Why John Bonham's drums sounded so good

rze99

vid. needs more playing less talking

Rowby1

I’m going to guess it’s down to Glyn Johns mic placement technique…..

If you’ve watched the Beatles movie there’s a moment where Ringo is sat playing on his own in the studio and it’s the same sound from his kit at the Led Zeppelin recordings…

AntonHunter

Ooh ooh, I know this one! Was it the way he played them?

(Looks good, I'll queue it up to watch later)

Teyeplayer

Rowby1 said:

I’m going to guess it’s down to Glyn Johns mic placement technique…..

If you’ve watched the Beatles movie there’s a moment where Ringo is sat playing on his own in the studio and it’s the same sound from his kit at the Led Zeppelin recordings…

Agreed. 

Having just read Johns’ biography he insists he has never measured the gap between mics unlike many online guides which suggest it is essential -he insists the trick is to listen to what is coming through the mics. Having worked with a few folks over the years who could have done with listening more and working by rote less, it was a sentiment I enjoyed.

octatonic

The people who made this video did an ok job but they are missing out several important pieces of information.

They say 'we didn't use any compression because they probably didn't use any or at least not in creative ways'.
This is factually incorrect.

We know for a fact that an ADR Compex was used on When The Levee Breaks.
It is very well known that the room mics were slammed with the Compex on that track.

They also very likely used 1176's, Fairchilds, Altec's and LA2a's.
It is known that Page used two 1176's in series on the guitars in Black Dog.
It is really weird to assert that they didn't use compression.

prowla

Every time I listen to a Led Zep album I think what a shame the production & mastering is so rubbish.

The drumming may be great, but I've never heard it sounding great.

All the money in the world and they couldn't record properly.

topdog91

Cringe.

Stuckfast

octatonic said:

It is really weird to assert that they didn't use compression.

Haven't watched the video but yes that's a bizarre thing to say. I'm sure Andy Johns is on record somewhere as saying that Four Sticks was difficult to mix because they'd used too much compression when they tracked it.

octatonic

Stuckfast said:

octatonic said:

It is really weird to assert that they didn't use compression.

Haven't watched the video but yes that's a bizarre thing to say. I'm sure Andy Johns is on record somewhere as saying that Four Sticks was difficult to mix because they'd used too much compression when they tracked it.

More likely they didn't feel confident talking about compression in a video aimed at drummers who probably also don't understand it.

But would have been better to say 'we aren't covering compression in this video as it is a really deep topic and we want to stick with the basics' instead of saying things that are demonstrably false.

rze99

octatonic said:

Stuckfast said:

octatonic said:

It is really weird to assert that they didn't use compression.

Haven't watched the video but yes that's a bizarre thing to say. I'm sure Andy Johns is on record somewhere as saying that Four Sticks was difficult to mix because they'd used too much compression when they tracked it.

More likely they didn't feel confident talking about compression in a video aimed at drummers who probably also don't understand it.

But would have been better to say 'we aren't covering compression in this video as it is a really deep topic and we want to stick with the basics' instead of saying things that are demonstrably false.

Ive never worked in recording session with a drummer who hasn’t understood compression, maybe not an a deep level but a working knowledge of it. 

octatonic

rze99 said:

octatonic said:

Stuckfast said:

octatonic said:

It is really weird to assert that they didn't use compression.

Haven't watched the video but yes that's a bizarre thing to say. I'm sure Andy Johns is on record somewhere as saying that Four Sticks was difficult to mix because they'd used too much compression when they tracked it.

More likely they didn't feel confident talking about compression in a video aimed at drummers who probably also don't understand it.

But would have been better to say 'we aren't covering compression in this video as it is a really deep topic and we want to stick with the basics' instead of saying things that are demonstrably false.

Ive never worked in recording session with a drummer who hasn’t understood compression, maybe not an a deep level but a working knowledge of it. 

You've been lucky.

(I say this as a drummer too).

GoFish

Teyeplayer said:

Rowby1 said:

I’m going to guess it’s down to Glyn Johns mic placement technique…..

If you’ve watched the Beatles movie there’s a moment where Ringo is sat playing on his own in the studio and it’s the same sound from his kit at the Led Zeppelin recordings…

Agreed. 

Having just read Johns’ biography he insists he has never measured the gap between mics unlike many online guides which suggest it is essential -he insists the trick is to listen to what is coming through the mics. Having worked with a few folks over the years who could have done with listening more and working by rote less, it was a sentiment I enjoyed.

IIRC, wasn't George Martin's mantra to "trust your ears!" ?

soma1975

I spent a few days with Glyn Johns filming him for an upcoming documentary. Absolutely lovely guy and he wrote my young son a letter cos he was a Beatles fan.

So funny that the Glyn Johns drum mic technique was by accident because he had a mic out on its side perpendicular to the drums from when he was using it on Page's guitar amp and accidentally brought that fader up and everyone loved it. 

Also attended a Q&A with him where tons of nerds tried to ask him technical questions about the kit he used and everything was batted away and answered with it being along the lines of 'wiggle everything until it sounds good'. 

He was much more into providing the environment where people could make great music and then recording it as simply as possible.