Eddie Kramer moved to London from South Africa when he was 19-years-old and began recording local groups in his home studio. His audio engineering skills quickly led to him being employed at Olympic Sound Studios, where he worked with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, amongst others.
But in 1969 he began working independently on Led Zeppelin's second album 'Led Zeppelin II' and came up with the idea for that iconic echo you hear on Robert Plant's voice during the "Woman..." section of 'Whole Lotta Love'. Eddie went on to engineer the band's next four studio albums as well as the soundtrack for Zeppelin's concert film 'The Song Remains The Same'. We asked him what his lasting thoughts were about the group and how he felt about their impending reunion.
"I was very pleased to have worked with Jimmy Page and the band, I did five albums with them. Certainly they were the greatest rock & roll band that I'd ever worked with, especially with Bonham being in the band - the greatest heavy rock drummer, I feel. There were certain similarities between Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, who I'd previously worked with, in that they were both very much in control of their own destiny in the studio. They would have this very clear picture and laser-like concentration: "Ok, this is the song and here's where we're gonna go with it." There's a remarkable similarity between the two men. Completely different styles of playing, of course.
As for the reunion, I just hope they can pull it off still. I wish them the very, very best. They're still terrific musicians and hopefully it'll go well for them. Whether a reunion is a good thing depends on the musicians. But if the Stones can still do it then... why not? And if Jimmy and Robert and John Paul Jones can still do it then... god bless 'em. I think it's great."
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