John Bonham “When the Levee Breaks” Drum Sound

Bonham set up his kit at the bottom of Headley Grange’s three-story stairwell. Engineer Andy Johns recalls placing two Beyerdynamic M160 ribbon microphones at the top of the stairwell in a stereo configuration. According to Johns, those were the only mics placed on the kit. The drums mics were amplified and compressed trough a Helios console and run through a Binson Echorec echo unit, which is also known to impart its own compression to the signal.