Question for Zal regarding original Led Zeppelin CDs

Hi Zal,

I've always enjoyed those old Zep CDs. I know they were mastered by Barry Diament...I assume you were working at Atlantic Studios when they were mastered.

Is there anything you could tell us about the mastering of those? For example, tapes used, sonic manipulation if any, etc. I'd enjoy any details you could reveal. If not, I understand...

Thanks Zal!

 

Well, Rob, no I can't say much, as the CDs were probably done a smidge before I came on board. But what I can say is that Barry would probably feel right at home here with you guys as he was into the purity of sound and its faithful reproduction.

His room was rather simple, and he utilized (probably) a Bryston 3 or 4 B amplifier and a pair of either Dalquist DQ 10s or 20s, and the 20s are the ones I used at Atlantic for my tenure there. (I recently purchased a pair of DQ 12s on the internet). He may have utilized the Cello Audio Pallette EQ for their mastering, but I'm not really certain.

I've heard people referring to him as a conservative when it came to his approach to music mastering.

The tapes he used, I believe, were the only ones that were ever used, even by Jimmy in his mid 90s remastering. As I held the boxes quite a few times myself over the years, and then saw them "pulled" by the library at the time of the last go around, I feel that they were the same ones.

One question I have is why Stairway to Heaven was faded out early on the latter remastering. Was it just because of too much hiss, as our ears were now attuned to this malady? I don't know.

As I've said before, I never had a problem listening to the earlier released CDs, but I listened to them as one does just to enjoy, not as an engineer. I did not listen crtically to ascertain all the noise and distortions to be found there, I listened for the groove factor of simply the music.

In '94 or so, I worked with Jimmy Page for one day on 2 of the box sets, with Yves Beavais, an A&R Vice President at Atlantic. I worked on the project, prepping it before they came to the studio (I was a bit nervous,and wanted to have things as ready as possible before their entrance). Before they came in, I got rid of a few clicks that were really bothering me, things that I heard on vinyl, but assumed them to be vinylally inspired, if you know what I mean. When I heard them on the masters, I felt it was time for them to go. I mentioned this to Yves, and he said to me, "Zal, put them back." And so I did.

Well, that's the way it was....and is....

Best wishes,

Zal

 

Thank you, Zal...your posts are always appreciated, certainly by me.

 

Yes Zal, I also appreciate your posts quite a bit. I also use a pair of DQ-10's here. If set up right you can hear quite a bit with them.

 

We took off the radiator covers, as they would reverberate with the sound!

They are wonderful speakers, and as you say, if you position them right, your can really feel the music. We had ours in a corner ( my goodness) with sound trappers, and lifted off the floor about 20 inches or so....we had to see (and of course hear) them over our console!

I appreciate your appreciation.

Best wishes,

Zal

 

Thanks Zal

Mine are on the Dahlquist stands which are on the DQ-1 subs. I'm using the Dahlquist crossover at around 70 Hz, which is just a series capacitor on the high pass and a 12db/octave on the lowpass. Main amp is a modified Threshold Stasis on the tops and a large Adcom on the bottom. Ditto on the radiator covers.

I put a few in studios back in the 70's and 80's but they are so easy to blow if the engineer is not careful. They certainly won't play as loud as your average studio monitor.

 

Hey Zal,

Do you know who mastered the original Houses of the Holy? The West German "target" pressing of this one is soooo smooth! Thanks!

 

No kidding, I found one of these week-end, and boy is it nice.

Thanks to this forum for educating me on this one!

 

That's a burning question of mine as well. Why is this as it is?
(Why can't they all be this sweet! ).

 

Sorry folks.

On that one I really don't know...but. as you say, at least that one hits the spot!

Best wishes,

Zal

 

Were all the "original" (through and including "Door") Zep records originaly released on CD on Atlantic? I know ther early ones were, but, for example, was "Door" originally on Atlantic on CD? I have seen some "early" Door CD's that are on Swan Song....

 

Does the W. German of IV have the same mastering as the orig. US (CD made in JPN.) version?

 

I wouldn't know...We did at times send 1630 clones of our masters around the globe, and certainly to Japan and Germany. Whether this did occur with LZ IV, as I said...I don't know...

Many times these types of things depended on the contractual agreements with the bands and their recording companies.

 

Also, perhaps a way to check would be to see if the timings of the whole album, and the individual songs match up...that would probably be less trying than telling the mastering apart!

 

I stupidly parted with both of my target IV's.

 

About Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy: The target CDs and the usual old Atlantic CDs are identical. However, some Atlantic CDs of IV have the channels reversed.

 

The only original CDs I have left are "Houses Of The Holy" and "Presence". All the rest are emasters, but i'm not disappointed.

 

Why didn't you ask Jimmy to listen to the de-clicked versions to see if he liked them or not?

Derek

 

well, it was a Friday......

And I was a bit apprehensive about working with the fellow...nothing personal, you know..

And so he comes in, a bit tired out from the evening's before party....and he did come up to speed as the "session" progressed.

Some audio wizardry was required on my part and I was a bit new with/to the equipment that would be utilized to make it happen...and I said such to the VP (on the side, of course), and he says, "Zal, right now, you're the man!". (gulp!)

I was just happy to have Jimmy leave my studio suite with a smile on his face.

As he was leaving, he thanked me, and I said to him, it was my pleasure, especially since it was the music I grew up on....

He left with an even bigger smile on his face.

I was a bit of a wreck, but happy, again, to have my client, especially Mr. Jimmy , happy with the outcome.

And, in the end, that's what it's all about...

 

Hi Zal,

Did you get much of a chance to talk to Jimmy about his music during the session, or was it strictly "technical"?

Thanks - Jim

 

What I was doing was mentally quite taxing, and was exacerbated by my visitor. As much as I had questions and comments, I just was glad that the focus I gave to my work payed off. I couldn't afford to make ANY mistake.

 

Zal, could you possibly comment on what you were asked to do on the Jimmy Page session...what suggestions and/or demands did Jimmy make...which songs did you work on, etc. I'm guessing it was a memorable day for you.

Thank you - Jim

 

The Zep catalog is vast, and I am not one good with names, people or otherwise (song titles) and lyrics as well. In my band I preferred not to sing, and many times when I had to, I had a lyric sheet in view, EVEN when I wrote them!...So therefore I can't tell you which songs I worked with/on or which album they came from as the they were from the two boxed sets, which were not in the album format . What I was supposed to do was NOT to be noticed, so it would be against that premis for me to tell what I did, yes?

What I did ended up on the 10 CD Studio Boxed Set as well, which I re-compiled from the two discumbobulated smaller box sets. Sterling actually remastered two songs (that crossfaded) for the 10 CD set differently from those earlier boxes.

 

It must not be easy....Jimmy seems to be one of the few musicians with a real grasp of how he wants stuff to sound. He must be pretty picky.

 

Things went smooth MOST of the time. When I A/Bd material at one point, he couldn't figure out exactly what I was doing until I explained it, and from then on it was up and up...

I knew what I had to do, but just needed to figure out HOW to do it.

I think I had a reputation of being able to figure things out that others couldn't.

For example, I was on the phone asking the Sonic Solutions people about a few processes I was doing at the same time, and they said, "Hey, you can do that?!"