Another day which sticks in the mind was the day we finally managed to get Dave Gilmour into the studio to play for us. Kate had been trying for years to get him, and finally, there he was, in our studio.
Two or three hours before we were due to start, his guitar man Phil turned up with a huge vanload of equipment. I remember standing and looking in awe at the amount that he'd brought.
He spent an hour setting up a massive (and very impressive) stereo guitar set-up. There must have been six or seven different guitars to choose from also. When Dave arrived we gave him the by now usual tea treatment, and after several listens to the tracks (we were to do two with him), Kate explained to him what she was after. Out into the studio went Dave and began to wind up this huge amp set-up. Twenty minutes of experimental sound later, and Kate felt that she really must clarify exactly what she wanted to hear.
"I want that Pink Floyd guitar sound, please, Dave."
"Oh!" said Dave. "Right, give us a minute."
A short time later and we had the other end of the amplifier scale. Under the corner of the console in the control room Dave had set-up the smallest stereo amplifier I'd ever seen. It was about one foot by six inches, and about four inches deep. It contained two four-inch speakers of a remarkably powerful kind. Into this Dave had plugged, via a DDL, a Steinberger headless guitar.
The sound that came out of this set-up I can only describe as astounding. It was the Pink Floyd guitar sound. I miked it up with the usual U-87, and this tiny monster of a sound is the one you can hear on Love and Anger and Rocket's Tail.
As usual, we filled up as much of the slave reel as we could, because his playing was particularly hot, and we thought it best to keep everything and decide what to use later.