David Gilmour Tone Building RUN LIKE HELL - This is one of the standout tracks from Pink Floyd's

The Wall double album, with music written by David Gilmour. It is a great example of David's "triplet time" delay playing. It sounds very complex because the delay is filling in and creating a guitar rhythm in between the notes David does not play, and it is actaully rather simple to do. David could play a chord while the delay rhythm repeated, and jump back to the delay rhythm before the repeats stopped, almost as if there were two guitars playing. It takes some practice, and you have to be very precise with your timing or you can easily get out of step with the song tempo. This also means the delay time must be precisely in time with the song tempo. To recreate this delay, all you really need is one delay set for 380ms, 7-8 repeats, with the delay volume almost equal to the signal volume. It helps to have a delay with a digital display to set the exact delay time. David has stated he used two delays for the studio recording of Run Like Hell, one in 3/4 time and one in 4/4 time. He likely used the MXR Digital Delay System 1. The main 3/4 time delay is 380ms, or what David calls "triplet" time, and the second 4/4 delay time is 507ms, or one repeat on every beat. The second delay thickens space between the main delay repeats by double tapping your 3/4 repeat with a 4/4, creating a huge delay rhythm. When using one amp, it is best to place the second 507ms delay after the main 380ms delay in your signal chain, and set the second delay repeat volume MUCH lower, with roughly half the repeats of the main delay. That second delay is just barely there, and too much volume can make a double tapped mess of the main delay. If using a 2 amp setup, you can try running one 380ms delay to each amp and keep the volume and delay repeats about the same for each, or you can run the 380ms delay to one amp and the 507ms dealy to the other for a slightly different feel. To figure a 4/4 dealy time to work with any 3/4 triplet delay time, you can split the 3/4 time delay into thirds. For example, 380ms is your triplet time. 380 divided by 3 = 126.7ms. To get the 4/4 time delay, simply multiply 126.7 x 4 = 506.8. You may also want to try setting the second delay at 760ms, double the triplet time delay (380 x 2 = 760ms). Sort of a triplet on top of a triplet time delay. This creates a bouncy feel to the delay rhythm. You can also set the second delay to 254ms, which gives three repeats for every beat and adds a shorter double tap sound to the main 380ms delay. There are lots of different ways to use two delays at once for an integrated rhythm, so use your ears and experiment. "It's all on a D pedal. That came from an old trick I'd been using, which is having a DDL in triplet time to the actual beat. When you play across it, it helps you to double-track yourself. It has a certain feel, which sounds boring and ordinary if you put it in 4/4. If you put it in a 3/4 time it has an interesting bounce to it. Because the DDL keeps running along, you've got time to leave the pedal playing and play a couple of chords while the effects carry on" - David Gilmour from Guitar for the Practicing Musician, January 1995 To create the tone on the studio recording David used an Electric Mistress flanger to add some modulation and a spacious feel to the delay tone. I use an old green 18v Electric Mistress or the Hartman Flanger, which is a clone of the old Mistress. A good chorus like the Boss CE-2 or CS-5 can also be used in place of the flanger. There is a also bit of light overdrive in the tone. I use a compressor or a Tube Driver for this. I use a Boss DD-2 for the 3/4 time delay and a DD-3 for the 4/4 time delay.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL PART I - This one is very similar to Run Like Hell, played in D, with a 450ms delay, around 7 repeats, with the repeat volume equal to the signal volume. The tempo is much slower, but the delay is played in triplet time exactly like RLH. In the studio recording I hear one guitar playing the single note triplet time rhythm, a second guitar playing the fills, and a third guitar playing occasional accents on top of the fills. However, it is possible to play this one one guitar. You simply have to practice your timing so you can play the fills and get back to the D rhythm note exactly in time with the delay repeats. You can also add a second delay to thicken the sound, similar to what was done with RLH, with both the 3/4 time and 4/4 time delays. The exact delay times would be 450ms for the 3/4 time and 600ms for the 4/4 time. The 450ms delay should come before the 600ms delay in your signal chain. Set the 600ms dealy to half the repeats of the main delay, with a MUCH lower delay volume. That keeps you from getting a loud, double-tappy mess. The second delay should just be accenting the first, filling the space between the 3/4 repeats. Depending on your second delay EQ, you may need to experiment with the number of repeats and repeat volume. To figure a 4/4 dealy time to work with any 3/4 triplet delay time, you can split the 3/4 time delay into thirds. For example, take 450ms divided by 3 = 150ms. Exact 3/4 time is 150 x 3 = 450ms, which is our main delay time. To get the second delay in 4/4 time, multiply 150 x 4 = 600ms. David also used the triplet delay setup on many other songs such as Another Brick in the Wall parts I and III from The Wall, Short and Sweet from his first solo album, Give Blood from Pete Townshend's White City, Blue Light from David's second solo album, About Face, The Hero's Return from Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, One Slip from A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and Take It Back from The Division Bell, among others. Here is a clip of a single 330ms delay playing the Blue Light riff. In this example I am showing how just using a single triplet 330ms delay is sufficient for this effect, but a second 4/4 feeling delay of 440ms or even a double triplet delay time to 660ms, could be added to enhance the space. PINK FLOYD - DAVID GILMOUR DELAY Settings
Another Brick in the Wall Part 1 Another Brick in the Wall Part II solo Coming Back to Life intro Comfortably Numb (Studio version) Comfortably Numb (Pulse version) Run like Hell Shine On You Crazy Diamond Shine On Syds theme delay time 450ms 440ms 630ms 480ms 540ms 380ms 370ms 290 ms feedback 50-60% 15-20% 10-20% 15-20% 15-20% 60-80% 15-20% 50-60% delay level 25% 18-20% 17% 20% 20%
(30-35% for waving part)

40% 20% 20%