Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Pink Floyd: quadraphonic consoles available


A slice of Pink Floyd’s legendary live performance history is up for auction.

The unique, hand built quadraphonic mixing consoles used on the Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell world tours are being auctioned at Bonhams in London's Knightsbridge on December 15, with a percentage of the proceeds going to concert industry charity Stage Hand, the new name for the PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund.

This news comes from the excellent Pink Floyd resource, Brain Damage.

The consoles are being sold by their owner, Britannia Row Productions (BRP), the sound company originally formed and owned by Pink Floyd, which has been independent for the last 26 years.

Only six generations of quad mixing desks or external quad panning devices were made during the band’s performing history between 1969 and 1994, each using the best audio technology available at the time.

Britannia Row Productions Mike Lowe said: "We have kept these mixing desks on our stock and looked after them very carefully because of their historic place in the Pink Floyd performance legend."

Bonhams Consultant Specialist Stephen Maycock said: "This is a unique and exciting opportunity for a Pink Floyd fan, collector or museum to own a piece of the band's technical heritage. The desks are hand built one-offs specifically designed for Pink Floyd's tours, and because the music world has adopted digital technology on a large scale, it's highly unlikely that anything similar will ever be made again."

More details of about the gear’s history and the Stage Hand charity can be found at Brain Damage here

For details on the auction, check Bonhams here.

Pink Floyd – Learning To Fly
Omni – Atlanta, GA – November, 1987