Chords for The TRUTH Behind Led Zeppelin: When The Levee Breaks

So I don't normally do this, but I'm actually gonna read some comments from one of my latest videos
It's the what makes us sound great by Led Zeppelin
But the comments were related to a comment I made in that video about when the levy breaks.
Let's check it out
Listen to things like when the levy breaks
You can really hear it where the extra repeat actually makes people think that he's playing doo-doo-dah _
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Reading these comments reminded me of the pre YouTube days when you'd see things in these message forums _
Where people would be repeating information that you knew wasn't right?
because let's say I knew the person that worked on the record maybe the producer the engineer and _
I know that that's not what they're doing because I've talked to them about it
So let me read you some of the comments from the comment section James the dr.
Duncan says Jimmy pages said in more than one interview that the drums and when the levy breaks were recorded in a stairwell inside
Headley Grange the echo effect is from close and distant micing in that stairwell not from an electronic echo or delay unit
You sure about that James?
Beatles gear says Rick bonzo's drums on when the levy breaks were not delayed with any device
Pages said he recorded them in a multi-story building in the stairway
The reverb slash delay was all natural from the largeness of the staircase
So no echo Chris 5291 says 420 No
That's actually incorrect the echo from when the levy breaks is actually natural since they recorded it in an old English manner called Headley Grange
They set up the drums in the stairway hall, which had a great echo
They also set up microphones right over the drums on every floor upwards the stairways so the natural echo could be channeled
This is why when the levy breaks has this great echo, which is all natural
This is from Marco Roney minor correction here at 417
The echo effect on that song was actually achieved inside a hallway that bottom played in
Page noticed this and miked up the stairwell so he could get this effect.
Look up Headley Grange great stuff
Come on, Marco Roney.
You think Jimmy page actually set up microphones?
This is their fourth record the engineer Andy Johns had done the record before this
Along with a lot of the stones records and
And many more big hit records muddy poppin says when the levy breaks was recorded in an entryway
Within the castle walls of Alistair Crowley's castle Jimmy pages home
The space was chosen because it had a strange ambient quality to which I responded
No, then he actually corrected himself my mistake.
It was actually in a stairwell at Headley Grange to get that sound
This is actually the best one
Monkey weasel 44 says weren't the drums for levy recorded in the castle with a high ceiling and two mics dipped in unicorn tears _ _
_ _ _ _ This is why you have some of these responses
Evan Carroll writes in the documentary it might get loud
Jimmy page explains how they got the echo sign on the drums for when the levy breaks.
It wasn't any equipment
It was a really tall room in a house that they played in.
They just set up the drums in there and recorded it
Okay, Jimmy page does say that here's a clip from it
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_ _ This is the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ hall where the
_ Drums were set up and where where levy breaks was recorded getting the drums reflecting off of the walls _ _ _ _ _ _
Yeah, you can hear that
[E] _ Reflective services the [E] mics were put up [Eb] here.
So in this clip Jimmy page says nothing about him setting up the microphones
He says where they were set up.
He doesn't say that he set them up.
He doesn't say anything about how they were recorded _
Let's actually hear it from the guy that was doing the recording.
This is Andy
John's talking about when the levy breaks I get asked a lot about the drum sound from when the levy breaks with Led Zeppelin and I'm
_ _ Understandably a little proud of that one because it was the first time _
That we'd ever done anything.
Well, I really know I
Had done anything with just two mics on the drums
I had wanting to do that on drums for some time and we went to this house
Called Headley Grange with the stones truck.
I had actually wanted to go to this other house
But Jimmy thought it was a little too expensive
how unusual _ _
so we rolled up and it had this a
Big lobby with stairs going up to landings kind of like a hotel lobby or something
Hotel _ and I got a couple of m160s, which are very directional by a mic double ribbon
I put those about halfway up the first set of stairs and compressed the crap out of them
We also had a thing called a Benson accurate, which is tough to find now, but it's a delay device
You can make a sound fairly easily with anything
Put that in and it was the first time I'd really had bonds those drum sound like they did when he stood next to them
And it was the first time he didn't complain either
But I cut that sound
That was my first reaction Jesus.
He's actually gonna be happy at last
Here's another interview conducted in 2006 with Chris Welsh for [A] rhythm magazine one night Zeppelin
We're all going down to the boozer and I [N] said you guys bugger off but Bonzo you stay behind because I've got an idea
So we took his kit out of the room where the other guys had been recording and stuck it in this lobby area
I got a couple of microphones and put them up the first set of stairs.
I used two
_ Biodynamic m160 microphones and put a couple of limiters over the two mics and used the Benson
Echorette echo device the Jimmy Page had bought he goes on to say and so playing at that particular
Tempo on Levy the limiters had time to breathe and that's how Bonzo got that
Gagat sound because of the Benson he wasn't playing that it was the Benson that made him sound like that
Okay, if you still don't believe it, I recorded the drums right back here
It's a Ludwig drum kit, but it's not nearly the same sizes.
I use two room mics.
I compressed them
I'm gonna show you what they sound like playing the beat with the echo and without the echo so you can hear it for yourself
Let's check it out.
First of all, I'm gonna play the when the Levy breaks of Zeppelin
Okay, so you can get a reference.
Here we go
[C] _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ [Db] Okay, this is [Bb] me playing with no echo.
Check it out _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ now.
I'm gonna engage the echo
The echo I'm using is a universal audio EP 34 tape echo
I have it at about 225 milliseconds, which is about the right tempo for the track and it's just got one single repeat
Let's check it out _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ You can hear it at the very end when it hits that last
_ The carry over there you can hear it stop you hear that repeat going.
So that's what it sounds like listen again _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ Hear it
_ [N] Clearly, I'm no John Bonham
But that should give you a fair idea as to how the echo works to create that sound now
There were probably about 20 comments in there and I just picked the first
I don't know six or seven of them that I that came up
But there were many many more and I didn't do it to pick on anyone here.
I did it to say that
_ Before you go and repeat things that you hear the information is actually
Already out there if you want to know how these sounds were created when I heard this back
30 years ago 40 years ago.
_ It sounded like there was an echo on the drums.
I immediately recognized that I _
Called all of my drummer friends today.
I asked them they said oh you mean the the echo on the drums now
Jimmy Page doesn't even say it in the movie
He doesn't say that he recorded it.
He doesn't say anything really about it
Just says where the mics were so I know that there's interviews out there and that people say this stuff on some of these online
forums _ and they just repeat
_ _ ridiculous information like that
but that's one of the reasons that I started this channel is to try to
to answer some of these questions like that and I think that this is a
Really interesting one when the levy breaks because it is so, you know, it's probably the most known drum sound in
Rock history.
That's all for now.
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