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Produced by Jimmy Page


Stairway To Heaven

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Great Question,

Okay - remember "production" isn't the same as arranging in a general sense - which is "layering" harmony, though layering effected tones created by the producer and the overall depiction of a recording...is production.

Ramble On - is the most clearly commercial peice. The Leslie speaker with the guitar (the black LP or the telecaster) is fairly brilliant...and the idea that Robert begins harmonizing in a relative key which creates a modal expression more complex than just harmonizing to the initial key presented instrumentally at the intro before he reverts to that key for the chorus. Then Jim comes in with the solo played through the Leslie in a modal fashion as well. Nice. Good room sound - miking.

"Produced by Jimmy Page" is the reason I produce music today.

Lets see --- the plate reverb in Whole Lotta Love ......the opening guitar is split between the main cone facing mic and a second mic that it sounds like Jim fed a mic into a second amp's plate reverb with the volume low, so the same guitar signal just drives the amps plate reverb....but its volume is so low the guitar is not very audible in that side of the mix. (similar to Doors 'Peace Frog') He does quite a lot of that dual miking with one mike facing the cone or a few feet back and a second mic in back of the amp or split for room sound. He uses little EQ and tries to get as much of the room sound as possible as a rule ... and times the lag of the natural room delay in the 2nd mic (corrected for phase).

There are so many truly good peices - Achilles Last Stand and Rain Song. In Achilles.....he used a fingerslide technique - pitching the guitar upward in the composition using the scale, and then he manipulated the stereo panning at mix time to simulate the doppler effect - by combinging the two. Genius. It also ties into the "theme" physically by producing a sense of intense upward circular flight.

The Rain Song - moving, elegant, Jazzy - the "wow and flutter" of the Mellotron tape creates frequency defects which are actually highly desirable. For those of us who grew up with "MONO" - the Mellotron sound is at once reminiscent of the drive in theatre and still today suggests an antique woodsy timbre. The climax of the song is beautiful - but Robert's lyrical tale of suffering as an innate aspect of love and life are as much part of the song as the timbres and arrangement.

Now, Eddie Kramer and Johns also had thier part, so timbre is due to many things, but unquestionably Jim is perhaps one of the most underrated producers in the history of the discipline, far better than Phil Spector in many respects (or Sonny Bono of the Wrecking Crew).

I could get into this subject much more deeply, but unless someone responds - I don't want to go on to much.

Hi Jim - see this is your first post. If you be the real MaCoy - I sought Chris from the Firm for session work here in LA and had tea and then dinner with him. Haven't talked in a while. He seemed in need of jobs. Quiet guy. I think he was put off by a female guitarist/producer in the rock genre -- he'd never worked with one. He did compare me to Hendrix - which was really interesting. I think he was looking for an AC/DC type project....and this one is more like Zeppelin meets a bit of ELO meets a funky blues ideal. Hi to Jonesy. I know his former publicist with Diamanda - Tim Holmes in New York. I'm in LA> above Burbank. Happy posting, whoever the ghost may be.

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