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Jones' 1980 synth


ZepFanatic

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I think the synth JPJ switched to for the 1980 sounds fucking horrible. In all the years I've been listening to bootlegs, the synth, especially during Stairway and Kashmir, is total shite when compared to the mellotron. And his solos in In the Evening and All My Love are cringe-inducing, they're so cheesy-sounding. I can't be the only one who feels this way??

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I think the synth JPJ switched to for the 1980 sounds fucking horrible. In all the years I've been listening to bootlegs, the synth, especially during Stairway and Kashmir, is total shite when compared to the mellotron. And his solos in In the Evening and All My Love are cringe-inducing, they're so cheesy-sounding. I can't be the only one who feels this way??

You have to understand that it was the new thing at the time. Technology has gotten much better. Certain songs it sounds and some it sounds lame.

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I think the synth JPJ switched to for the 1980 sounds fucking horrible. In all the years I've been listening to bootlegs, the synth, especially during Stairway and Kashmir, is total shite when compared to the mellotron. And his solos in In the Evening and All My Love are cringe-inducing, they're so cheesy-sounding. I can't be the only one who feels this way??

I agree with you- Kashmir & In The Evening fare the worst IMHO.

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Yeah In the Evening is bad, Kashmir is OK but not nearly as good as with the mellotron. All My Love is cheese anyway (although I enjoy the studio version and respect the sentiment behind it) but JPJ plays the solo so straight it sounds laughable almost...

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Yeah In the Evening is bad, Kashmir is OK but not nearly as good as with the mellotron. All My Love is cheese anyway (although I enjoy the studio version and respect the sentiment behind it) but JPJ plays the solo so straight it sounds laughable almost...

Come to think of it, thats probs the main reason i dont listen to the 80 stuff.

It wasnt just Zep though was it? They all jumped on the new technology wagon (Who, Sabbath, Genesis etc) and hammered the final nail in the coffin so to speak.

BRING BACK THE MELLOTRON!!!

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Come to think of it, thats probs the main reason i dont listen to the 80 stuff.

It wasnt just Zep though was it? They all jumped on the new technology wagon (Who, Sabbath, Genesis etc) and hammered the final nail in the coffin so to speak.

BRING BACK THE MELLOTRON!!!

there´s hope for the needful:

http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/home.html

also read this topic

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It's not hard to get an authentic mellotron sound on modern gear. There are mellotron sample packs and VST plugins. At the time, JPJ was struggling with maintenance on the Mellotron so much that he was willing to sacrifice the tone just to have something more road-worthy. Everybody was in the same boat back in the day, Rick Wakeman, etc...

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I'm claiming total ignorance up front here but all we have from '80 are soundboard recordings so wouldn't that contribute somewhat to the thin keyboard sound? I've always felt the same about Jimmy's guitar but wrote it off to the dry mix coming through the board.

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It's not hard to get an authentic mellotron sound on modern gear. There are mellotron sample packs and VST plugins. At the time, JPJ was struggling with maintenance on the Mellotron so much that he was willing to sacrifice the tone just to have something more road-worthy. Everybody was in the same boat back in the day, Rick Wakeman, etc...

yep, they would regularly go out of tune, weighed a ton and would occasionally explode!

probs easier to get to gigs than a full 'pakistani orchestra' though!

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I'm claiming total ignorance up front here but all we have from '80 are soundboard recordings so wouldn't that contribute somewhat to the thin keyboard sound? I've always felt the same about Jimmy's guitar but wrote it off to the dry mix coming through the board.

There are AUD recordings of a lot of the 1980 shows and the sound is just as bad on those, too...

Same with Page's weak guitar tone in 1977...by 1979 it was beefier and not too bad in 1980...1977 was the worst for his tone...

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Oh, those 80' synths, they must have been so cool sounding back then but now they feel overly dated, I lay the blame on the disco revolution, but the real problem, may be the mix, keyboards where placed far too high, the wonderful In The Evening from the DVD features those keyboards, yet it sounds so good if placed lower. Mixing issues IMO.

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All of those songs would sound better with a full orchestra, rather than a keyboard anyway.

Oh, those 80' synths, they must have been so cool sounding back then but now they feel overly dated, I lay the blame on the disco revolution, but the real problem, may be the mix, keyboards where placed far too high, the wonderful In The Evening from the DVD features those keyboards, yet it sounds so good if placed lower. Mixing issues IMO.

Very true. That's probably why songs like All My Love and Carouselambra sound so hokey now.

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