Ola does the Black album!!!

I love the black album's guitar tone. I realize how insanely meticulous the band and Bob Rock were in getting that sound, but there's something cool about the gain and treble content of that tone, along with a certain ambience or extremely subtle mix of room reverb in there that almost makes it sound like the perfect "in the room" live recording, enough so that you really feel like you're hearing an excellent band just playing live, super on point, super tight, just vibing away.

Of course I know that couldn't be further from the truth as every part was individually played tons of times and obsessed about over 10 months but man that record absolutely captures that kind of vibe.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
I love the black album's guitar tone. I realize how insanely meticulous the band and Bob Rock were in getting that sound, but there's something cool about the gain and treble content of that tone, along with a certain ambience or extremely subtle mix of room reverb in there that almost makes it sound like the perfect "in the room" live recording, enough so that you really feel like you're hearing an excellent band just playing live, super on point, super tight, just vibing away.

Of course I know that couldn't be further from the truth as every part was individually played tons of times and obsessed about over 10 months but man that record absolutely captures that kind of vibe.
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The tone they got on the Black Album tour cycle was amazing too . On Four Horsemen live in Mexico City go to 2:53 . It’s on Live Shit Binge and Purge. Bob produced the live shit too . So good
 
thegame said:
I miss the era when producers and engineers got real creative to create landmark tones.
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This is probably the only thing thus far I've ever agreed with you on. Otherwise, you act like a Holier Than Thou (pun intended) self righteous negative prick on this forum. Seriously man lighten up.

RaceU4her...cool topic. Thanks for posting. I think Ola did just fine on his vid and put in a valiant effort with the gear he had. He obviously didn't obsesses to nail 100% but his effort was good and he tried at an acceptable level.

VESMedic...you are an abrasive person on these forums amongst others I won't mention...and I think at times, such as this topic, you don't get enough credit for your knowledge due to your nature. HOWEVER...I like you...you made some posts on Black Album tone yourself that I agreed on including this one. This particular album is extremely hard to nail dead nuts, if that is what one is striving for. Nearly impossible. But you can get damn close for sure.

All that aside, I've tried to mimic the album tone myself and believe it or not, I got the closest with a Jackson USA SL1 into an MKIII red stripe into a stock Marshall Mode Four Cab mic'd up with an MD421 MK1 into a API 312c. Not claiming dead nuts but god damn if it wasn't close. Just depends on what one can do with gear they have. Shit, I bet people with lesser gear can get do same or even better with lesser gear.
 
any c+ - > IVa -> a quality 4x12, is going to get you in that neighborhood with the right eq-ing. you probably don't need the marshall power section either.
 
DanTravis62 said:
consider yourself lucky. If youve heard one song, youve heard the production; which is the highlight.

If you force yourself to listen to the whole thing, you have to listen to the slowest, most plodding record of their career.
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i was 8 in 1991 when i heard that record, and it damn near changed my life, and got me diving head first into heavy metal which i became obsessed with and got me started playing guitar. So if nothing else, its an excellent gateway record into metal, and maybe even playing, since those songs aren't exactly rocket science to play along with. Also, what were there, 6 radio singles on that album? you can't fuck with those songs.
metallica threads always bring out the worst in people :ROFLMAO:
Master of puppets II is never coming out. sorry guys.
 
thegame said:
You make a valid, rarely mentioned point. James's guitars are mixed lower on the Black Album than on any other Metallica studio recording. They take a back seat to the vocals, and drums (including the room sound/huge reverb from the drums). It was certainly one way to achieve a radio friendly mix...
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Boom!
The Black album is Metallica yeah..with Bob Rock.
That’s the source of lower punch in the guitars in the mix.
Man..that album does thump.
Big money production to spend a week on
mic placement for one riff for one part of a song.
Really went crusty when Bob took over the bass guitars for an album, no thx.
 
JimAnsell said:
i was 8 in 1991 when i heard that record, and it damn near changed my life, and got me diving head first into heavy metal which i became obsessed with and got me started playing guitar. So if nothing else, its an excellent gateway record into metal, and maybe even playing, since those songs aren't exactly rocket science to play along with. Also, what were there, 6 radio singles on that album? you can't fuck with those songs.
metallica threads always bring out the worst in people :ROFLMAO:
Master of puppets II is never coming out. sorry guys.
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I'm very very glad you enjoy the banal, slow stadium rock they made 🤣

But gateway or not, it's objectively not a very good metal record, even if it IS objectively a success monetarily.
 
Just a thought, but I'm wondering if the same exact production of the Black album would have worked if the songs were faster and thrashy as opposed to slower, mid-tempo?
 
thegame said:
VESmedic, they literally built a room (the "tent" as they called it) around James's rig using blankets, giant foam pads, etc to bring out certain frequencies from his amp naturally (to greatly emphasize what was already there) so it wouldn't have to be done with EQ. They also used multiple mics to intentionally phase notch some frequencies as well, again so they wouldn't have to rely on outboard EQ so much. I miss the era when producers and engineers got real creative to create landmark tones.
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Don't forget the pump shotgun, and the danelectro one string added for that low end chunk/clank...and the Hetfield blackened Jackson king V Bob Rock bought for the album.
Resized_IMG_1219.jpeg
 
Metalhex said:
Just a thought, but I'm wondering if the same exact production of the Black album would have worked if the songs were faster and thrashy as opposed to slower, mid-tempo?
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Through the Never is pretty fast. The struggle within is pretty fast. And the B-side Killing Time is pretty fast as well. They all sound great to me.
 
Purity said:
This is probably the only thing thus far I've ever agreed with you on. Otherwise, you act like a Holier Than Thou (pun intended) self righteous negative prick on this forum. Seriously man lighten up.

RaceU4her...cool topic. Thanks for posting. I think Ola did just fine on his vid and put in a valiant effort with the gear he had. He obviously didn't obsesses to nail 100% but his effort was good and he tried at an acceptable level.

VESMedic...you are an abrasive person on these forums amongst others I won't mention...and I think at times, such as this topic, you don't get enough credit for your knowledge due to your nature. HOWEVER...I like you...you made some posts on Black Album tone yourself that I agreed on including this one. This particular album is extremely hard to nail dead nuts, if that is what one is striving for. Nearly impossible. But you can get damn close for sure.

All that aside, I've tried to mimic the album tone myself and believe it or not, I got the closest with a Jackson USA SL1 into an MKIII red stripe into a stock Marshall Mode Four Cab mic'd up with an MD421 MK1 into a API 312c. Not claiming dead nuts but god damn if it wasn't close. Just depends on what one can do with gear they have. Shit, I bet people with lesser gear can get do same or even better with lesser gear.
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Seeing as how you called out not one, but two members who rub you the wrong way, may I suggest a little bedtime reading tonight?

193934473_101663788814072_2685534096385611195_n.png
 
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