Led Zep - Swimming pool drums

Hi All,
 
I've recorded the basic drums track for a client, and they are after what I call the Led Zeppelin Swimming Pool sound, lots of room, and reverb.
 
The actual track they want to sound like is the intro to Bone Machine by Pixies : 
 
I can sort of get there, but wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

the strength of the original zep drum recordings, was the room sound in the capture, and the way it was all compressed to tie it all together...
plus the way that bonham hit both his drums, and his cymbal technique...
 
VERY HARD to approximate,
because so much of it came from the drummer himself.
 
you can simply throw a big room reverb on the whole kit, and sorta get there..
but unless you record a similar drummer, in a similar room, it will always ONLY be an approximation.
 
would love to hear about what you come up with after experimenting.....
 
and what mike said, 
http://therecordingrevolu...drum-recording-method/

The easiest way to get that particular type of room sound is to have mics that are positioned to get that room sound.
 
The difference between just adding a room mic (or room reverb) to the mix and the Glyn Johns method is that Led Zepp was recorded with mics that were placed far enough from the impact that they captured both the drums and the drums in the room at the same time, and they did it with a phase cancellation characteristics that is the result of the placement of the mics.
 
The one thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned yet is that drum tuning is kinda a big deal too. I think that is alluded to when people say "it was the way he hit the drums" but it may not be obvious unless someone comes out and says it.

ChuckC
That pixies track sounds more like an average 2 car garage than the castles & stairwells the Zep kits were tracked in.
I hear a relatively quick slap back from a medium size room that sounds Eq'd to only really be mids/mid-highs.

I agree.  Some of the best Bonham work had him banging away (harder than pretty much anyone else back then) in the hallway of a large castle while the Pixies sound like what I hear when I'm walking down the street and someone is practicing in their garage with the door closed.

There is a lot of info about "when the levee breaks." I think Gearstluz had a giant thread about which old comp went on a "room" mic that was stuck up the castle stairway.  But recording in the biggest room you can find w/ a big echo is the best way - if you don't have John Bonham handy.  And the more room you capture, the easier it is to fake a big room.  Try the overheads for most of the sound (hopefully it has some room) and then lay on the biggest predelay on the kit mics.  That would be how I'd start for led zep.
 
And yea, that doesn't really sound like the pixies, esp. the early pixies.
 
And the fewer mic you use, the better the drummer ought to be.  Tuning and dynamics are harder to fake w/ fewer mics.  I can get a good drum sound in my small living room w/ 3 mics - or as good as the drummer is.  Mediocre drummers sound rather trashy.
 
@

Here's a YouTube of "When the Levee Breaks"
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKkJHSO8A0
 
Hihat seems more direct on the right with not so much room and lots of room left and center.  I love the sound of those drums and cymbals.  At the intro, the delay is in 8ths to the tempo!

lol...
 
it wasn't a castle.
 
and there was never a swimming pool.
 
that said, good reverb plugin will get you the room sound,
but you have to know how to use it.
 

Don't worry about not having room for the Helios; you can keep in a truck parked out back.
 
;-)