up out of their seat and change sides halfway through?

[davidjay]

it's not on any live version that i've ever heard, peter. there were people back then that were listening to albums without flipping them over. they were using reel to reel tape decks. dsom wasn't released on that format, but lots of hifi folks taped the lp and left the vinyl in the sleeve and listened to the tape..

[Creek]

it's not on any live version that i've ever heard, peter. there were people back then that were listening to albums without flipping them over. they were using reel to reel tape decks. dsom wasn't released on that format, but lots of hifi folks taped the lp and left the vinyl in the sleeve and listened to the tape..

I had a reel to reel machine, I use to to record me and my bands music as well as live albums. I wish I still had it. I bought DSOTM on cassett tape, and had a player that flipped automatically so there was very little gap between sides.

[davidjay]

I had a reel to reel machine, I use to to record me and my bands music as well as live albums. I wish I still had it. I bought DSOTM on cassett tape, and had a player that flipped automatically so there was very little gap between sides.

i could never bring myself to pay for pre-recorded cassettes because they wore out so fast and usually used cheap tape. i used to dub my lps to cassette so that i'd i wouldn't wear out the vinyl and then when my tapes would wear out, i'd be able to dub another copy. you could fit most albums on one side of a C90 so i could pair up albums that sounded good together. as i recall, i paired obc & more, ahm & meddle and dsom & wywh. good stuff!

[Idisaffect]

It's interesting how we demand that everything be explained with exact answers in our 'art', but we accept any irrational insanity in real life.

If you don't agree that we tend to accept any irrational insanity in real life, I suggest you watch the News tonight. And if you don't think we demand perfect answers from 'art', I suggest you reread this whole thread or, even better, The Wall Movie thread.

Pink Floyd started as a band that played a lot of improvised, random noise. They experimented in the studio. Shit happens and sometimes you decide to leave it on the record. That pitch change is insignificant. I mean, this is a band that was known for random sounds. Meddle had a blues jam with a dog! And I seriously doubt that the pitch change was meant to be a segue into Money for the benefit of people listening to it on tape.

[Creek]

I had a reel to reel machine, I use to to record me and my bands music as well as live albums. I wish I still had it. I bought DSOTM on cassett tape, and had a player that flipped automatically so there was very little gap between sides.

i could never bring myself to pay for pre-recorded cassettes because they wore out so fast and usually used cheap tape. i used to dub my lps to cassette so that i'd i wouldn't wear out the vinyl and then when my tapes would wear out, i'd be able to dub another copy. you could fit most albums on one side of a C90 so i could pair up albums that sounded good together. as i recall, i paired obc & more, ahm & meddle and dsom & wywh. good stuff!

I know what you mean about the tapes wearing out, I all so recorded a lot of music to C 90s, and wore out many.

[Creek]

It's interesting how we demand that everything be explained with exact answers in our 'art', but we accept any irrational insanity in real life.

If you don't agree that we tend to accept any irrational insanity in real life, I suggest you watch the News tonight. And if you don't think we demand perfect answers from 'art', I suggest you reread this whole thread or, even better, The Wall Movie thread.

Pink Floyd started as a band that played a lot of improvised, random noise. They experimented in the studio. Shit happens and sometimes you decide to leave it on the record. That pitch change is insignificant. I mean, this is a band that was known for random sounds. Meddle had a blues jam with a dog! And I seriously doubt that the pitch change was meant to be a segue into Money for the benefit of people listening to it on tape.

Sorry for the double post: But I have to say I couldn't agree with you more about current news, it's to the point where I can barely bring myself to watch or listen anymore. I don't read but certain sections of the newspapers as well. I agree about the significance of the pitch change in GGITS, to.

I once recorded a single with a band, in Champaign IL.,(home of Fender guitars). The lead guitarist had a bit of distortion at the end of his lead break. The sound mixer and engineer wanted to take it out, but when you listened to it, sounded really cool and like a fitting end to the part. The lead guitarist agreed with me and the distortion stayed. The song won 2nd place in a contest on a local radio station, and we got nothing but good reviews from the listeners. That band almost took off but the mentioned lead guitarist was a pitiful alcoholic, and needless to say things didn't end well.

[Hudini]

maybe he just assisted at that point then, if he doesn't consider that as a proper engineering job.

That's what the man said.

I seriously doubt that the pitch change was meant to be a segue into Money for the benefit of people listening to it on tape.

I though of that earlier, but I checked and it appears that the pitch change at the end of "Great Gig" and the beginning of "Money" are not in the same chord. That would make the pitch change practically useless as a bridge between the songs. Therefore, I still believe it was an error that eventually did end up noticed, but they decided to keep the thing on the album.

[crowman]

Is it heard on the 5.1 or quad mixes?

It just sounds to me like someone touched the tape reel while it was being recorded, causing the tape to run slow momentarily. This would result in a rise in pitch when played back at consistent speed. If it's not on the surround mixes, then it must have happened to the 2 track mixdown tape. If it is on those then it must have happened on the multitrack during recording, or perhaps when bouncing from one 24 track tape to another.

Was it an accident? Who knows? It does work in a weird kind of way, and it's hard to imagine that an unwanted glitch like that would make it through. Perhaps it was an accident but when they listened back they liked it as a bit of serendipity.

[MinkiWhale]

My 1975 quadraphonic LP had the rise but I listened to later pressings and the rise was gone; and it is not present on CDs. I always assumed that it was a fault which occurred during the formation of the wax master, because at that point it would be checked by a technician who may not be familiar with the music - and may not have been concentrating fully by the end of the side!

[Wolfpack]

To me, the pitch change at the end of 'Great Gig' sounds a bit like the pitch change of Barrett's guitar at the end of 'Opel'.

[TheLazenby]

When I play this on my keyboard, I always hit the pitch wheel at the end.... it just feels like part of the song to me.

[Keith Jordan]

I was doing exactly the same only the other day...

[Peter Beasley]

Last night's 'The Record Producers' part of the marathon Floyd night on BBC Radio 6 revealed that the pitch change is on the multi-track tape, not the master tape, which gives some credence (but not proof) that it was intentional. Pity they didn't think to ask Dave or Nick about it during the interviews.

[my breakfast.]

This is one of the weirdest or most unsettling threads on this forum. I'm still not sure what people want from it. With our collective knowledge of Floyd interviews and the like nothing has ever been said from the band about a small pitch shift.

However, I don't see why the band would not leave it in on purpose. Recording a demo with my highschool band there were various little things we left in because it was either strongly characteristic of the recording process (bassist muttering away, drum stool squeeks) or just plain cool, such as a microphone picking up piano strings vibrating and stuff. It was not the overall statement of the band musically, but it was cool in the setting.

We don't know absolutely what the band wanted from DSOTM but I bet they were not doing it squarely to produce an audiophile quality album. Therefore I see them leaving a minor pitch bend in, especially if it involved having to patch in a piano note or whatever. Could they mix Rick's piano to sound exactly the same twice if they noticed some while later that a minor pitch bend happened on the reverberated ring out from the last note of his wrought piano part for Great Gig? Is it worth it?


Who noticed it from the start and who has actually gone out to listen to it since?

And is it not cool that it is part of the sonic fingerprint of this brilliant album?