load/reload/metallica/randy staub

[aramism]

warning/disclaimer: upcoming a.d.d. rant

putting aside the thrash vs hard rock metallica debate lets all admit load and reload sound goddamn amazing. growing up listening to the first 5 metallica albums had its impact on me but if it wasn't for hearing songs from load first i would never discover the rest. i personally think load is a great album, forgetting the albums before. on its own island, its a great hard rock album.

getting to the production now. LOAD IS AMAZING. those drums. my god. to me its always been the superior sound to the black album. it's like a more beefy, warm, and less brittle and more "together" version of the black album.

listening to "ain't my bitch" is a delight. between the heavenly drums on load and reload and the beefy ass guitars its a pleasure to listen to.

those two albums along with garage inc have to be my favorite guitar tones. they are sooooo dark and beefy yet so focused and not muddy. we really should discuss the guitar tones on those albums, as well as the drums.

 

[C_F_H_13]

warning/disclaimer: upcoming a.d.d. rant

putting aside the thrash vs hard rock metallica debate lets all admit load and reload sound goddamn amazing. growing up listening to the first 5 metallica albums had its impact on me but if it wasn't for hearing songs from load first i would never discover the rest. i personally think load is a great album, forgetting the albums before. on its own island, its a great hard rock album.

getting to the production now. LOAD IS AMAZING. those drums. my god. to me its always been the superior sound to the black album. it's like a more beefy, warm, and less brittle and more "together" version of the black album.

listening to "ain't my bitch" is a delight. between the heavenly drums on load and reload and the beefy ass guitars its a pleasure to listen to.

those two albums along with garage inc have to be my favorite guitar tones. they are sooooo dark and beefy yet so focused and not muddy. we really should discuss the guitar tones on those albums, as well as the drums.

+1. Seriously

 

[Exocaster]

Those records sound incredible. TBA sounds thin in comparison. Open and spacious, yes, but it doesn't have the sheer in-your-face mass. Put on "Cure" from Load, and turn it way, way up and listen to the room on the drum intro.

 

[Ermz]

Yes, Randy pretty much wins everything. As his style developed toward a more 'rock' direction the productions just got better and better, culminating in that monolithic mix on Nickelback's 'All the Right Reasons'.

It's a shame you can't generally swing that sound for most modern metal bands. They generally play too fast, and are too densely arranged to let a large low-end and fat sound really develop.

 

[dan weapon]

I love most of load and half or reload, song-wise.

Production-wise they are great if you don't judge them next to previous releases (which you were kind of getting at).

As far as METAL guitar tone goes, the black album etc is far more something I would shoot for personally, however what they have going on on (re and)Load suits the albums perfectly.

The only thing that disappoints me about those two albums is the filler tracks. Up until that point Metallica had massive quality control over songs, and tried not to have any filler. Hence why their B-sides were always covers or live tracks. Basically, if a song wasn't good enough to be on an album it wasn't worth being a song. (well that was always my perception anyway)
However the Loads must have about 27 songs and I reckon they could have made them into 1 excellent lengthy album with a few good spares for B-sides for singles, or 2 shorter albums with some of the songs cut off.

I think they even admitted ReLoad were a bunch of songs that weren't good enough for Load...

 

[Fragle]

massive +1 to everything that's been said here.
there's some decent stuff on load, reload is pretty much crap for the most part, production is GREAT though...

i used to hate anything past AJFA, but as time went by i understood that those early albums were done by raging young guys with a serious fuck you all attitude...and i can definitely understand them trying to do something new. it happens all the time.

 

[dan weapon]

One of the things I like about Load-era, was musically it was honest (not the make-up and image though. But I don't listen to make-up). It was the sort of music that mid-30 year old blokes such as Metallica were probably into at the time.

Not the embarrassing 40 year old men playing shit nu-metal that we heard on St-Anger.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Not much of a fan of the music apart from maybe 1 or 2 okay songs, but those are definitely two landmark metal/heavy rock productions of their era for sure

 

[Severu]

Funny thing you guys should mention this, cause I've been watching the making of Load and Reload yesterday on YouTube. Pretty awesome stuff going on on Load. One of my faves from Metallica, honestly. I personally like it better than AJFA. It's because I am a bass player perhaps

 

[crillemannen]

Load-->Garage Inc Is the best sounding production ever!!!! Just listen to the guitars and the drums OMG!!!

And for those who hate those Cd's songwise. Just listen to James rythm playing, it is godly. Different small nuances in left/right rythm guitar. Sounds like he just sat and jam when he recorded the guitars, really really impressive.

 

[aramism]

Load-->Garage Inc Is the best sounding production ever!!!! Just listen to the guitars and the drums OMG!!!

And for those who hate those Cd's songwise. Just listen to James rythm playing, it is godly. Different small nuances in left/right rythm guitar. Sounds like he just sat and jam when he recorded the guitars, really really impressive.

yes yes yes loooove how james tracked on those three albums. it's like this is one of the few times where the concept of stereo actually helps noticeably. for such a long time i've always told people how i loved the arbitrary differences in parts and how much depth it added for me.


i mean there is information on the mark series mesas used from mop->black album but i never fully knew the gutiars,amps, recording techniques for load->garage inc..

actually, i shouldn't say that, i know that garage inc. had some funky older more "boutique" amps like wizards and hiwatts but i reckon load and reload are a bit more hi gain. i'm guessing a dual recto has some responsibility especially with load since they were fairly new at the time and metallica loved the "new thing" apparently lol. always sounded like the "vintage" mode to me with a boost or something.

and do we know if bob rock stuck to the multi mic setups that were used on the black album or maybe it was more simple. it sound more dry and in your face than black album so i'd imagine it was more direct miked and potentially a smaller amount of microphones.

 

[jangoux]

Load and Reload are fucking amazing albums, I dont understand how so many people dislike both of 'em.

 

[Jormyn]

However the Loads must have about 27 songs and I reckon they could have made them into 1 excellent lengthy album with a few good spares for B-sides for singles, or 2 shorter albums with some of the songs cut off.

This. About half of each album is awesome, and the other half is good but not too thrilling.

As for production, I think the Mercyful Fate medley on Garage Inc is my top pick, but all three of those albums sound damn fine.

 

[FIXXXER]

Load and Reload are fucking amazing albums, I dont understand how so many people dislike both of 'em.

+1

 

[dan weapon]

As for production, I think the Mercyful Fate medley on Garage Inc is my top pick, but all three of those albums sound damn fine.

YES.

That song fucking kills. James' vocals and harmonies are awesome on this as well.

 

[crillemannen]

This. About half of each album is awesome, and the other half is good but not too thrilling.

As for production, I think the Mercyful Fate medley on Garage Inc is my top pick, but all three of those albums sound damn fine.

HELL YEAH!!!

That guitar sound is probably the best guitar sound ever. Just listen to the lowend OMG!!! Stellar just stellar

 

[aramism]

can we please get a consortium going of resources about the 90's era metallica rhythm guitar tones...????

 

[dan weapon]

can we please get a consortium going of resources about the 90's era metallica rhythm guitar tones...????

http://www.freewebs.com/montyjay/jamesamps.html

there you go dude

 

[aramism]

oh yeah forgot about the monty jay site. used to drool at that like 10 years ago lol


that's so crazy that they got that thick like good muddy yet clear tone. i wonder if they used the same trick with the mesa pre/marshall power amp combo.

are there any more resources except for this though? particularly more from an engineering/studio standpoint?

 

[Splat88]

Reload sound so large its disgusting. Where the Wild Things Are and Devil's Dance are my personal favorites. Its greatly overlooked stuff in my opinion.