‘I found it by mistake’: How Glyn Johns helped showcase Led Zeppelin’s huge drum sound

[sam_webmaster]

‘I found it by mistake’: How Glyn Johns helped showcase Led Zeppelin’s huge drum sound

by Nick DeRiso | Rock Music — July 30, 2013

Glyn Johns, who engineered Led Zeppelin’s 1969 self-titled debut, basically stumbled upon a new way of recording drummer John Bonham — creating the dynamic stereo cadences that drive tracks like “Communication Breakdown.”

Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page produced the album, but it was a microphone switch by Johns — famous for his work, too, with the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Who — that changed everything: In setting up multiple mics for Bonham, Johns accidentally had one of them directed to one side of the stereo mix. The rest of his performance was emanating from the middle.

“Half of the drums were coming out of the left, by mistake,” Johns says in this Q&A. “And I thought: I wonder what it would sound like if I took the one in the middle, and put it on the other side. And there is was — the beginning of stereo drums.”

“Communication Breakdown” was influential in other ways. Guitarist Johnny Ramone once said he developed his signature down-stroke style based on Page’s riff. But everyone began to hear drums in a new way after Led Zeppelin arrived.

Not that Johns is ready to take too much credit: “I found it by mistake. Like anything good that’s ever happened to me, really — it’s been a fluke of some sort,” he says. “So, I can’t really take any credit for it, other than recognizing it.”

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/07/30/i-found-it-by-mistake-how-glyn-johns-helped-showcase-led-zeppelins-huge-drum-sound/

[SuperDave]

Very interesting Sam. Many thanks. Amazing what can happen by accident. The rest is history I guess.

[Daniel]

Most interesting 3:13 I've spent all week!

[shinedaddy]

Jimmy might have something to say about that!

[Strider]

Jimmy might have something to say about that!

You know, it doesn't slight or discredit Jimmy Page to acknowledge that he might have had a little help in recording Led Zeppelin. Glyn Johns and Eddie Kramer were no schlubs...they knew their way around a mixing console or two.

Jimmy Page didn't do everything by himself.

[FireOpal]

I also belong to a forum of Eagles fans (don't judge me, Strider!) and there is an active discussion going on there about Glyn Johns' recent autobiography "Sound Man." I haven't read the book yet, but reportedly there is substantial discussion of Jimmy Page's early career and Led Zeppelin.

Disapponting reviews overall, which is too bad. People say the book is dull and vague.