A Studio Lie Forced Jimmy Page to Work Overtime on ‘Led Zeppelin IV’
Led Zeppelin made a classic album with Led Zeppelin IV. It was the record where the professional critics had to eat their words and admit the band was something special (though the musicians who hated Led Zeppelin didn’t change their stance). And it faced a major snafu along the way. Jimmy Page said a lie at one recording studio forced him to work overtime on Led Zeppelin IV. He wore multiple hats in the band — songwriter, lead guitarist, and album producer — and that final credential was put to the test, though the results were worth it.
Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin worked on ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ at various locations
The album’s mythology can make it seem like Headley Grange hosted all the recording sessions for Led Zeppelin IV, but that’s not true. Yes, the band recorded John Bonham’s drums for “When the Levee Breaks” in the stairwell, and a stray canine inspired the name of the song “Black Dog,” but the international band used studios on two continents for the record.
Led Zeppelin started making the album at London’s Island Studios in December 1970, nearly a year before the record hit shelves. They later headed to the remote Headley Grange estate and used The Rolling Stones’ mobile studio to record the songs.
Page guitarist and recording engineer Andy Johns traveled to Sunset Sound in Los Angeles to mix Led Zeppelin IV. The studio carried a reputation as one of the best for the careful science of mixing records.
That wasn’t the case for the guitarist. Page said a lie at the studio forced him to work overtime on Led Zeppelin IV.
Page said studio speakers lied about the ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ mix: ‘It wasn’t the true sound’
Page was an audiophile before there was such a thing. He spent years learning studio tricks and recording techniques as a session musician. He finally put his recording approach to use on Led Zeppelin I. The guitarist was as much a producer as a performer by the time Led Zeppelin made their fourth record.
So when it came to mixing the album, he chose one of the best studios around.
Page and Johns spent most of April 1971 mixing Led Zeppelin’s fourth album at Sunset Sound, according to Beast author C.M. Kushins. The exceedingly proud guitarist triumphantly returned to England to play Led Zeppelin IV for his bandmates.
That’s when Page discovered the lie about Sunset Sound. The playback in LA wasn’t anything like what he and his Led Zeppelin bandmates heard when they listened again (per Kushins):
“It didn’t sound anything like it did in LA. I was astonished. At the time, there were all these stories of tapes that had been wiped out by the magnets used on British subways. All I can put it down to was that the speakers and the monitoring system in that room [at Sunset Sound] were just very bright, and they lied. It wasn’t the true sound.”
Jimmy Page
Page said the lie came not from a Sunset Sound employee or Johns falsely promising to mix a song to the guitarist’s exacting standards but from the studio speakers themselves.
The Sunset Sound speakers misled Page about IV’s audio quality. His fear about the master tapes being wiped didn’t come to pass, but aside from Bonham’s “Levee” drum track, nearly the entire album had to be reworked.
He rushed back to London’s Island Studios to remix the entire album, per Kushins, and he didn’t have the luxury of time. Atlantic Records demanded the album be released for holiday shopping, and Led Zeppelin embarked on a two-month U.S. tour starting in August 1971.
The guitarist’s overtime work paid off
It’s safe to assume Page didn’t expect to revisit Led Zeppelin IV after the mixing session in LA. Rushing to Island Studios wasn’t part of the plan, but his overtime work was more than worth it.
It didn’t give us any No. 1 singles (Led Zeppelin despised releasing singles), but each of Led Zeppelin IV’s eight tracks shows the band in peak form. Fans ate it up.
It was the third of eight straight No. 1 albums in England (per the Official Charts Company). The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it gold (500,000 copies sold) in a week, and Led Zeppelin IV has since gone platinum (1 million units sold) 24 times. It never reached No. 1 on Billboard’s album charts, but it spent 287 weeks on the list.
Jimmy Page said a set of studio speakers lied about the sound of Led Zeppelin IV. The guitarist had to work overtime to make the album sound the way he heard it in his head, but the album’s success and lasting impact proves his extra effort was worth it.
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