Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon Recording Sessions [Abbey Road Sessions - 1972]

The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, in two sessions, between May 1972 and January 1973. The band were assigned staff engineer Alan Parsons, who had worked as assistant tape operator on Atom Heart Mother, and who had also gained experience as a recording engineer on The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be. The recording sessions made use of some of the most advanced studio techniques of the time; the studio was capable of 16-track mixes, which offered a greater degree of flexibility than the eight- or four-track mixes they had previously used, although the band often used so many tracks that to make more space available second-generation copies were made.

Beginning on 1 June, the first track to be recorded was "Us and Them", followed six days later by "Money". Waters had created effects loops from recordings of various money-related objects, including coins thrown into a food-mixing bowl taken from his wife's pottery studio, and these were later re-recorded to take advantage of the band's decision to record a quadraphonic mix of the album (Parsons has since expressed dissatisfaction with the result of this mix, attributed to a lack of time and the paucity of available multi-track tape recorders). "Time" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" were the next pieces to be recorded, followed by a two-month break, during which the band spent time with their families and prepared for an upcoming tour of the US.

[superdriver]

4:09 one of the greatest guitar tones of all time. Massive! Echoes is the definition of an epic song.

[robbieclark]

Beginners guide to Pink Floyd:
Roger Waters: “What do you mean happy?”

[katevielle]

David is so stoned 😂
"What movie are you working on?"
-"*laughs* you oughta know, you're the director! *cackles*"
-"*stifles a laugh* oops.. Um.."
"Well, tell us about it"
- *David continues laughing for no reason in particular off camera*
Director: "Pull yourself together, David!"
- *David still laughing*
"I can't.. Oh, dear, god I'm terrible, it's a film being made in Pompeii, mostly Italy"
"What's it about?"
"and it's about the Pink Floyd of course" I just love a stoned David Gilmour, actually i just love David Gilmour, period.

[josephkony]

When you're that high, language is just a barrier

[sTosRockLover]

It's hard not to like these guys :D

[vincentdunienville]

One day Pink Floyd lyrics will be studied in schools

[Feather_Snoodle]

0:10 "Shine On Syd" *Crying on the inside*

[fenderPbass]

Amazing insight. I love those analog synths - they were using all sorts of inventive sounds to create a sense of time and space. Love it.

[CallMeNeutraL]

I was that stoned once, then I became a lemon.

[ImYourHuckleberry_]

Amazing footage. I've seen a diff interview where Dave said he had come up with that loop in On the Run, and Roger said hold on....and sped it up and added the effects of planes and helicopters. I liked that Dave was honest and admitted Roger always had very innovative ideas.

[seedholden]

2:35 - the moment when Roger Waters thought to himself "Well, I might have some fun with the director on this one"

[AGoodJoe]

Roger's "okay" has always cracked me up for some reason. Brilliant footage, of course

[AMIR]

Can't believe that 4 guys made me hallucinate (in a good way) for a whole night.

[sydparrott]

These "studio sessions" were staged for the Live at Pompeii movie, they were actually done recording the album by the time they started filming Live at Pompeii. Not that it makes this any less cool, I could watch this movie everyday for the rest of my life and never grow bored of it.

[johnbazy]

Only the colour footage is from the Dark Side sessions. The rest is from recording Meddle.

[VoidPhantom]

Damn, Roger has the most veiny arms ever.

[zigzagnoleaf]

Puffing that cigarette down to the very end!!!!

[mrceleb]

'The Dark Side of the Moon' put Pink Floyd on the map over 40 years ago!

[BoeingRules]

Never smoked it, never will, but thank God for weed

[davedempsey]

Ok. I have to admit, Roger drove the early PF. Then he spun off into whatever, and PF continued on the path they started on.