In what could become one of the more entertaining court battles in music history, Led Zeppelin is being sued for stealing parts of "Stairway To Heaven" from a song by the 60s band Spirit called "Taurus" more than 45 years after the song was written. The estate of Spirit guitarist and "Taurus" songwriter Randy California filed the lawsuit, which is going to trial on May 10th.
All this stems from the fact that Zep opened for Spirit several times during their first tour of the United States during which Spirit performed "Taurus" as part of their set. OK, we get that, but why wait 40+ years to sue?
If you listen to the Spirit song below, you'll hear some vague similarities to the intro of "Stairway," but it's of a rather generic guitar pattern and nothing like the song's melody. That said, after last year's "Blurred Lines" plagiarism lawsuit won by the estate of Marvin Gaye, suits like this are now leaning more in favor of the plaintiff than ever before.
It's been estimated that "Stairway" has made the Zeps $540 million over the years, and the California estate is obviously hoping for at least a reasonable piece of that, but songwriters Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (who are the only Zeps named in the suit) obviously have deep pockets and are willing to fight as necessary.
So songwriters beware, there's nothing new under the sun given the 12 note scale that western musicians use, so you're probably copying a previous song without even knowing it. And today, that's enough to get you sued.
Go to 0:45 on the video below to hear what's considered to be the similarities between songs.
(photo: Jim Summaria via Wikipedia)
"Stairway To Heaven" has been a staple of classic rock radio since the song was released in 1972 on Led Zeppelin 4 and for many, it's the song that epitomizes that era of music. Have a listen to Jimmy Page describe the creation of the song to BBC News.
One of the cool things Page describes is how the song intentionally accelerated as it went along, going against the sensibilities of the band's studio musician mindset.
We take stereo drum recording for granted, but it's easy to forget that most drum kits were regularly recorded in mono until the early 1970s.
How stereo drum miking actually came about is a unique story. It was accidentally invented by British engineer/producer Glyn Johns (we looked at his miking technique the other day) during the recording of Led Zeppelin 1 in 1968.
Glyn went on to use the method with other seminal British acts including The Who and The Beatles, among many others, but it's this story that's been told in many forms over the years.
Here's the man himself explaining how it all happened.
The part about the stereo drums begins at around 1:00.
There's just about a 100% chance that on any rhythm section recording that you walk into these days, you'll see at least a mic on every drum plus a couple of overheads.
It wasn't always this way though, as most drum recording was done with only a very few microphones back in the heyday of the music industry - from the 50s through the mid-70s.
The drum sound from back then could be huge, but engineer/producer Glyn Johns got a particularly great sound with just 3 mics on those early hits of Led Zeppelin, The Who and many others.
Many have tried to duplicate his technique since, but few come close to capturing the sound.
Here's a real treat, as Glyn himself describes the perfectly simple setup in this very home-made video. Of course, you can also see the technique described detail in my Recording Engineer's Handbook 3rd edition.
By the way, don't miss him give the real key to sound about half-way through, which is to run the mic preamps 10dB hotter than you normally would and back down the fader!
Bob Clearmountain is one of the great recording and engineers of all time, mixing huge hits for The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, and many more. He's also a part owner of Apogee Electronics, so he occasionally does some videos demonstrating their products.
Here's a great video where he shows the original Glyn Johns minimal miking technique as used on classic records by Led Zeppelin and The Who. Bob uses a 4 channel Apogee Quartet to record (hence the 4 microphones).
Matt Chamberlain is the drummer, and towards the end of the video he discusses the drum selection and tuning for a Jon Bonham sound. Very cool.
I haven't done a song analysis for quite a while as I've been saving them up for some new editions of my Deconstructed Hits series. Here's a preview from Classic Rock Volume 2. It's "Kashmir," one of Led Zeppelin's most iconic songs.
"Of all the songs recorded by Led Zeppelin, “Kashmir” may be the most highly regarded. Considered to be the peak musical achievement by all four members of the band, the song was a radio staple from when it was released (even with 8:28 running time) until this day.
“Kashmir” was originally titled “Driving to Kashmir” and reflects a time when guitarist/producer Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant were driving through the Saharan Desert on their way to play the National Festival of Morocco. The song carries Moroccan musical influences, despite Kashmir actually being a province of India, a country half a world away.
This was one of the few songs by the band that featured outside musicians, as uncredited string and horn players were brought in to provide the power that only an orchestra can provide. The song actually took three years to complete, as it started out on a home recorded work tape of Page. The song is only credited to three of the four band members as bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones was late getting to the studio when the song was being worked out.
The Song
Few Led Zeppelin songs follow the traditional rules of popular songwriting, and “Kashmir” is no exception. The verses are principally in 6/8 time but the drums play in a 4/4 rhythm against it, yet instrumental choruses and bridges come back to 4/4 so the song seems anchored and closer to what we’re used to hearing. Plus, there’s no traditional vocal chorus, as only the orchestral riff at the end of each verse acts like a chorus.
Even though the song might be considered a dirge by some, the lyrics are fairly positive and uplifting, being set around the idea of life as an adventure. The verses are written as poetry with few forced rhymes (save for the second verse, which feels unfinished), but the bridges are somewhat contrived and seem almost like they were improvised or tacked on at the last minute. The form looks like this:
“Kashmir” has an arrangement as interesting as the song demands. The song is very long because the sections repeat multiple times (except for bridge 1 that only happens once in the song), but we don’t lose interest not only because of the power of the orchestra, but because of the subtle arrangement changes.
The intro and verse are the same instrumentally with the guitar on the left, strings on the right and drums up the middle, except for the vocal entering on the verse. The instrumental chorus has an additional guitar doubling the line on the right, and horns in the center.
The second verse is identical to the first except a string counter line enters, with the basses holding the lowest note on the right side. The second chorus is the same as the first except for the strings doubling the guitar on the left.
The first bridge is entirely different from the rest of the song in that it’s much more open and funky, especially the drums. The elements remain the same as the chorus, with the second string line on the left doubling the guitar original guitar line, and Page’s guitar now playing harmony to it. The next chorus is identical in arrangement to the previous one.
The second bridge sees the Mellotron strings playing a high line on the left and the lower strings from the orchestra playing a different, almost answering line on the right, with the horns punctuating the accents.
The third verse is identical to the second, except that low horns answer the end of the string counter phrase. The next chorus is the same as the previous, as is the last verse and chorus, except for the last time through the pattern when low strings fill out the sound.
The final bridge sees the Mellotron strings begin on the right, punctuated by horns at the end of each line. After 4 bars, a new ascending line enters with the orchestra strings on the left and Mellotron on the right, accompanied by much more active drumming, including fills at the end of each string line.
Arrangement Elements
The Foundation: bass and drums
The Rhythm: none
The Pad: strings and horns, Mellotron (bridge 2)
The Lead: lead vocal
The Fills: strings and horns
The Sound
The mix balance of “Kashmir” is very interesting as it centers around John Bonham’s drums with Jimmy Page’s guitar and John Paul Jones’ bass somewhat buried in the mix. Even the vocal is laid back into the mix, which is typical of many rock songs in order to help emphasis the power of the band.
Bonzo’s drum sound is typical of all Led Zeppelin albums in that it’s somewhat distant and roomy, mostly because the drummer insisted on recording with two or three mics (when recording in stereo) in order to adequately capture the sound of the drums as he heard them. That said, by this time most other producers were resorting to using more mics closer in on the drums in order to capture the full sound of each, which helped to make them sound more dramatic. You can hear the difference in Bonzo’s many drum fills on the last bridge of the song where you can hear a bit of a stereo effect, but not what we’re used to hearing on other records. The drums were also put through an Eventide phaser suppled by engineer Ron Nevison, which can be heard clearly on the cymbal crashes of the first bridge.
Probably the most interesting thing on the record is how much producer Page used the stereo field. Guitar is panned to the left and the strings are panned to the right during the bridge and the strings are in wide stereo during the chorus. As the song progresses, you hear two different strings lines on the left and right in the second bridge, and a low horn pans left to center, then right to center at the end of the string counter phrases during the third and fourth verses.
LISTEN UP
To the guitar on the left and the strings on the right playing the same line during the verses
To the wide stereo reverb on the vocal
To the stereo orchestra panned hard left and right during the choruses
To the two different string lines left and right on the second bridge
To the low horn that pans left to right at the end of the string line during the third and fourth verses
To the phasing effect on the drums during the first bridge
The Production
The production of “Kashmir” is truly a departure for both Led Zeppelin and rock music at the time. Being known as the most influential rock band of the era didn’t stop them from coming out of left field to employ an orchestra on a recording that was the centerpiece of the album, and some say even the band’s career.
The fact that the guitar is somewhat buried in the mix turns out to be a brilliant move. It’s there in the mix and an essential part, but it doesn’t need to be front and center like on other songs.
Another interesting production point is that’s it’s difficult to tell the difference between the simulated strings and the real ones, a tribute to arranger John Paul Jones skills. The Mellotron strings can be more clearly heard as a line on the bridge 2, but they interweave so well with the real strings that it takes a conscious effort to discern the difference.
Yet another interesting production trick is the panning of the instruments in the mix. There are elements constantly entering and exiting from all sides, as well as parts moving from one side to the other. The moves are subtle, and in no way make the recording seem as drastic as a stereo demonstration record, instead adding the interest that an 8+ minute song needs to keep the listener’s attention.
All this leads to one of the most important and influential track of the era, and one that seems destined to be played on radio and streaming to people’s headphones for decades to come.
Here's a very interesting isolated track from "Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin. It's the isolated lead guitar track, and while there isn't that much music of it (most of the track consists of only headphone leakage), it is pretty telling of how Zep recorded.
What you'll hear is Jimmy Page's guitar parts in the turnaround before choruses, the solo harmony parts, and an interesting part at the end that's not on the record. Here's what to listen for:
1. The first part enters at 1:05 and it's the pre-chorus clean guitar part. Nothing particularly remarkable here; it sounds just like the record.
2. The first solo begins at 1:55 and it consists of long sustaining distorted notes that are a harmony to the main guitar part. Listen to the end, where Page plays a very busy fill that doesn't make the final mix.
3. The second solo comes at 2:31 and once again it's a harmony part. It's not performed with great precision but it certainly works within the context of the part.
4. At 4:00 the reverb is turned way up and Page plays some harmonics and sustained notes, then some fills at the end. This is something that you won't hear on the record as the song is faded by the time these parts enter.
5. The interesting thing in this track is that it appears that Page knew exactly what he was going to play in every section beforehand. Where today we would take each section at a time and work on it, in this case it was more like, "Go into record for the entire song and let me take a pass." As a result, this might have been the only take of these parts.
The percussion track is an often overlooked element in a hit song, but don't underestimate its importance, since it's often responsible for a sense of movement and motion. There are numerous hits that would sound completely different if their percussion tracks were muted.
Here's the percussion track on a song that you probably thought didn't have one - Led Zeppelin's seminal hit "Whole Lotta Love." Here are some things to listen for (it doesn't start until 1:20 into the song):
1. John Bonham is certainly one of the most influential rock drummers ever, but that doesn't mean he was a great percussionist. His conga playing leaves a little to be desired as he searches for a groove throughout the song.
2. At 3:31 coming out of the guitar break in the bridge, Bonham switches to tambourine, which feels much more in the groove.
3. On the outro at 4:40, he returns to the congas and this time they groove a bit better as he plays to the end.
4. Listen at 5:43 as Bonzo sings along with the track for a couple of seconds.
This song is a prefect illustration that being a drummer does not automatically mean you're a percussionist as well. They are two different skills. Although some drummers can do both well (my good buddy Ronnie Ciago comes to mind), sometimes it's better for the song to get a specialist for each (although the percussion track didn't hurt this song much in the end).
For all of you guitar fans who love history, here's a look at Jimmy Page's rhythm guitar parts from Led Zeppelin's classic hit "Whole Lotta Love." The song might've ripped off Willie Dixon, but it exposed millions of kids to maybe the world's most basic blues riff. Here are some things to listen for:
1. The riff is doubled (1958 Les Paul Standard through a 100 watt Marshall Plexi) but it's in mono. It's also pretty loose, as you can hear either one or both parts misplayed at a number of places in the songs. Of course, that wouldn't get by today, but did that ever bother any of us before?
2. The bridge begins at 1:24, but the guitar ad libs don't begin until 1:50. At that point the amp noise increases, perhaps as a result from switching in the delay.
3. Something that you don't hear too clearly in the final mix is the new guitar riff that begins at the outro at 4:40.
4. If you listen all the way to the end you'll hear two endings. The first is rather tame, but listen a little more and you'll hear a more wild ending from the previous take at 5:50.
Here's a really treat for all you Led Zeppelin aficionados. It's the isolated drum track from their hit "Whole Lotta Love" off of their 2nd album. This cut illustrates perfectly why drummer John Bonham's sound and style is still emulated to this day. Here are some things to listen for (the drums don't enter until :39).
1. The drum kit sounds like a single instrument instead of a series of closely related pieces. That's because that was the way recording drums was approached way back then (1969), where there wasn't enough mics or input channels to even think about miking each drum. As a result, the overall sound was more important than the individual drum sound and there's a lot of space around the drums because they weren't close miked. Still, there's plenty of power in his kick and snare, because he played them hard!
2. Bonham plays a modified shuffle feel in the song that really makes it work. That's why you rarely hear a cover band play it as well, since most drummers never quite hear inside the beat.
3. Check out the cymbal pattern Bonzo plays in bridge. It sounds random, but it isn't.
4. You can hear him singing (grunting) along at 4:00.
5. Bonham's fills are simple and powerful. Most drummers would flash technique in a song like this.
6. Listen for the song ending that you never heard on the record.
Here's a rare interview with Led Zeppelin founder/producer Jimmy Page. It's an excerpt from 2012 on the BBC News. It's a bit of a promo about the DVD from their 2007 reunion show, of which bits and pieces are shown during the interview, but it's still great to hear from him.
You can tell from the conversation that he still wants to tour and there's been some rumors that Robert Plant has softened on the prospect. Here's hoping that it happens.
Going back in time again, here's the isolated bass track from a Led Zeppelin song that I always loved - "Ramble On." On it you hear bassist extraordinaire John Paul Jones play a complex track very well, but listening to just his track alone isn't quite fair, as you'll see.
Here are some things to listen for:
1. Listen to how the bass sounds. Big, full and fat, with lots of lows yet plenty of definition. We sometimes have a hard time achieving that today.
2. Listen to how the level changes between the first verse and chorus from there on. It's much louder by the end, as is the rest of the band. It's a good example of dynamics.
3. Listen to how JPJ plays the verse line staccato (short and choppy) in the first verse, then legato (smooth) from there on.
4. There's a lot of missed notes that you probably didn't hear with the rest of the band playing (I know I didn't). Listen at 1:20, 1:30 and 2:31 just for starters. Then there's a mistake at 3:47.
That's not to rag on one of the best bass players ever. It's just to point out that back in those days, we had a different idea of what was acceptable than we do today, where we try to wring perfection out of each note.
5. JPJ plays some brilliant ad libs on the outro after about 4:00. Too bad we miss a lot of this thanks to the fade on the record.
This just goes to show that an isolated track does not make a song, it's how the entire band interacts. If you listen to the real thing, you'll hear how spot on JPJ is with both drummer John Bonham and guitarist Jimmy Page, which is why the band always sounded bigger than the sum of its parts.
If you like listening to isolated tracks of classic records, here's a good one. It's John Paul Jones isolated bass track for Led Zeppelin's 1969 hit "Whole Lotta Love."
There are a lot of interesting things here. First of all, JPJ plays an 8 string bass, which is why the sound of the record is so thick (ha, now we know). Other things to listen for is the slight change of the riff at :29, then the mistakes at 1:05 and 1:10. It's amazing what we'd leave in back in those days that no one ever noticed. Also, listen to the tempo speed up slightly, then pull back, another thing that you don't notice in the track.
I just love this video series called Everything Is A Remix from Kirby Ferguson. In it he puts forth that when it comes right down to it, all current art is "borrowed" from previous art.
In this video, Kirby singles out Led Zeppelin and provides some concrete examples of how they not only borrowed from some of the legendary Bluesman as well as some of their contemporaries, but they outright stole from them by not giving them credit. And one good turn deserves another, as some of the today's artists have turned around and down the same thing, this time with Zep being the victims.
The Zeppelin part starts at around 1:35, but first, he outlines the number of times that Chic's "Good Times" has been used as the basis of other records. It's a pretty awesome video.
We take stereo drum recording for granted these days, but you have to remember that for a great many years, the drums were always recorded in mono. The popular miking method at the time was just an overhead mic and another on the kick drum, and that was it.
But stereo drum recording came about in a most unusual way. Here's how the legendary engineer George Massenburg tells it in the interview section of The Mixing Engineer's Handbook.
"I’ve been working with Glyn Johns, and Glyn is a master of the accidental big airy drums, of course with Led Zeppelin. It’s a great story.
I was
having dinner with Glyn and Doug Sax (mastering engineer extraordinaire) one night, and he was telling us about the first Led Zeppelin record
and how they set up the drums in mono. They had one 67 right over the
snare, but they always needed a little bit more floor tom, so he stuck a mic
at elbow level, kind of off by the floor tom, pointing into the snare.
After
he finished the track, he grabbed the mic and put it on the guitar and
panned it. When he put it back on drums, he forgot to pan it back. “Oh, that sounds great. I wonder what happens if I take the overhead and pan it right?”
And Doug and I looked at each other and said, “You got stereo
drum miking by accident?” And in that case he became well known for
that big airy Led Zeppelin and The Who sound. It was a different sound
than what was being done in New York, which was almost all mono, or
California, which was a spaced-pairs kind of thing. The earliest stereo that
I knew didn’t even include stereo drums."
Glyn's Led Zep 3 mic stereo drum method still works today. Give it a try sometime. You might really like what you hear.
For more book excerpts from The Mixing Engineer's Handbook and my other books, go to my website.
I thought I'd analyze Led Zeppelin's iconic "Stairway To Heaven" in honor of the anniversary of the band's Led Zeppelin 4 album, which was released 40 years ago this week. The song was voted #3 in 2000 by VH1 on their list of the "100 Greatest
Rock Songs." It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in
the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been released as a
single. This apparently was a decision made by the band's manager, Peter Grant, so fans would buy the album instead of the single. As with all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.
The Song
"Stairway To Heaven" is one of the most interesting songs ever in terms of song form. Everything about it breaks the rules of what we consider "pop song" form, but that's what makes it so cool. Here's what the form looks like:
Intro (8 bars of guitar), Intro (16 bars with Mellotron), Verse (20 bars), Interlude (8 bars), B section (8 bars), Verse (8 bars), Interlude (1 bar), B section (16 bars), Verse (16 bars), Interlude (1 bar), B section (16 bars), Verse (16 bars), Interlude (1 bar)
That's just the first part of the song! As you can see, every section is somewhat different length-wise. Now comes the C section up-tempo outro:
Intro (2 bars of 7/8), Guitar Solo (36 bars), Vocal (36 bars), Outro (16 bars), Ending
There are a couple of interesting things here. First of all the C section intro is in 7, which is highly unusual for a rock song, then both the solo and vocal are 36 bars each, or 9 times through the pattern instead of 8. Once again, this is so much different than what you'd expect, yet it works.
The Arrangement
The arrangement for "Stairway" is brilliant in that there are only 7 instruments, yet it sounds much bigger.
The beginning of the song is mostly acoustic guitar and mellotron flutes, and a Fender Rhodes electric piano holds down the bass from the 1st B section onwards to the C section. On the 4rth verse, the drums and bass enter, along with a 12 string electric. A Telecaster then doubles the riff during the interludes. Take notice that the electric piano continues to play even after the bass enters, with the bass mostly (but not always) doubling it.
The C section outro is built around the 12 string electric, bass and drums, and the solo Telecaster (in one of Pagey's best solos). On the 7th time through the pattern, a slide guitar enters with a line that answers the solo electric guitar. When the vocal enters it's back to the bass, drums and 12 string, with the Telecaster playing an answer line on the 3rd time through the pattern. On the 8th time through, the chords are accented, but continue through for a 9th time (really unusual!). The song then ends with a solo vocal, which is, once again, unusual.
The Sound
"Stairway" was recorded on 16 track at Island Studios in London as well as on location at Headley Grange using the Rolling Stones mobile studio. The acoustic guitar on the intro is interesting in that it's panned to the left with a somewhat long plate reverb that you hear more on the right side. Later in the song, the 12 string is pretty much bathed in this reverb.
The drums are heavily compressed, and are actually recorded in stereo. This, in fact, might have been one of the earliest examples of stereo drums, but it's a pretty mild version, with just a little of the crash cymbal and floor tom slightly panned to the left.
The vocal has a very short delayed plate reverb to put it in an environment, but it's still pretty much in the forefront of the band.
The Production Jimmy Page considers this his masterpiece and I think so to, although you have to give props to bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones for his arrangement skills for the keyboards. The mellotron parts could have been boring if they were repeated with every section, but each section is different, which keeps it interesting.
The song starts quietly, builds to a crescendo, and ends almost in silence, in an excellent example of tension and release. Listen how the instruments weave in and out of the track, even though the instrumentation and tracks are limited. Remember that the song is 8:03 and you want to listen to the whole thing all the way through. That truly is the sign of a masterpiece.
Many things are unfair in life. The 99% work harder than the 1%, but get compensated far less for that work. Financial engineering pays far more than real engineering. And then we have music, which isn't fair in the least.
Here's a list that comes from Buzzfeed that just about says it all.
1. Creed has sold more records in the US than Jimi Hendrix.
2. Led Zeppelin, REM, and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single, Rihanna has 10.
3. Ke$ha's “Tik-Tok” sold more copies than ANY Beatles single.
4. Flo Rida's “Low” has sold 8 million copies – the same as The Beatles' “Hey Jude.”
5. The Black Eyed Peas' “I Gotta Feeling” is more popular than any Elvis or Simon & Garfunkel song.
6. Celine Dion's “Falling Into You” sold more copies than any Queen, Nirvana, or Bruce Springsteen record.
Here's a great video from the AES archives where legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig talks about mastering the famous Led Zeppelin II record. It's a short video, but rich with anecdotes, as you'd expect from Bob.
Hopefully I'll run into Bob at the AES convention in New York City next week. Perhaps I can get an exclusive story out of him, if I can fight my way through the crowd that inevitably surround him. You can find out a lot more about Bob at Gatewaymastering.com.
This week we'll look at drummers on The Big Picture. First up is Led Zeppelin's John Bonham on the song "Fool In The Rain" from the 1979 In Through The Out Door album, which was the last single that the band released before Bonzo's death.
The first half of the song is based around a beat made popular by the famed funk drummer Bernard Purdie call the "Purdie Shuffle," a beat he used so effectively on Steely Dan's Babylon Sisters.The 2nd half of the tune is a samba feel, which made it impossible for the band to play live since it required bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones to play multiple instruments at the same time. Here are some things to take note.
1) This clip isn't the final take since the album cut is a minute or so longer.
2) The isolation is great, since you can only hear the rest of the band at the intro of the 2nd half samba part. I'm not sure, but this part may have been cut as an overdub.
3) Like all of Bonzo's drum tracks, there's plenty of room sound thanks to the distant miking technique that he preferred.
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When getting drum sounds while recording, many engineers are asked by drummers and producers to get that "big Led Zeppelin" drum sound. Often times they then go about getting it in the wrong way, miking every piece of kit in sight.
But that's not the way that Zep got that sound. As was the norm in those days, there were usually only 2 mics (later 3 for stereo) used to mic the drums. But the famous drum sound that the band got at the Headley Grange house used only two mic in an odd position, as bassist John Paul Jones explains in this video.
Led Zeppelin engineer Andy Johns confirms this as well in an interview for my Mixing Engineer's Handbook. According to Andy, "Listen to “When the Levee Breaks” (from Led Zeppelin IV). That was me putting two (Beyer) M160s on the second floor with no other microphones at all because I wanted to get John Bonham the way he actually sounded. And it worked!"
So don't be afraid to experiment and remember many times less can be more when it comes to mic technique.
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In what could become one of the more entertaining court battles in music history, Led Zeppelin is being sued for stealing parts of "Stairway To Heaven" from a song by the 60s band Spirit called "Taurus" more than 45 years after the song was written. The estate of Spirit guitarist and "Taurus" songwriter Randy California filed the lawsuit, which is going to trial on May 10th.
from the 1979 
album, which was the last single that the band released before Bonzo's death.
According to Andy, "Listen to “
. That was me putting two (Beyer) M160s on the second floor with no other microphones at all because I wanted to get John Bonham the way he actually sounded. And it worked!"