John Bonham isolated drum track from the song "Kashmir", the sixth song of Physical Graffiti (1975). Support the channel with a donation: ko-fi.com/ludw...
Kashmir is one of the greatest songs ever written for many reasons but for me it’s the drumming. It’s got such a hypnotic groove, you never want it to stop.
The thing that makes all of Bonhams' tracks come to life is his hi hat pulse and rock solid foot and snare bombs. His son hacks and drags and lags when playing this track. Jason is nothing like Pops here. If I've said it before I have said it a dozen times -- John was the glue in Zep that held everything together with John Paul Jones. There is something that breaths in his hi hat pulses in between the 2 and 4 that brings everything into a heartbeat pulse. It really breathes life into everything this chap plays on. He does not waffle on the timing / meter. You know where the meter and 1 is. His snare blasts help lock in the 2 and 4 so you do not wander off in the weeds when playing the guitar part. I played his drum parts (Tried playing at age 5 and onwards that is) before switching to guitar later on a few years later. When playing the guitar track with other drummers, they simply fumble fuck it wherein, the meter drags and continues spiraling downhill in tempo. It drives me mad to the point I have to stop before smashing a guitar out of frustration. I hear other drummers also do the same thing or wobble in meter to the point of retarding the feel from the start of the tune or worse, have to speed up to catch up when using sequencers for the synth parts live. This track, if one really listens, the way his hi hat fills the space and talks in between the snare and bass drum is something I never noticed until hearing it isolated. It is almost like a call and response in blues music. It is not a compression gate effect. Bonham mixes himself so perfectly that all of his instruments are so well balanced. Other people try to stomp the shit out of the kick or snare and lose the timekeeping aspect of the tick-tock clock like sound. I really love Bonhams' ability to mix himself and the way he always has that tick-tock thing going on like in Custard Pie. It locks the ear and heart in instantly thus making the entire body just move to the groove. I love lots of different drummers. So many are very gifted and musically flow like wine. John Henry Bonham was The Master Timekeeper.
A lot of drummers play two distinct notes on the bass drum when playing this song, it drives me nuts! I’ve yet to hear anyone land that DuDuh properly! Not to mention those ghost notes on the snare… This groove really breathes!
The kick drum was run through a Binson Echorec. Bonham only does the kick drum once and then the Binson kicks in and adds that second kick. This is on the verse parts. The other parts don't have the Binson. The phaser on the drums/cymbals is an Eventide Clockworks PS 101.
While John is one of my favorite drummers, this is just such a stupid comment. FFS, go look up Stan Bicknell. His groove was fucking phenomenal, his foot was just better than anyone else...AT THE TIME.
@RustyKnorr he's great but Bonzo did what he's doing with a speed king and a leather strap lol. Imagine what he could do with the new gear. Stay blessed man.
That kettle flare at 8:07 is what separated Bonham from his contemporaries. Not that it was ever an even playing field. Bonham was simply a force of nature.
Listening to this amazing sound and looking at this John’s pic took me back to my childhood, I had a big teddy bear I called Bonzo, the unkempt hair reminded me of the bear's messy fur... ❤
John Bonham’s drumming was like a battering ram. Like I posted in James Maher cover of communication breakdown. John Bonham was a beast before the term was coined and popularized.
It is bloody astonishing how a powerhouse drummer like Bonham, known for his thunderous intensity, delivers his most compelling performance when he is restrained and tempered, as he is on "Kashmir." Particularly when it crashes down around 4:15
you can get echo-like sounds with reverb, but ultimately echo/delay would be smarter and easier. The whole "natural echo in the hallway of Headley Grange" has been proven to be BS, as they used an echo to achieve that When The Levee Breaks sound. This is completely different to my ears though; more obviously a doubled bass drum because of the inconsistency of the doubled note
@@tanneryordan The stairwell 8snt bs but they probably used both. Yeh the bass Dr feffinately sounds played to me as you say its not consistent from 1 beat to the next
The argument rages on till this day wether the second ghost on the bass is actualy played or a product of the mix.I personaly think Bonzo played it and im happy to live with that.He was just that good.
It's actually 2 room mics on channel 2 and 3, and then one channel put through eventide phaser. And that's pretty much it! The verb comes from the staircase where it was recorded.
You were thinking in the right direction because the effects, while different with how they operate, end up sounding quite similar! I didn't mean to sound like a smartass, just wanted to share the info because I learned about it recently and wanted to share. Have a nice day! @@giantclam1822
