Binson Echorec

Binson (Milan - Italy) was an early manufacturer of echo machines. Unlike most other analog echo machines, they used an analog magnetic drum recorder instead of a tape loop. Their most famous product was the Binson Echorec.

After using Meazzi Echomatic machines successfully to establish his signature sound, Hank Marvin of The Shadows began using Binson echoes. He used various Binson units on record and stage for much of the mid-to-late 1960s, in conjunction with Vox AC30 amplifiers and Burns London guitars. Marvin continued to use Binsons until c.1979/1980, when he began using the Roland RE-201 echo.

Binson units were used to great effect by Pink Floyd's original frontman Syd Barrett and guitarist David Gilmour. The classic Binson delay effect can be heard on songs such as "Interstellar Overdrive", "Astronomy Domine", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Time". Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin also used a Binson echo unit which was used on the drums in "When the Levee Breaks." Binson echo units were also used by Hawkwind, and more recently by Tarantula Hawk. Jon Courtney of British nu-prog band Pure Reason Revolution is also a frequent user of the Binson units.

In Pink Floyd's 23-minute-long song "Echoes", Roger Waters used a Binson Echorec to create the eerie underwater wind noise heard during the first interlude (10:40-15:02 on studio recordings, underneath the screaming whale song produced by Gilmour); he vibrated the strings of his bass guitar with a steel slide and fed the sound through the Echorec. Waters reproduced this sound during live performances. The Binson Echorec was a major part of the early Pink Floyd sound, until they started to use the VCS3 synthesizer in 1972.

See also

• Roland Space Echo
• Echoplex

Bibliography

• Pendergast, Mark (2003), the ambient century, Bloomsbury, ISBN 1-58234-323-3

External links

• http://binsonamoremio.altervista.org
• http://binson-museum.weebly.com/