snapper Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 I've read where Page says that the tape speed of No Quarter from HOTH was slowed down to thicken up the sound and give it a more dramatic effect. Seems to me that the vocals were sped up on TSRTS as well as on Four Sticks. Anyone know of other Zep songs that may have had tape speed manipulated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabe Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 shinedaddy and deluxe both offer interesting and knowledgeable perspectives on this topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evster2012 Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 It's all supposition. Pagey has been cagey about those things. Yes, clearly No Quarter was dropped down, but the bigger mysteries lie in When The Levee Breaks and The Song Remains the Same. I believe there was some manipulation there, but only for effect. I think they may have slowed TSRTS down when Plant did his vocs, giving it a higher timbre. Then again, Page tuned to an open G for the Rain Song which live was in open A. Bron-Yr-Stomp is certainly sped up. But as I see it, it was just a small handful of songs that got "Varispeeded". A very small handful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetTheLedOut Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 It's all supposition. Pagey has been cagey about those things. Yes, clearly No Quarter was dropped down, but the bigger mysteries lie in When The Levee Breaks and The Song Remains the Same. I believe there was some manipulation there, but only for effect. I think they may have slowed TSRTS down when Plant did his vocs, giving it a higher timbre. Then again, Page tuned to an open G for the Rain Song which live was in open A. Bron-Yr-Stomp is certainly sped up. But as I see it, it was just a small handful of songs that got "Varispeeded". A very small handful. Thanks for taking something that a lot of us already knew and giving us more information and perspective on it. I surely did not know about the tunings in studio vs. live. Thanks Ev! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddot Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 Its not always a matter of just slowing it up or down. he might of played around with the speed while recording different takes to bring out differnt tonal qualities. And then in the mix slow the whole thing down or up a little. so theoretically a weird open tuning recorded at one speed then played back at normal speed...then in the mix yet another speed... leaves four questions 1. original tuning 2. speed at which band was tuned 3. speed at which individual part was recorded 4. speed at which was played back at mix print the question remains, and Evester probably knows the awnser, which tracks were played after it was slowed down. The drums on Levee were played normally on to tape then slowed to make them sound deeper, then the band recorded their parts at the slow speed. Or was the tape recording fast while they recorded bonzo and then slowed down to normal speed? standard tape speed. 7.5 15 ips 30 ips 60ips tops only on certain machines what i like to do is print the reverb at faster speeds and then slow them down to 30 to record normally. Magnetic tape offers a harmonic distortion that tweeks with the tonal qualities in strange ways at differring harmonic intervals. Getting them to sound cool when the tape is playd back at normal speed is the trick. Tuning becomes insane. ad to that if you have an organ or piano that cant change pitch. I makes it easy to varispeed the machine in such a way as to use it as a transposing machine to help facilitate a key for the vocals or keybourds or wacky tuned guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 They slowed the master track down for "When the Levee Breaks". If you listen to the alternate versions they are full band takes just slightly faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 I remember Jimmy Page saying in an interview that a lot of the vocals from Houses were sped up to give it that summery feel that the album has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef free Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I've always wondered if the Heartbreaker solo is sped up. It never sounded quite right live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I've always wondered if the Heartbreaker solo is sped up. It never sounded quite right live. The Heartbreaker solo was cut at a different time than the rest of the song. The guitar is just slightly out of tune with the rest of the song. Similar to the way Moby Dick was cut. They cut the main song and the drum solo separately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zep41 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 I've always wondered if the Heartbreaker solo is sped up. It never sounded quite right live. jimmy has said that his guitar during the solo spot was slightly out of tune (a bit higher) You have to remember that II was cut and pieced together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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