Metallica - Load/Reload/Garage inc. Recording Details

[kaomao]

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

James doens't like tube screamers lol (that page is the source)

Notes/Quotes

• "Distortion always starts with the amp. Pedals just sit on top of the sound. They don't feel like a full part of it, just some fuzz on top. You can fiddle with parametric EQs and all that shit for days, but it still won't have the smooth distortion of an amp. The last time I used a distortion pedal was on Ride the Lightning. It was an Ibanez Tube Screamer, like Kirk uses. It really helps his solos cut through, but it puts a shitty coating on smooth rhythm tones, and it was hard to not make it sound like a pedal..." Guitar Player, October 1992

 

[Felix Neumann]

I´d probably kill to get my drums sound like on the Black Album or the Load recordings!

 

[Jaymz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJRyY5cyLts&feature=related

Quite intresting, and how they say that they needed to change drumskins after a couple of takes because lars beat the shit out of em haha

Notice on the end of the drum page at 5:56 it reads "sample snr"

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Notice on the end of the drum page at 5:56 it reads "sample snr"

haha! Good spotting!

 

[Heb]

every work that staub made with Metallica had samples(well, not garage inc), or at least that's what Randy says on interviews.

A HUGE part of the sound, imo is lars playing, I know a lot a people constantly bash him, but he hits the snare like a motherfucker, he's got some serious rock atittude

if you look at the last clip of the recording of turn the page I hope we can agree that your statement is horribly wrong.. at least regarding the last 15 years

 

[shred101]

I think reload is the most underrated thing Metallica have done. It sound awesome and the songs on it are some of my favourite from Metallica.

 

[Jormyn]

I love those albums, but there's no way they should have been released with the name "Metallica" on the front. "Hetfield/Ulrich Country Metal Revue", maybe.

 

[006]

Dunno if anyone noticed in the one talking about the drums specifically, while playing back Enter Sandman Staub mutes the guitars, then the vocals come in while they are talking. Then he mutes the vocals, they talk and Hetfield unmutes the vocals right as he goes "We're off to never never land..." and then he mutes it again hahahahahaha.

 

[MetalJonesy]

lol yup!

i've got that dvd and have watched it countless times! haha

 

[Habsburgs]

god.. i hate lars' mannerisms

 

[PhilR]

I'm in a minority amongst those I know in that I think Load/Reload were both good records. And entirely appropriate for Metallica taking into consideration their respective ages, influences and musical maturity. Both of those albums sounded like a band that were quite content to explore musical avenues they had never done before. And they got torn apart for it. Shame.

What are they now? They look like the biggest poster boys for early retirement in the music world. I'm not at all surprised Newstead left.

 

[Exocaster]

I think Reload is a really fantastic sounding record, though song-wise I think Load is the better of the two. They are over-long, both of them, but there's some solid songs there, especially on Load. (And both sound great, really.)

I don't think it's inappropriate at all for a bunch of guys who grew up on '70s hard rock to make records that sound like they're influenced an awful lot by... '70's hard rock. Regardless of their musical past. They're solid records- not Superunknown or Dogman or Angel Dust or whatnot from that general era, not on that level- but decent stuff. As far as tones and layering go, there's some creative stuff on there, too.

I think they'd be much more highly regarded if they didn't have the Metallica name and all the history that goes with it attached to them. They are not bad records at all.

 

[DrumWerks]

I recorded once at The Plant in Sausalito (where the Load, ReLoad, Garage Inc. were all recorded). While there, I spoke with one of the house engineers who was in and about during the Garage sessions. He had a lot of funny/interesting stories about Lars recording drums. Not bashing him that he sucks, but more about the lengthy process it was to get the drums tracked.

Just before/during the sessions, the A room where drums were tracked had the ceiling reconstructed so it had an additional 25-30 vertical height (to get a bigger sound). This was specifically for that project and I think he said Metallica covered the bill.

He also said they had an ungodly number of mics, pushing 50 or more.

They spent days getting the kick sound, ditto for the rest of the kit.

In the end, samples were used on lot of the drum tracks anyway.