Question for Andy

[Skinny Viking]

Was just curious ... obviously you are at a level where your services are very much in demand by many bands. You've been responsible for making some of the best sounding releases for years by some of the best and oftentimes bigger bands. My question is basically this, do you ever actively pursue bands because you wish to work with them and havn't yet had the chance? Again, you've worked with some of the biggest and I'm not suggesting that the bigger the band the better ... but are you satisfied with the level and caliber of the work you receive or are there still bands out there you try to go after? A lot of times when I read or hear that some huge band is getting ready to make a new cd I wonder why they seem to go with producers who are in no way NOT as talented as you, but maybe just a bit questionable sometimes. For instance, bands like Iron Maiden, or Priest, Slayer, even Metallica ... is there even any interest on your part in working with bands like that and if so, do you try contacting them or do you just take the bands that chase after you to work with them?

I guess I ask this mostly because obviously the new Metallica is coming out and there is all this speculation about if its gonna be good or suck or whatever (and I'm no metallica fanboy) .. but I often wonder why a band such as that wouldn't try to get a real metal producer to kick their asses back into shape. Same with the new Priest, etc ...

Anyway, I know I rambled a bit but I guess you get the main idea of what I'm asking.

Cheers!

 

[Andy Sneap]

its often a case of these bigger bands going with someone they feel safe with. I would like to work with all the bands you mentioned, and have actually spoken with a couple of them in the past. Its so difficult to get your foot in the door , usually we'll exchange a couple of emails, I'll let them know I'm here then I'll leave it at that, if they want to work with me, they know how to get hold of me. All 4 of these bands when you think about it are working with producers in an engineering capacity really, also, I'd say out of all the above there's only Bruce Dickinson and Kerry King who really have an idea of what I've done in the past, the old guard aren't very switch on to what goes on in the metal world these days.

 

[LydonB]

It'd be pretty sweet if you did the next Maiden album...

 

[Skinny Viking]

Interesting

I was under the impression that Priest was a little better at keeping their ears to the ground but I guess not. Too bad really. As for the others, yeah man, I'd really fuckin love to hear what could happen with you taking charge of things for a future Maiden or (even better) Dickinson solo release ... get in their fuckin face about that!

Hahahahaha ... "the old guard"

I can completely see how that is unfortunately very true ... but I also wonder how they're so unaware when many of their peers are on your CV ...strange

but hey man, thanks for the quick reply

Now go tell Manowar they NEED you to remix and remaster their 1st 4 albums! hahahaha

Hail To Muthafuckin England!

Cheers!

 

[grywolf627]

Interesting

I was under the impression that Priest was a little better at keeping their ears to the ground but I guess not. Too bad really. As for the others, yeah man, I'd really fuckin love to hear what could happen with you taking charge of things for a future Maiden or (even better) Dickinson solo release ... get in their fuckin face about that!

Yes! That would be soooooo awesome to hear this stuff properly produced!

 

[Machinated]

I always thought Metallica would be the perfect band for you to give your "thrash revival" treatment too. Surely they must be aware of the Megadeth stuff you have done, and I'd hope they would have heard the Testament stuff too. I think even by the slight things you have said about Metallica on here, I'm sure you'd know what to do to sort them out!

 

[Skinny Viking]

And also the fact that Machinehead is touring with Metallica

They seriously have to have their heads in the sand to not be aware ... which seems to be the case ...

Actually Andy, just for shits 'n giggles ... how WOULD you approach a band like Metallica if you were to be their producer/engineer for an album? Like just from the ground up on a production level, would you tie Hammett to a chair and make him watch as you threw the wah pedal in the fire? What thoughts have you had about what and how they should be playing?

 

[Andy Sneap]

id get dave back in and put kirk on bass ;o)

 

[Andy Sneap]

Im joking by the way, interesting question and not one thats easy to answer til you get to know the internal goings on of a band. Lars has always been very civil to me when I've met him, whether he remembers me I dont know, but he knows I mixed trivium and came to see Sabbat play in London years ago so...

I actually think the new record will be ok, tho I have a feeling the songs may be a couple of minutes too long. I've seen first hand how these guys lose the hunger and ideas tho, and after touring for so long and being 20 years down the line its not surprising.

 

[grywolf627]

id get dave back in and put kirk on bass ;o)

LMAO!

 

[Andy Sneap]

I could tell you about the Lee Altus, Gary Holt idea about riffs for burgers, basically said persons gets holed up in garage and fed on a good riff basis. Get them hungry again. I think Exodus still live by that rule.

 

[26]

they would become legends with this method, i´m sure

 

[PhilR]

I'm in favour of the Joe Meek method. Lock them in the studio, set the place on fire and tell them that if they don't lay down a blinding take they'll all burn to death.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I'd love to see Andy do a Priest record. Imagine that, Priest with "fat" tone? Fuck yeah!
Hell, I can think of a number of guys on this board who could have done a better job than that shit-shingle they just released..... ....and this is #1 Priest fan here.

 

[dan weapon]

I don't really think the sound Andy is traditionally recognised for would necessarily suit Maiden, i.e. crushing guitars/drums, precision tightness.

When Into Eternity's latest album came out, I listened to it about 40 times on the trot (seriously) in a couple of days (I had heaps of uni work at the time). Alphabetically the album that followed it on my iTunes was Maiden's most recent album, A matter of Life And Death.

It amazed me how bad the Maiden album sounded next to the Into Eternity - as the opening Maiden track would start up before I'd skip back to the start of Scattering of Ashes. Out of that sort of context, the Maiden stuff doesn't sound that bad... but it's funny (yet not that suprising) how in the mid 80's they were at the cutting edge of production... but far, far from it these days.

I'm in absolutely no way saying Andy couldn't do justice to a Maiden album, but I just think his clinical modern production wouldn't benefit them as much as it would for, say, Metallica or even Painkiller-style Priest. Maiden are old school, and like AC/DC et al they are probably best left in the if it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it category. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that Andy!?

As far as old bands sounding great these days; the production (and guitar tone/playing in particular) on the new whitesnake album is phenomenal.

 

[Razvan]

indeed, Maiden and such are to be left as they are, their production sound is just half of being "iron maiden", the other half being style.

But I too think Andy would put Metallica's sound the place they should be for their heritage. I mean like AJFA meets MOP meets RTL meets 2008. That would be great.

 

[smy1]

Why do you guys assume that Andy can "only" do the "clinical/precision/tight" sound? Not that there is anything wrong with that?

Obviously bands seek him out for a certain style, but a good producer can take the BAND'S sound and make it better.

 

[Razvan]

Indeed, but let's do not forget that bands from the "old guard" will almost always remain conservative about their sound which means that any new and fresh input and insight from a producer like Andy here will not probably be considered. It's just a thought, hopefully I am wrong.

 

[dan weapon]

Why do you guys assume that Andy can "only" do the "clinical/precision/tight" sound? Not that there is anything wrong with that?

Obviously bands seek him out for a certain style, but a good producer can take the BAND'S sound and make it better.

Dude - I don't, hence why I had a disclaimer saying:

"I'm in absolutely no way saying Andy couldn't do justice to a Maiden album"

I'm sure he could do a brilliant job mixing jazz, dance or any other genre - as he clearly has golden ears and knows how to mold things sonically.

But every single album I have heard by Mr Sneap - and I must own well over 50* of them - has his trademark sound. By that I don't mean they all sound identical as opposed to them all having shared characteristics. I can't speak on his behalf but I imagine he has certain things that he loves to hear in a mix, and those are the things that I (and probably you) also love, as well as all the bands that employ his services.

This has almost been covered in that Testament thread where theFyn started banging on about "rawer" old-school production values...


EDIT: *that was a slight exaggeration, I've counted at least 45 but there could be more...

 

[cobhc]

I always thought Metallica would be the perfect band for you to give your "thrash revival" treatment too. Surely they must be aware of the Megadeth stuff you have done, and I'd hope they would have heard the Testament stuff too. I think even by the slight things you have said about Metallica on here, I'm sure you'd know what to do to sort them out!

If you think about it Anthrax and Metallica are about the only well known thrash bands Andy hasn't worked with (I didn't mention Slayer because a lot of people class them as Speed Metal, not Thrash). And consequently they're the bands that aren't making great records anymore. Either this is coincidental, or Andy really is the man to keep thrash bands in the big time.