Led Zeppelin: Moby Dick

[DaveDrummer]

Ive been listening to this song. Not so much the drums this time, but the main riff. When the guitars first come in, what makes this mix so punchy? I cant figure it out. bass compression maybe? tape saturation? ahh!

 

[gatorhaus]

Not sure Dave,

But I just listened to the new DVD. Bonzo does an amazing drum solo during Moby Dick which sounds incredible. I was blown away by how impressive the DVD sound is. The drum tones are awesome!! If you get a chance, listen to it, its very well done. I did notice that Page was the producer, so it would explain some of it, but there was some excellent work done by the engineers who remixed and mastered this.

larry

 

[kylen]

but the main riff. When the guitars first come in, what makes this mix so punchy?

Dave - which recording are you listening to ? LZII or the new live How the West Was Won CD, or the HTWWW DVD ?

If it's the new stuff read this:
http://www.peavey.com/news/ledzeppelin.cfm

If it's the old stuff then (guessing here - not cause I know but it's fun) there's 1176 limiters and compression, compression, compression. Some articles I've read the engineers weren't afraid to run Page thru a couple of hardware compressors. I never read much about what they did to Jones bass.

As far as the riff goes there was a little story that they ran into a bit of a 'pinch' when Wash DC R&B musician Bobby Parker decided that the riff sounded a little too familiar. Gotta watch using those pentatonic blues riffs, eh ? Ha Ha !

Interesting...I always liked that song. On the new CD HTWWW you can hear Bonhams fingerprints scrape the tom heads - what a sound ! Very detailed...
kylen

 

[DaveDrummer]

Im talking about the original, but ive heard both. Thanks!
and yea, for songs like No Quarter and Black Dog, im almost certain jimmy was plugged DI, right into the board.

 

[kylen]

Im talking about the original, but ive heard both. Thanks!

In that case you gotta chase Eddie Kramer around and see how he does stuff !

http://emusician.com/ar/emusic_mixing_master/

If you find some clues let me know !

kylen


PS Then there's always Andy Johns - listed as Eddie Kramers 2nd engineer and worked on LZII also:
http://www.chrismilne.com/uadforums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2514

 

[Bulls Hit]

Another good version to check out is Jimmy's 'house mix' of Moby Dick with Bonzo's Montreaux on the Remasters boxed set

 

[Cyrokk]

for songs like No Quarter and Black Dog, im almost certain jimmy was plugged DI, right into the board.

You are right in that Black Dog was DI. No Quarter? Interesting. I've never heard anyone say it was, but thinking about the main chorus riff, it does have that synthetic buzz above the main tone, so you may be right. I have read though that the main solo was played on a jazz guitar.

Cy

 

[Simman]

If it's the old stuff then (guessing here - not cause I know but it's fun) there's 1176 limiters and compression, compression, compression. Some articles I've read the engineers weren't afraid to run Page thru a couple of hardware compressors. I never read much about what they did to Jones bass.

2 urie 1176 & 58 Les Paul, so I've read.

 

[gatorhaus]

Im talking about the original, but ive heard both. Thanks!
and yea, for songs like No Quarter and Black Dog, im almost certain jimmy was plugged DI, right into the board.

Are you saying that Page's Les Paul (or whatever he was using) was plugged in DI, and not amped or are we talking about John Paul Jones' Bass being DI. Just trying to clear up my confusion. Never heard of DI-ing a 6-string and getting a dist. sound. Not saying that it can't be done or anything, just a little confused.

larry

 

[Ptron]

Are you saying that Page's Les Paul (or whatever he was using) was plugged in DI, and not amped or are we talking about John Paul Jones' Bass being DI. Just trying to clear up my confusion. Never heard of DI-ing a 6-string and getting a dist. sound. Not saying that it can't be done or anything, just a little confused.

larry

I think the Beatles did this on either Taxman or Revolution. Maybe both. I don't recall for sure. It doesn't work so well on a Mackie.

 

[DaveDrummer]

For black dog as well as the no quarter chorus, jimmy plugged his guitar directly into the board and basically it would clip. it was harsh distortion and it kindof made it buzz. For the No quarter solo, it was definetly a clean fat guitar tone.,

 

[Simman]

Are you saying that Page's Les Paul (or whatever he was using) was plugged in DI, and not amped or are we talking about John Paul Jones' Bass being DI. Just trying to clear up my confusion. Never heard of DI-ing a 6-string and getting a dist. sound. Not saying that it can't be done or anything, just a little confused.

larry

From the article I read (the best I can recall... I'll try to find it)...Les Paul in to 1176 #1, 1176 # 1 into 1176 # 2. The first 1176 used to overdrive the 2nd.

 

[Simman]

I found it !!!

This interview Andy Johns describes exactly how he got the sound.


http://www.uaudio.com/andyjohns/index.html#Anchor-Interview-49575

 

[gatorhaus]

Re: I found it !!!

This interview Andy Johns describes exactly how he got the sound.


http://www.uaudio.com/andyjohns/index.html#Anchor-Interview-49575

HOLY CRAP!!!!

Man that throws everything out of the water, very cool article, thanks a bunch. I like this part.........

So “Black Dog” has a direct Gibson Les Paul Sunburst 52 or something, going right into the mic amps on the mixer, which is going through two 1176’s, and it sounds like some guy in the Albert Hall with a bunch of marshals.

wait, wait..... I think I see the light........


oh....here it is...............


man, just lost it!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for finding the article.
larry

 

[Simman]

No Problem! Thought the article was verry cool!!!!!

 

[VirtualSamana]

Shit,

next thing you know we find out that Hendrix recorded everything through a POD that ran on punch cards.

 

[gatorhaus]

Shit,

next thing you know we find out that Hendrix recorded everything through a POD that ran on punch cards.

LMAO,

That was very, very funny,
Thanks, VirtualSamana

larry