“With John Bonham he wasn’t joking, he knew what he wanted”

The US producer and sound technician Ron Nevison He told The Sonic Road Podcast how it was working with the drummer of Led Zeppelin John Bonham During the registration sessions of the double album of February 1975 “Physical Graffiti “(here the history of the album).

Here is what Nevison declared: “He did not joke with him. He knew what he wanted. When I was settled, he asked me to move to the corridor where he had successfully recorded ‘Houses of the Holy’ with … I am trying to remember who the phonic was (Eddie Kramer, ed.). But in a certain sense he knew what he wanted”.

The manufacturer then recalled how Bonham refused his attempts to use additional microphones during registration. “I started putting the microphones around the battery. He said ‘No’. I replied: ‘Well, you hear, for safety’. ‘No’. Two microphones above the first floor of the staircase that went up around the entrance, I used those: only a stereo couple, and this is the battery sound in the nine songs that I recorded for ‘Physical Graffiti'”.

The registration sessions of the sixth album of
Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti”
They took place in Headley Grange, a Victorian country house in the East Hampshire, England. A place that was chosen by the band for its excellent acoustic properties. The large staircase and the corridors of the house provided the environmental sound which became an integral part of the character of the album.

The work on the realization of the disc were a little for long. At the beginning, in fact,
Robert Plant
He had to undergo surgery to the vocal cords that forced the band to stop the recording sessions and to meet later to complete the album. The unpredictable interruption contributed to the sound variety of the album, since the songs were recorded in different moments and places. The role of
Jimmy Page
As a producer during these sessions he was crucial to maintain a unitary vision of the album despite difficult circumstances.