Re: Incredible News Archive Findings (Led Zeppelin)

[Risto Pohjonen <rtpo@xxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding the debate over reel-to-reel for recording vs. for delay effect:

TangerineMan wrote:

>I assume he used it for the bow solo and with the theremin.

Good guess. I also have an obscure reference from about the same period of
time that would support this assumption. In a news paper article about
Zep's gig in Helsinki back in February 1970, the writer mentions Jimmy's
bow-game and - as it was something completely unheard of at the time on
these distant shores - claims it to be a playback gimmick *as he saw a
tape recorded running on the stage during the solo*. Have to dig to my
archives and see if I can find that article to check the exact wording,
but basically that's what the journalist wrote.

Nech wrote:

>I duuno Rise....
>
>Jimmy was said to have used a echoplex unit, and in all my travels,
>I never saw an echoplex that looked like an open reel to reel tape
>recorder/player.
>
>However, since I know you do some heavy, and I mean heavy, band
>recording, you would know better than me. But I, IMO do not think
>that's and echo unit.

I am not an expert on the vintage gear and yes, it is not an Echoplex, but
I still vote for it being a delay unit. As for the reasoning, see first
what I wrote to TangerineMan a few lines earlier. Second, such
reel-to-reel things have been used for delay in live-setups. For example,
they are sometimes clearly visible in Deep Purple (and maybe Rainbow)
footage as part of Ritchie Blackmore's setup.

Also, for the FX use, positioning a reel-to-reel machine on stage would
make perfectly sense, but for recording a gig? From what I know about
stage setups and live recording, it would be the worst and last place to
position a recorder. Or does someone really think that the boys were
operating the recorder themselves with their professional tour crew just
looking over on the stage left? Or that it would be desirable for a roadie
to popup on the stage in the middle of hot jam or solo to change the reel?
If they were recording themselves, it would have been done off-stage as
there is no feasible live-recording method that would warrant positioning
the recorder in the middle of the backline chaos.


Rise