John Bonham hour

[coniferouspine]

Anyone wanna venture a guess as to what we're actually hearing in these files, i.e., is this the drum faders with effects from the board, or, someone else's after-effects job? The 'verb sounds suspiciously 80's to me.

Just a guess, but if it sounds '80s remember that these tracks are mostly from 1978. Or it might be these drum tracks were ripped by somebody during the "Coda" mixing sessions. I dunno, my friend who hipped me to these drum tracks a while ago, he thinks they might be some kind of 2-track safety backup or something, yunno, make a backup of the keeper drum takes at the end of the day, before messing with the overdubs, or run a 2-track machine at the same time while tracking, or something.

Also, I don't know if this is totally 100% accurate or not, but I was goofing around on the internet and I found this goofy fan painting of ABBA recording at Polar Studios, apparently in 1978. I think it is based upon a real photo. Anyway, you can see the room is pretty dang big and while of course I don't know anything, it's possible that what people think is 'verb or gates or whatever on these drum tracks, I'd bet it's the "room" in the picture is what you are actually hearing on the drums. Every picture of Polar I've ever seen, there's like beautiful wood paneling everywhere.

[JASIII]

My thought was that it was the room too.

[soundguy]

Im hearing the room and canned verb if anybody cares.

Abba owned Polar, again, if anybody cares.

dave

[McPhaul]

That's a great photo. I've never seen that one. Is that mic in front of the kit falling off the stand when the photo was taken?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Guitar World Presents #66 Guitar Legends Led Zeppelin

I was looking through some older mags tonight and came across the pic in it and knew I had seen it here the other day. The mag has some great stuff in it. As to the mic, it looked more like a gooseneck in the full sized pic.


Zeppelin4Life thanks for the great drums.

Will

[sthslvrcnfsn]

I would LOVE to hear an outtake from the song on the first album where Bonham does 16 kick triplets in a row. I've sat down with another friend of mie and counted it several times before, we're "zeplin" nuts. The tempo of the song is fast to begin with, but jesus, he comes out of the chorus with those triplets straight into the next verse, and keeps going for what seems like forever.

My mind has a hard time keeping up with his goddam foot... fer chrissake, i don't even wanna play the stupid drums any more.

between bonham and damon che and phil collins on some of the earlier Genesis stuff, obviously up until Lamb, all of the talent is taken already. the drum talent pool is empty.

hanging my head in shame,
jim

[soundguy]

chris, when you gonna tell them what you heard at my house?

dave

[sthslvrcnfsn]

also, whatever it is exactly that sounds like gated verb is driving me crazy while listening to this. It can't possibly be a 100% all natural (like Natural Light) room sound. Whatever it is I hate it.

[Harmony Head]

Im hearing the room and canned verb if anybody cares.

I'm surprised no one has thought of this..

I'm hearing either some 80s verb, or more probably, a cassette recorded with dbx or dolby c on, and played back with the noise reduction off...

Of course, i may have no idea what i'm talking about. Regardless.. holy crap these are great to listen to..

HH

[Red Rockets Glare]

Has anyone notice how far out of phase these drums are? Throw them into mono and all yo hear is the kick.
Whas dat all about?

[numberthirty]

All this Zepplin/Bonzo chatting has me thinking..... Zepplin4life, have you ever heard of a band called Centro-matic? Their drummer Matt is insane! I've got quite a few of their records and, I'd be glad to make you copies. That said, I've seen the quite a few times now and, I'd suggest taking in one of their shows.

[bobbydj]

Has anyone notice how far out of phase these drums are? Throw them into mono and all yo hear is the kick.
Whas dat all about?

WHOAH!! No - I have NOT!! Wow.

*looks at trashy*

[kellyd]

I'm gonna go out on the limb here. We're sure these are actually Bonham tracks? Maybe since they're tracks that didin't make the records but the pocket doesn't seem right. The double eight kik grooves are rushed and so is the space between the kik and snare. At least on the first few I listened to. Again maybe they're bad out takes but it sounds more like someone trying to sound like Bonham than the master himself. Never heard Bonham rushed an uneven pocket esp between kik and snare. So unlike him. Could be wrong. The snare sound doesn't seem right either. While we're at it the whole kit sounds wrong. More like someone trying to make it sound like Bonham. Like I said I could be wrong but something ain't right.

[leigh]

I'm gonna go out on the limb here. We're sure these are actually Bonham tracks?

I was wondering that too. I mean, the playing sounds great to me, but just how would you know?

Leigh

[aeijtzsche]

but just how would you know?

Line up "Track 22" and the released "Fool in the Rain" on your DAW and see for yourself.

[touched1]

I bet my last $5 that it's genuine. The drum sound + the room sound + the style + the manic grunts and groans all match up. it's so instantly recognizable. We hear these drum sounds and instantly think "Zeppelin".

I have listend to CODA a lot, and recognized the sound of the drums and the way they vary song to song instantly. I have not A/B'd them. But as I said above...

People have tried for years to emulate this sound and only come close. We are hearing it all out of context, so it's possible that it is someone else. If it is someone else, please give me their contact information. Because these types of drummers who can hit like that even when PLAYING TO HEADPHONES are hard to come by.