The Rain Song - Overlooked Drum Fade?

[Danneman Lundström]

Hi all,

This is something that I've been thinking about for years but never seen anyone point out. 

On the original studio version of "The Rain Song" there seems to be something weird going on with how the drums fade into the mix. Listen at the 3:36 mark. The drums come in just a millisecond late and it also seems like it comes in on the "ring" of the cymbal, rather than the initial hit. The fade is very fast which makes for a pretty "off-beat" and unnatural sound.

On the companion disc that came bundled with the deluxe edition of the Houses of the Holy there's an alternate mix called " The Rain Song - Mix Minus Piano". Have a listen at the same mark around 3:36. Interestingly enough there is no fade/cut whatsoever and one can also hear that Bonzo leads up to the cymbal hit with three  brush strokes on the snare. Sounds good.

I wonder if something happened when they mixed the original version for the album. Maybe there was some noise on the drum channel before bonzo's cue that had to be cut and maybe someone accidentally removed (ie: recorded silence) too much, removing bonzos strokes and intial hit  as a result.

Anyways. Might be common knowledge for some of you guys. Thought it might be some interesting  trivia for others. Maybe someone knows what actually happened at the mix-down?

(Pretty crazy how 1 second of recorded music can make you wonder/investigate & post on a forum)

 

 

[hummingbird69]

Hmm there is a bit of the snare flurrish missing there, It sounds like an abbreviated run like they cut off the first bit and kept the rest and there is no sign of it on the alternate. Good ear,  stuff like that isn't easy to hear unless you are truly anal about what you are hearing and I'm not trying to insult.

[Strider]

It is clear Jimmy Page wanted a light touch on "Rain Song". I believe this is the only song in the Led Zeppelin catalogue where John Bonham used brushes. So it makes sense that Jimmy wanted Bonham's drums to come in like a whisper.

I actually prefer the original version where Bonham's entrance starts with the cymbals to the alternate mix.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Strider

[porgie66]

59 minutes ago, Strider said:

It is clear Jimmy Page wanted a light touch on "Rain Song". I believe this is the only song in the Led Zeppelin catalogue where John Bonham used brushes. So it makes sense that Jimmy wanted Bonham's drums to come in like a whisper.

I actually prefer the original version where Bonham's entrance starts with the cymbals to the alternate mix.

I do too. It is interesting though that Jimmy chose to chop off the little triplet before the cymbal entrance. This is the only song that Bonzo used brushes only.