Making A Record In 36 Hours, Recording One Song For 6 Months.

According to studio records and since verified by Jimmy Page himself, Led Zeppelin purchased 36 hours of studio time to record Led Zeppelin I (this includes mixing). Including artwork and studio time the album collectively cost Led Zeppelin 1750 pounds. Today this is roughly $2794.40 in US dollars. Led Zeppelin I was released in 1969 and by 1975 the band had grossed $7,000,000 in sales.

The overall sales as of 2010 are unbeknowst to me but I can imagine that they are astronomically higher than 7 million dollars at this point. For those of you who don't know, making a record of high quality in 36 hours is not feasable for 99.9% of bands on this planet.

By today's standards it is extremely rare that anything released by a major label gets recorded for this cheap (relatively) and completed in anything near a 36 hour period. Most bands in general - regardless of their level of success or talent - do not work this quick anymore. The standards and processes have changed immensely.The reasons for bands working so much slower than they used to can be debated for days. Some blame record labels. Some will go as far as to cite the lack of talent and current demands put on the modern band. It could be a combination of many of these things.

In a recent interview I viewed from the Beatles Documentary "All Together Now", Paul Mc Cartney states that our modern technology gives an artist more options which lengthens the creative/recording process. He explains that the Beatles didn't  have  as  many  options  as  bands  do  today. For this reason they completed songs at a very fast rate. He recalls that they would go in to the studio to work and record songs like "Girl" and "Nowhere Man" back to back, throw them on the shelf and get on the next song. Most of these songs they were writing themselves. When you only have 4 tracks and you are forced to record live you have no choice but to deliver a great performance/arrangement because there are no other options.

For any readers that think the Beatles don't deserve the credit they get consider that they recorded over 300 songs (between live and studio) and released 212 of them in proper LP format ... in a span of a short 8 years.

The quality of the recordings, performances, and songs in general are all around fantastic. Think about your favorite band and try to tip the scales.

Today most recording artists have unlimited track counts and thus more options. It is common that bands 'track' their records over recording them 'live'. Tracking is a process in which each member does their part

individually rather than 'live' (all at the same time). A majority of records are a combination of these two processes. Since the birth of the digital age, post production on records has steadily increased and it isn't uncommon that bands hand their records away or they are taken away to be doctored up by a professional. Why is this relevant? The studio is being used as much if not more as an instrument as the musicians themselves, which unfortunately leaves less of a demand on actual performance.

On the contrary to Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, The Beach Boys took an ungodly amount of time and money (by 1966 standards) to record the Brian Wilson masterpiece "Good Vibrations". This song was recorded over the course of 6 months. "Good Vibrations" was recorded in 17 different sections at 4 different studios. The first section recorded took 26 takes alone. In the end the recording sessions cost $50,000, and used 90 hours of tape. It is rumored that $15,000 of the recording costs went to capturing the right theramin take. Brian Wilson had a vision and used the studio, multi-tracking and tape to build a 'pocket symphony'. Though costly and by no means done efficiently or in a timely manner, this is a masterpiece. This song is a fine example of a band using the studio as a tool to perform something they couldn't do live. Approaches to recording have forever been altered since. I couldn't imagine the work that went into building one cohesive song out of 90 hours of tape and hundreds of takes they had at their disposal.

As we were preparing to track, we sat down and had a long conversation about how to approach our next record. Collectively we decided that this was a good time for us to try to record live. When I came across that Led Zeppelin statistic I was so impressed that they did that entire record in three sessions and was inspired to write this blog and share other stories/thoughts. Those kind of numbers make my head spin. especially when you hear that end product.

Thanks for reading.

Stephen Francis