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Led Zeppelin II
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==Background== ''Led Zeppelin II'' was conceived during a busy period of Led Zeppelin's career from January through August 1969, when they completed four European and three American [[Led Zeppelin concert tour chronology|concert tours]].{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=118}} Each song was separately recorded, mixed and produced at various studios in the UK and North America. The album was written on tour, during periods of a couple of hours in between concerts, a studio was booked and the recording process begun, necessarily resulting in spontaneity and urgency, which is reflected in the sound.{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=118}} Several songs resulted from improvisation while touring and were recorded mostly live in the studio.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|pp=15,46β47}} Recording sessions for the album took place at a wide variety of studios in the UK and US, including [[Olympic Studios|Olympic]] and [[Morgan Studios]] in London, England; [[A&M Studios|A&M]], Quantum, [[Sunset Sound Recorders|Sunset]], Mirror Sound and Mystic Studios in Los Angeles; [[Ardent Studios]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]; [[A & R Recording|A&R]], Juggy Sound, Groove and Mayfair Studios in New York City; and R&D Studios.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ledzeppelin.com/event/may-10-1969|title=R&D Studios (Vancouver), May 10, 1969 | [title]|website=Led Zeppelin | Official Website β Official Website|date=10 May 1969 |access-date=22 October 2019|archive-date=22 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022183554/https://www.ledzeppelin.com/event/may-10-1969|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of these were ill-equipped, leading to one Vancouver studio, which had an 8-track set-up without even proper headphone facilities,{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=15}} being credited as "a hut".<ref name="mixing">{{cite magazine |author=Cleveland, Barry |url=http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/mixing-led-zeppelin/May-08/36033|title=Guitar Player: Mixing Led Zeppelin II |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915051359/http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/mixing-led-zeppelin/may-08/36033 |archive-date=15 September 2008 |date=May 2008 |magazine=Guitar Player |access-date=11 February 2009}}</ref><ref name=lz2>{{cite AV media notes |title=Led Zeppelin II (Super Deluxe Edition Box) |publisher=Atlantic Records |id=R2-536181 |year=2014 |p=3}}</ref> A more favourable set-up was Mystic Studios in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], [[Los Angeles]] with Chris Huston engineering.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=15}} Lead singer [[Robert Plant]] later complained that the writing, recording, and mixing sessions were done in many different locations, and criticised the writing and recording process.{{sfn|Lewis|Pallett|1997|p=32}} "[[Thank You (Led Zeppelin song)|Thank You]]", "[[The Lemon Song]]" and "[[Moby Dick (instrumental)|Moby Dick]]" were overdubbed during the tour, while the [[audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing]] of "[[Whole Lotta Love]]" and "[[Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song)|Heartbreaker]]" was also done on tour. Page later stated, "In other words, some of the material came out of rehearsing for the next tour and getting new material together."<ref name=Schulps>{{cite journal |last=Schulps |first=Dave |url=http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_77.trp |title=Interview with Jimmy Page |journal=[[Trouser Press]] |date=October 1977 |access-date=9 September 2008 |archive-date=20 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820054853/http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_77.trp |url-status=dead }}</ref> Page and Kramer spent two days mixing the album at A&R Studios,<ref name =theirtime /> and the album's production was entirely credited to Jimmy Page, with [[Eddie Kramer]] engineering.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=15}} Kramer was quoted as saying, "The famous ''Whole Lotta Love'' mix, where everything is going bananas, is a combination of Jimmy and myself just flying around on a small console twiddling every knob known to man."{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=15}} Kramer later gave great credit to Page for the sound that was achieved, despite the inconsistent conditions in which it was recorded: "We cut some of the tracks in some of the most bizarre studios you can imagine ... but in the end it sounded bloody marvellous ... there was one guy in charge and that was Mr. Page."<ref name=theirtime>{{cite journal |journal=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]] |title=Classic Rock Presents Led Zeppelin: Their Time is Gonna Come |year=2008 |page=21}}</ref>
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