Yeah, a human can objectively tell if something is louder regardless of whether or not they like it. But that doesn't stop them from telling you something they don't like is too loud. People turn up music they like, and turn down music they don't. Two completely different things, but if someone doesn't like the way something sounds, it's "too loud".
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Snare is too Loud !!
- Thread starter Jayimpalaman
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WesChilton
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I can't argue with that!
They don't though. You don't perceive a song that you dislike any louder than a song you like. I'm not talking about your desire to hear it, or your tolerance for listening to it. I'm talking strictly about the psychoacoustic properties of sound. Does Nickelback inherently sound LOUDER than Zeppelin.
There are studies that have shown that louder sounds are perceived as more unpleasant (here's an example: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14992027.2017.1321790). But the opposite was his claim, and there's nothing showing that. There was one study that claimed to show a link (unpleasant sounds are perceived as louder), but they conflated frequency w/ unpleasantness. They found that sounds 2Khz-5Khz are perceived as louder (which tracks with the nonlinear hearing in humans), but only considered sounds in that range as "unpleasant". They didn't do controls in either direction -- they didn't test for "pleasing" sounds in that frequency range, and they didn't test for "unpleasant" sounds outside of that frequency range.
There is this one little place we play where I keep my cell phone on the snare almost the whole time to keep the volume in check
what
It is common that drummers use different gear live and in studio. here is his drum tech Jeff Orcheltree:
that is where I got that he tuned the drums pretty high. As for the drums on Levee being regular sized, there are many quotes on it being a "new kit"
"That's when recording engineer Andy Johns, who was always listening with his hypersensitive ears, noticed the amazing acoustics of a certain staircase in the house, of all things.
In his excitement, he quickly grabbed John Bonham, the drummer of the band, and set him and his brand new Ludwig drum kit up at the bottom of the stairs." (https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/led-zeppelins-acoustic-environment )
Now what is odd is that i cannot find any quote on what size those drums were. People assume it was his regular kit, with either 26 or 24" kick, but the kit used here was actually a different kit. I right now cannot find an online reference for this drum set, but you will also have trouble proving that it is the regular kit he used. I keep you updated.
I remember vividly speaking with some people about it who knew Bonham personally. I have reached out to Jeff, but he is not so often on social media nowadays.
I know, people hate small drums. The fact that Bonzo used a small kit- in his eyes- is something he rather wanted nobody to know. But having smaller drums in studio is a common thing.
Go ahead and hate me, but i stand by my word, and will update this.
did you learn about Bonzo? I think it is important to mention that when most people talkl about Bonhams sound, they refer to his recordings, and most prominent, the recordings of "when the levee breaks".
It is common that drummers use different gear live and in studio. here is his drum tech Jeff Orcheltree:
that is where I got that he tuned the drums pretty high. As for the drums on Levee being regular sized, there are many quotes on it being a "new kit"
"That's when recording engineer Andy Johns, who was always listening with his hypersensitive ears, noticed the amazing acoustics of a certain staircase in the house, of all things.
In his excitement, he quickly grabbed John Bonham, the drummer of the band, and set him and his brand new Ludwig drum kit up at the bottom of the stairs." (https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/led-zeppelins-acoustic-environment )
Now what is odd is that i cannot find any quote on what size those drums were. People assume it was his regular kit, with either 26 or 24" kick, but the kit used here was actually a different kit. I right now cannot find an online reference for this drum set, but you will also have trouble proving that it is the regular kit he used. I keep you updated.
I remember vividly speaking with some people about it who knew Bonham personally. I have reached out to Jeff, but he is not so often on social media nowadays.
I know, people hate small drums. The fact that Bonzo used a small kit- in his eyes- is something he rather wanted nobody to know. But having smaller drums in studio is a common thing.
Go ahead and hate me, but i stand by my word, and will update this.
foxy_shazamtastic
Very well Known Member
Hey man it’s ok, I just have heard different than many things you’re saying. I heard when the levee breaks was the green sparkle kit, but I could be wrong. I don’t disagree with you at all with the tuning. Much of what I know comes from the Ocheltree videos. I don’t hate small drums, my preferred kit is 12-14-18 and they can sound huge. I just have heard different than a lot of what your saying about bonham’s kits. And I don’t share your experiences or opinions about drum volume/depths/etc.
No, I won't. I've already provided multiple links. Andy Johns has confirmed it was his 26" drum.
From https://www.musicradar.com/news/recording-led-zep-iv-classic-drum-sound-bonzo-andy-johns
HAHAHA. You love making stuff up, don't you?
That video literally says in the first 20 seconds "These drums were used on many sessions".
If you needed that video to know that Bonham tuned high, I'd posit that you don't have any idea about Bonham's drums or sounds. "Big drums, tuned high" is Bonham 101.
It was a "new kit" because he had 3 different green sparkle kits through the years. The various green sparkles were used on Zeppelin III, Zeppelin IV, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence, and In Through the Out Door. His stainless and vistalite kits weren't generally used in the studio.
DrummBumm89
Well-Known Member
I love small drums. My tiny Daru Jones kit brings me big joy.
Quieter Drum I'd say at least the obvious is no rim shots. There is something fun about a quiet(er) rim shot however well placed.
I do use a 12 because it appears to have a shorter note for one rehearsal room I play in. That, or the frequencies blend into the rest of the instruments so it appears quieter.
I'm not a sound engineer nor do I claim to play one on TV.
Quieter Drum I'd say at least the obvious is no rim shots. There is something fun about a quiet(er) rim shot however well placed.
I do use a 12 because it appears to have a shorter note for one rehearsal room I play in. That, or the frequencies blend into the rest of the instruments so it appears quieter.
I'm not a sound engineer nor do I claim to play one on TV.
I did not know it would cause such a controversial, as I thought it is widely known that the drums on Levee were different. I am stil looking for the reference, but I talked about it with several people who knew Bonham too. The story was, somebody came and brought these drums, a regular sized Ludwig, 22" kick, 12" tom, 2x 16" FT, and Bonham did not want them. So they set them up in the hallway to at least check them out, and the rest is history.That video literally says in the first 20 seconds "These drums were used on many sessions".
If you needed that video to know that Bonham tuned high, I'd posit that you don't have any idea about Bonham's drums or sounds. "Big drums, tuned high" is Bonham 101.
It was a "new kit" because he had 3 different green sparkle kits through the years. The various green sparkles were used on Zeppelin III, Zeppelin IV, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence, and In Through the Out Door. His stainless and vistalite kits weren't generally used in the studio.
Now I did not make this up to prove my point, and I am reaching out to the people who I think I talked about this. Jeff mentioning that the other drums were used for severl recordings does not say my story is not true. But I know how sensitive rock bands can be when it comes to drum sizes, I mentioned that I built the drums for royal blood, and you will have trouble even finding a single photo where the drums are actually seen being played, simply because warner, the label from Royal blood, chose that a rock band like royal blood needs larger drums on stage and gave Ben a larger DW (which he hated, maybe because he later learned that he had to pay for it in full; warner does not hand out free drums dude), and then got endorsed by Gretsch. My drums were used on all of their recordings, but if someone would want to prove that he used them, good luck, he never mentioned my brand in any interview, and would go long length to avoid it - he'd tell you in detail which snares he used, not what drums. And as people can see DW and Gretsch drums in the videos, I will be the liar, though I am the person who by hand built the drums and sold them to him and knows from him first hand they were used. (And to make this about Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant actually is quoted that he would love to play with royal blood but they obviously need no guitarist...)
So what is it with drummers and small drums, that they use them on recordings but then outright lie about it when asked? I dunno. Fragile masculine ego?
edit: now sure someone who knows royal blood will tell me he never played my drums, so here some pictures with him posing with his new drum kit I sent him 2014 right before they started recording their selftitled double platinum album: https://www.adoro-drums.com/adoro-family/
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www.adoro-drums.com
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stuart s
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Waiting for someone making the claim he used 22" x 20" on Levee......
With time being infinite....its bound to happen...
With time being infinite....its bound to happen...
None of this happened. You’re making it up.
Or you’re confusing the fact that you found out (correctly) that he played a 22” on Zeppelin I.
