Led Zeppelin Recording Techniques

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike's Alright
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I once heard someone say that most Zep drums were recorded with three mics. 3 condensers: one on the right, one dead center, and one left. it was that simple. another part of Bonzo's sound was using a wood beater instead of a felt one for kick drums.
 
The classic "Glynn Johns" thing was an AKG D-30 [dynamic mic] in front of the kit, a Neumann U-67 [tube condenser] over the kit, and another Neumann U-67 looking over the floor tom on the side of the kit aimed at the snare... which isn't to say that other mic selections and placements weren't used along the way... but that's the 'classic Glynn Johns' thing.
 
this is the way Mike Hedges described in "Behind The Glass" as the "Glyn Johns way"....2 overheads, both 2 1/2 sticks length from the snare, the 1st over the floor tom looking toward the snare and the 2nd directly over the center of the snare, then adjust for phase.....the kick drum would go in front of the kick drum.....3 mics....viola.....
 
zbert said:
specifically the miking of Bonham's drums, and if lining f the bass drum with tin foil actually helps or hurts?

In the famous Zep book "Hammer of the Gods" Bohman talks about using ripped newspaper in the bass drum. He would take a great amount of time using headphones to listen to the placemant of the mics. Once set no one would dare touch them. Also I have a number of Zep bootlegs of studio takes. A lot of the drum sound was great mastering.
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Forget the Aluminum foil. Tht was something he did PRIOR To LEd Zeppelin.

They key ingredient to Bonham's drumsound is how the drums are TUNED.

Most drummers tune their kits low.

Bonham tuned the kit high, and he tuned the resonant (bottom) head a lot higher in pitch than the batter.

What I do, is use an Evans Torque key, tune the tops using "4", then tune the bottoms using "8". Pinstipes on top, and Ambassadors on the bottom.

In the Kick, you can put nothing at all, and tune it up high.
I play double bass so I want a little muffling on the batterheads, so I'm using an Evans "Gate" Pillow in each Kick.
Use a solid front head.

Reverse the Tom tuning for the kick- on the kick(s) tune the Batter head to 8, and the resonant to 4.

That will give you a solid attack, with a lot of low end thump.
Use a SOLID front head.

Go to the drum forum and search for Bonham or Zeppelin, I've posted several times in detail how to get the Bonham sound.


Tim
 
Well ?

Are you guys on crack or do you just not listen with your ears?

Nobody here has talked about how Zep or Andy Johns or whoever, used compression.

Why shoot, I stumbled onto that about 30 years ago when mixing a 4-track tape with drums on one track. By accident I left my little guitar effects COMPRESSOR on the track ... boom, instant LEVEE BREAKS drum sound.

So I am pretty sure that in addition to the famous staircase and the famous 3-microphone drum miking ... that the other VERY KEY ingredient was pretty heavy use of compressor. Probably tube compressor at the time.

Anyway ... there is more to Zep sound than just that. They seem to have (like the Beatles) rolled off a lot of top end in their mixes. Doesn't anybody else notice these things or pay actual attention to the actual records? Sheesh :)
 
Doesn't any notice how old this thread is? Responding to something that was written nine years ago? Sheesh!
 
This guy joins the forum in 2006, makes his first post in 2012 to a thread that the last post is 2003. Sheesh.
 
NudeMind said:
Are you guys on crack
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I think we know who is on crack :facepalm:
9cd17c67_holy20thread20resurrection.webp
 
NudeMind said:
Are you guys on crack or do you just not listen with your ears?
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:facepalm:Are you on crap or do you just not read with your eyes ?
NudeMind said:
Doesn't anybody else notice these things or pay actual attention to the actual records?
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Doesn't anyone else notice when a thread has actually ended 3 years before they joined the site that it's taken them 6 years to actually post in when the actual records are before them ? Sheesh kebab. :spank:
 
NudeMind said:
Are you guys on crack or do you just not listen with your ears?

Nobody here has talked about how Zep or Andy Johns or whoever, used compression.

Why shoot, I stumbled onto that about 30 years ago when mixing a 4-track tape with drums on one track. By accident I left my little guitar effects COMPRESSOR on the track ... boom, instant LEVEE BREAKS drum sound.

So I am pretty sure that in addition to the famous staircase and the famous 3-microphone drum miking ... that the other VERY KEY ingredient was pretty heavy use of compressor. Probably tube compressor at the time.

Anyway ... there is more to Zep sound than just that. They seem to have (like the Beatles) rolled off a lot of top end in their mixes. Doesn't anybody else notice these things or pay actual attention to the actual records? Sheesh :)
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Lissen mister, I AM Led Zeppelin and you know nothing of my work.
 
Bigger question is how a thread with 20 odd responses in it has garnered 13,000 views over the years...
 
Lol @ all the forum "gods" attempting to belittle someone who obviously found this thread through googling something that is of interest to them and who knows how many others.

Try it yourself "Led Zeppelin Recording Techniques"

For a sound that is decades old and still in the public interest - there really is no time limit on its discussion.

Armistice said:
Bigger question is how a thread with 20 odd responses in it has garnered 13,000 views over the years...
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See above.
 
CFox said:
For a sound that is decades old and still in the public interest - there really is no time limit on its discussion
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No one actually disputed that.
CFox said:
who obviously found this thread through googling something that is of interest to them and who knows how many others.
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No one disputed that either.

CFox said:
Lol @ all the forum "gods" attempting to belittle someone who obviously found this thread through googling something that is of interest to them and who knows how many others
Click to expand...
Just about every response to Nudey contained sarcasm, not because of the age of the thread or someone responding per se to an old thread, but because of Nudey's rude and unnecessary opening salvo to people who hadn't added to the thread in many a year. Mentioning the time frame was simply a functional device to carry the sarcasm.
 
Fighting the good fight for the oppressed, I see C. I'll look for you on my local political ticket next year... with a "Save the Trolls" platform.

Biggest question is why did no-one say to Jimmy Page "Play it again Jimmy. Not good enough!"

God he was scrappy in places...
 
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