Led Zep cover

[RAMI]

I've got no negatives for you, Rami. I jammed all of the way through. Fun stuff!!

Thanx Nomad.

I just up-loaded a new version. Worked on the guitar sound a bit. Hopefully it's a little better until I get around to re-tracking the guitars.

CUSTARD PIE

 

[nomadx]

Thanx Nomad.

I just up-loaded a new version. Worked on the guitar sound a bit. Hopefully it's a little better until I get around to re-tracking the guitars.

CUSTARD PIE

The guitars do seem a bit more dynamic to me now. I'm just on a pair of buds, but it sounds good. I suppose the only thing I think it needs is a something shining in the 10k range; maybe getting a little more sheen on those cymbals.

 

[Greg_L]

The high end on the guitars is still really brittle and static-ish. Seriously, it sounds like something went bad with the rendering or something, except everything else sounds okay.

I put your newest mix into Reaper and just played with that opening riff on a loop to see if I could EQ out what I was hearing, and it took a pretty serious roll off at 9k to get rid of the harsh fuzz and then it got muddy. Also, I know you're not supposed to mix with your eyes, but I could see it on a spectrum analyzer too. A bunch of wiggly fuzz at 10k and above. So then I rolled off under 100 and put a few dips in the low mids to compensate for the high end roll-off and it became passable, but not great. I think you definitely need a re-track bud.

 

[RAMI]

I think you definitely need a re-track bud.

I'd be the first one to tell someone else the same thing, so I definitely will do that.

But.....and I'm not disputing I need to re-track.....but when I put my newer mix against Page's sound for this song, and just go back and forth between the intro's of both, I hear that fizzle in his track, too. If you get a chance, A/B just the first 3 seconds of both tunes and let me know if I'm way off. I thought his sound is pretty sizzly, too. Maybe not always, but in this tune, no? Have I just lost perspective and am not hearing his sound properly any more?

 

[Greg_L]

Okay A/B'ing......

I'd call Page's track "bright". It bites, it cuts, but it doesn't sound fizzy or like static in the high end. You can listen to it loud without being uncomfortable. The guitar tone is light in the bottom, but it's cohesive across the range. It's balanced. It has a 3-D quality to it and I can "feel" the chunk when he chops a chord - even through youtube. That percussive chunk is pretty common to good tube amps and when it comes across in a recording, it's a good thing. It actually sounds like a tube amp that's breaking up. I like that sound, and it sounds pretty typical of early Marshalls and other "brit" style amps like Vox and Orange. I don't know what Page used exactly for this recording, but that's what it sounds like to me. It's also pretty similar to Angus and Malcom's early AC/DC guitar sounds, which were done with early Marshalls. Listen to the studio version of "Let There Be Rock". That's a bright ass cutting Marshall sound from both guys, and it's not too different from what Page has for Custard Pie. Those old Marshalls aren't high gain amps. They break up, they rock, they're bright, they're loud, but they don't do modern overdriven tones without a lot of help. All those higher gain cock-rock guys like EVH, Randy Rhoads, and Slash in the 70's and 80's that still used Plexis and stuff had a lot of mods done to their old Marshalls and hit the front end with pedals. What Page and the Young brothers got was pretty pure natural amp breakup and those amps typically don't go much further than that.

Now for yours, it's quite different to me. Your base tone on this song actually seems kind of dark and thick and kind of flat. It's a much different kind of tone from Page's, and I understand that you were not going for exact duplication. No problem there, but what high end you're getting is the fizz I'm talking about. It's not ear-pleasing high end chime or harmonics, it's just fizz. It could be from mic placement, or just the tone you dialed in. Maybe both. But to me there's a clear distinction between the high end Page got and what you got here. Normally your guitar sounds are just fine and I don't think I've ever heard this kind of thing before from your guitar tracks.

That's just how I'm hearing it.

 

[RAMI]

Okay A/B'ing......

I'd call Page's track "bright". It bites, it cuts, but it doesn't sound fizzy or like static in the high end. You can listen to it loud without being uncomfortable. The guitar tone is light in the bottom, but it's cohesive across the range. It's balanced. It has a 3-D quality to it and I can "feel" the chunk when he chops a chord - even through youtube. That percussive chunk is pretty common to good tube amps and when it comes across in a recording, it's a good thing. It actually sounds like a tube amp that's breaking up. I like that sound, and it sounds pretty typical of early Marshalls and other "brit" style amps like Vox and Orange. I don't know what Page used exactly for this recording, but that's what it sounds like to me. It's also pretty similar to Angus and Malcom's early AC/DC guitar sounds, which were done with early Marshalls. Listen to the studio version of "Let There Be Rock". That's a bright ass cutting Marshall sound from both guys, and it's not too different from what Page has for Custard Pie. Those old Marshalls aren't high gain amps. They break up, they rock, they're bright, they're loud, but they don't do modern overdriven tones without a lot of help. All those higher gain cock-rock guys like EVH, Randy Rhoads, and Slash in the 70's and 80's that still used Plexis and stuff had a lot of mods done to their old Marshalls and hit the front end with pedals. What Page and the Young brothers got was pretty pure natural amp breakup and those amps typically don't go much further than that.

Now for yours, it's quite different to me. Your base tone on this song actually seems kind of dark and thick and kind of flat. It's a much different kind of tone from Page's, and I understand that you were not going for exact duplication. No problem there, but what high end you're getting is the fizz I'm talking about. It's not ear-pleasing high end chime or harmonics, it's just fizz. It could be from mic placement, or just the tone you dialed in. Maybe both. But to me there's a clear distinction between the high end Page got and what you got here. Normally your guitar sounds are just fine and I don't think I've ever heard this kind of thing before from your guitar tracks.

That's just how I'm hearing it.

Yeah man. I get it. Ok thanx. I have no idea what I did to the guitars when I recorded this, but I'm going to re-do it. I think one of the things is that my amp wasn't loud enough, plain and simple. I started the day doing guitar tracks and I probably didn't realize how low they were. This amp has to be at a decent volume to sound good mic'ed.

But other than that, I'm going to look into a Marshall Class 5 Combo. I even saw a red one.

 

[Armistice]

Hey RAMI, I only got about halfway through yesterday and then got busy at work, so didn't get to write a comment, but I noticed the fizzyness that everyone else has picked upon.

If you're looking for a baby tube amp, a friend of mine has that 5W Marshall and it sounds pretty sweet. I've got this little 4W Vox baby so maybe look into it as well..

I thought you did really well on the vocals... was quite surprised to hear you get that high! And while yes, you can only really play that riff on an A chord base, detuning your guit a half step, rather than trying to play it in another key, could be worth a thought if you were worried about it, but I think it's fine.

Nice... always loved that song!

 

[Greg_L]

If you can find one local, go play a Class 5 and see what you think. I think they've been discontinued, but there's still plenty out there.

I did "living loving maid" a long time ago and didn't even try to do it in it's original key. There's just no way. Not a chance. What I did was detune my guitars a full step, and then played the main riff from E, but an octave up. That way I could sing it halfway decently and the guitar parts still sounded mostly the way they're supposed to sound.

 

[A Reel Person]

I think it's great.

I think it's great.

 

[RAMI]

Hey RAMI, I only got about halfway through yesterday and then got busy at work, so didn't get to write a comment, but I noticed the fizzyness that everyone else has picked upon.

If you're looking for a baby tube amp, a friend of mine has that 5W Marshall and it sounds pretty sweet. I've got this little 4W Vox baby so maybe look into it as well..

I thought you did really well on the vocals... was quite surprised to hear you get that high! And while yes, you can only really play that riff on an A chord base, detuning your guit a half step, rather than trying to play it in another key, could be worth a thought if you were worried about it, but I think it's fine.

Nice... always loved that song!

If you can find one local, go play a Class 5 and see what you think. I think they've been discontinued, but there's still plenty out there.

I did "living loving maid" a long time ago and didn't even try to do it in it's original key. There's just no way. Not a chance. What I did was detune my guitars a full step, and then played the main riff from E, but an octave up. That way I could sing it halfway decently and the guitar parts still sounded mostly the way they're supposed to sound.

Thanx a lot guys. The 4 and 5 watt amps look interesting too, Armistice.

I re-tracked the guitars and didn't do anything to them. It's probably further from Page's sound now, but hopefully closer to a tolerable guitar sound.

Now I know I probably won't record another tune until I buy an amp.

I think it's great.

Thanx a lot Reel.

 

[RAMI]

I don't really want to bump this thread, but I wanted to give an up-date on my guitar sound situation. I think I figured out what was wrong. While I don't claim to ever have had a killer guitar sound, I don't think I've ever had this much trouble.

Turns out there's something wrong with my amp. I Fonzied it last night (hit it hard), and then I heard a crackling, and all of a sudden, it went from a dull, barely distorted sound, to a tight, compressed sound with good distortion. Prett sure I have some loose wires or something.

So anyway, my main point is how easy it is to let psycho-acoustics blur your judgement of sound. I spent so much time A/B'ing guitar sounds that I just totally lost perspective of what sounds good and what doesn't. I was convincing myself I was hearing things I wanted to hear, and not hearing things I didn't want to hear.

So, my advice for all you non-guitar players like myself is: When you've been working and working on a sound, sometimes it's better to just leave it alone and come back a few days later. You'll hear things the way they really sound.

 

[queepy]

Screw the guitars, Im digging the drums and bass......nice playing Rami! I do hear what Greg is saying about the scratchy fizzy thing, I'm sure you will fix it to your liking....nice guitar solo....I'mnot the most vocally inclined, but I think your way in the ballpark with the vox...I really dug this, not a easy song and you do it justice...

 

[Mr Clean]

Sounds really good to me. I'm not a huge Zep fan. Bit too much screaming for me but this is a very good cover.

I have nothing to add but I enjoyed the listen.

Cheers

 

[RAMI]

Screw the guitars, Im digging the drums and bass......nice playing Rami! I do hear what Greg is saying about the scratchy fizzy thing, I'm sure you will fix it to your liking....nice guitar solo....I'mnot the most vocally inclined, but I think your way in the ballpark with the vox...I really dug this, not a easy song and you do it justice...

Sounds really good to me. I'm not a huge Zep fan. Bit too much screaming for me but this is a very good cover.

I have nothing to add but I enjoyed the listen.

Cheers

Thanx a lot guys. Didn't mean to ignore the last couple of posts, but I wanted to figure out and fix a few things first.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I did something really stupid. My eyes are bad and if I don't have reading glasses on, which I almost never do, I have to squint and get really close to the screen just to see the difference between an "i" and an "l", or an "m" and an "n". So, to make a long story short, I was rendering my mix in 2Bit, not 24bit. I could have sworn I was reading "24", but it was "2".

It was driving me crazy and I couldn't figure out why the rendered "24 bit" mix sounded like it had a blanket over it. I thought it was impossible so it must have been my imagination, but it wasn't. Nice to know my ears are just a little better than my eyes.

Anyway, I put up another mix, if anyone cares any more....I barely do.

Pretty funny that I said this in my first post:

Whenever I do a cover, I try to track and mix it all in one day. Any more than that is too long for a cover.

Yeah right.

CUSTARD PIE

 

[RAMI]

I had a go at nastying up your tune. Apologies in advance for any offence!

Bulls Hit, if you're still around to read this, I didn't mean to ignore you either. I was just really caught up in figuring out why this mix was driving me crazy, as well as trying to figure out what was wrong with my guitar. I see what you did with that. It's definitely bigger. Thanx for the help man, but the problem was in my stupidity and eye-sight.

 

[Rod Norman]

I agree about the guitar sound. Try this. Rerecord the same guitar with the mids cut way down on two other tracks (don't duplicate; re-record). The crank those two tracks full right and full left. See if that doesn't make the guitar sound huge! Great attempt. Now go write your own songs.
Good Luck,
Rod Norman

OK, so I don't have Plant's range or the raunch he had in his voice at this point in his career, I can't get Page's guitar sound with my Strat and Peavey Studiomaster, I can't get a drum sound like Bonham's in my room and without room mics. Other than that, I had fun doing this cover.

Whenever I do a cover, I try to track and mix it all in one day. Any more than that is too long for a cover. So, I just finished mixing it for the first time after getting everything tracked today.

Let me know if there's anything I can do to make it sound better or maybe closer to the original.

Thanx

CUSTARD PIE

 

[rpm61]

One of my favorite songs and I almost thought I was listening to the original when it started, great job!

 

[RAMI]

Now go write your own songs.

Hehe...Totally agree. Nothing like originals.Bbut I have to admit that I really enjoy not having to create and only having to copy once in a while. It is fun covering a tune you've always loved.

I almost thought I was listening to the original when it started

How many seconds did it take to rid you of that ridiculous notion?

Thanx for the comments you guys.

 

[fritsthegirl]

This is a wicked song. You got a good voice for it. I like it a LOT.

 

[jimistone]

Very cool Rami. Physical graffiti was one of my favorite records, that I bought as soon as it came out, and this is a great tune off that record. No you don't have the exact vocal qualities and rasp of plant...but who does? The vocal performance wasn't pitchy and sounded very good in its own right. No, the guitar sound wasn't exactly what jimmy page captured...but the guitars sound very good in the context of the whole track. No, the drums don't sound exactly like that particular recording of Bonzos but that sound great and the performance was there. I thought it was a fantastic recording of a great Zep tune (no easy feat). I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Now cover my favorite tune from that album "trampled underfoot"