This record took a year to record and cost a million dollars and it sounds like it lol. Back in 91 that was a nutty amount for any band, much less for a supposed "thrash" band when metal was out of favor. Lucky for Metallica, Bob Rock was a genius.
The ROI is easily heard when you compare their previous work, ...And Justice in particular. This is peak Metallica. Looking back you can tell that Jason was hurt and being stifled while the other guys tried to hide their pain with success and excess.
I don’t care what anyone says. This album was good top to bottom and the production is top notch. A standard to behold. Brilliant. Anyone who isn’t about minimum mics on drums should take from the rear room mic technique. I have and just about always since adding it not so much as room but OH’s more get a dimension on your cymbals that don’t get crushed or lost and can sit on any built tracks song with depth and dimension.
I too like a rear room mics behind the kit. Usually a pair though and the position changes slightly depending on the room and where the kit is in the room. If it's a bigger room with a good amount of space behind the kit, I put up a pair of large diaphragm condensers and set them up fairly low, about the height of the snare and floor tom, facing the kit and about the same width apart as the kit is wide. If it's a smaller room and/or there is less space behind the kit, I switch to ribbon mics and bring them closer to the kit raise them up to the height of the cymbals, still facing the kit. They do different jobs in those two situations but both are equally useable.
This album is not just one of the best evrr made, it's one of the best enginered sonicly before modern technology, still analog, and the final result is a masterpice that no other band will ever match. It was a magic time that won't ever happen again. A true classic. What a time in music history. Nothing since has come close. What a monster!
the Black Album. the last album where producers said, "NO that sucks, you need to change that." Also, the last album by Metallica worth listening to. The friend of Genius is a friend in deed.
This is one of the best produced albums of all time. Bob Rock was perfect on this album. F**kin drums sound awesome. Album is produced and mixed perfect. Bad ass
I remember the day this came out, I was young but already a huge fan of all their older classic 80's records...At the time "I just didn't get it at all". I even sold my copy on CD to a friend in early High School. 20 plus years later I finally "got it" and I bought it again lol! And I love songs like "The God that Failed" "Sad but True" and "My Friend of Misery"
I pretty much had the same reaction and for the most part, nothing's really changed. I've always thought Sad But True and Enter Sandman were great songs that was served well by the Bob Rock production. The rest of the material sounds better in their demos.
@@redghettosun Totally agree with you on that, Bob Rocks production and guidance put an already huge band into the Stratosphere. Funny enough somehow 3 of my Metallica cassette singles from the Black album era survived all these years. The B-side/Cover songs to Enter Sandman, Unforgiven, and Sad But True were. Stone Cold Crazy, Killing Time and So What...I to liked their Demos and Covers like the "Garage Days The 5.98 EP" . I skipped over the whole Load Re-Load era, I never paid attention or bought another record until Hard Wired to Self Destruct.
@@3iopen If they had put all their best songs on Load and Reload into just one disc, it would have been a decent record. All my original cassette tapes and singles are gone due to bouts of poverty lol. I didn't buy another record until I took a chance on St. Anger. Again, great production on Bob's side but sorely lacking in song quality. Sounded like James was on a stoner metal phase. In which case, Pepper Keenan would have been a better addition instead of Robert Trujillo.
I know some hardcore fans consider The Black Album the album where Metallica “sold out.” The Unforgiven solo also has to be one of Kirk’s best solos in general. But I really appreciate the fact I could hear Jason’s bass compared to AJFA.
I think it was common even then for a last stage digital conversion so maybe they did a good job with it. Apparently the originals had some weird noise all through them.
The mindblowing aspect of this is that NO ONE has actually heard the full resolution version of this. Every copy that's ever existed is just a bit for bit DAT dump.
I'm having trouble believing that part of the video. They spent millions on the album. If the analog 2-track masters had issues, they would simply go back and create new ones. DAT quality wasn't great in my opinion unless they used some killer outboard A/D converters in conjunction with the DAT recorder. They wouldn't simply compromise the album after putting so much into it!
@@Bob_Jones123 I remember there was some kind of audible MIDI track issue, like a click (but not a click track, I can't recall), I'd have to dig back through as this video isn't the first time it's mentioned... the implications are profound, would be interesting for someone to do a deep dive on this
That’s a good point. If there is a 1/2 inch stereo final master tape before they went to DAT , that would indeed be the highest fidelity of the whole production and it would be interesting to hear that mix.
Great job. Two minor notes though. When going over mics; After pointing out the Neumann KM86 on the snare top, you circled the piece of duct tape on a rack tom that Ross from Drum Doctors uses to dampen drums and called that the Sennheiser MD409. The _actual_ 409 can be seen in the next photo when you point out the Shure SM7 on the hi hat. It's the small, square shaped mic just at the bottom right corner of the screen that has a gold front wind screen. The bottom of the circle you draw around the hi hat's SM7 goes right through it. It's an absolutely fantastic mic that is now quite rare and expensive. Next, when discussing James vocal mic, you called it it Neumann U47 when in actuality it was the Neumann U47 _FET_ like the one used on kick out. Anyhow, how about all those ambient mics on the drums?? _Five_ 414EB's (I wonder if they were the brass or PVC capsule versions?) including two pair of them on either side, then a pair _each_ of C12's and 251's?? That's _bananas._ No wonder they got such a great drum sound with those mics, in that incredible room. It's almost as impressive as when I saw footage of Jeff Porcaro's studio kit, which had it's four toms all miked with E-LAM 251's. It's _toms,_ lol. As well as a trio of U67 overheads, a C24 (super rare, dual capsule, stereo C12) out in front of the kit in blumlien, a pair of Royer 121's as near rooms on either side of the kit and a pair of Neumann U49's as far room mics.
@@diegomayfield4751 Dude.. I'm nota a beatles fan but facts are facts, The Beatles: More than 6oo million around the world. Metallica: More than 93 million around the world
Unfortunately, Bon Jovi had higher record sales than these guys back then, check with soundscan database and you’ll be surprised the numbers of some artists when record sales counted before downloading
![Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q86_nlRoIGw/mqdefault.jpg)
This record took a year to record and cost a million dollars and it sounds like it lol. Back in 91 that was a nutty amount for any band, much less for a supposed "thrash" band when metal was out of favor. Lucky for Metallica, Bob Rock was a genius.
The ROI is easily heard when you compare their previous work, ...And Justice in particular.
This is peak Metallica. Looking back you can tell that Jason was hurt and being stifled while the other guys tried to hide their pain with success and excess.
Yeah these days are long gone
What a gem of a yt channel!
Thank you! 😃
I wish “And Justice” had the same production as this album.
Actually I wouldn't mind at all if AJFA sounded like Ride the Lightning 😄
I remember watching "a year and half of Metallica" pt 1 & 2 over and over as a kid. They were SO popular then.. great video 🤙😎 love these
Thank you! Me too, I loved that documentary, very inspirational!
Me too. I found it on dvd recently.
My buddy had it on VHS and we watched it at least once a week. We were absolutely obsessed with Metallica back then.
I own the DVD.
This album is still absolutely great sounding to this day the guitar tone is heavy but yet clear sounding and not muddy unlike AJFA
I don’t care what anyone says. This album was good top to bottom and the production is top notch. A standard to behold. Brilliant. Anyone who isn’t about minimum mics on drums should take from the rear room mic technique. I have and just about always since adding it not so much as room but OH’s more get a dimension on your cymbals that don’t get crushed or lost and can sit on any built tracks song with depth and dimension.
I too like a rear room mics behind the kit. Usually a pair though and the position changes slightly depending on the room and where the kit is in the room. If it's a bigger room with a good amount of space behind the kit, I put up a pair of large diaphragm condensers and set them up fairly low, about the height of the snare and floor tom, facing the kit and about the same width apart as the kit is wide. If it's a smaller room and/or there is less space behind the kit, I switch to ribbon mics and bring them closer to the kit raise them up to the height of the cymbals, still facing the kit. They do different jobs in those two situations but both are equally useable.
This album is not just one of the best evrr made, it's one of the best enginered sonicly before modern technology, still analog, and the final result is a masterpice that no other band will ever match. It was a magic time that won't ever happen again. A true classic. What a time in music history. Nothing since has come close. What a monster!
the Black Album. the last album where producers said, "NO that sucks, you need to change that." Also, the last album by Metallica worth listening to. The friend of Genius is a friend in deed.
Idk man Load is pretty solid
Very comprehensive. Nicely done.
Thank you!
Id love to see you do this with a Queensryche album!
Still such an amazing sounding album, absolutely lush
This is one of the best produced albums of all time. Bob Rock was perfect on this album. F**kin drums sound awesome. Album is produced and mixed perfect. Bad ass
Its a great sounding album. I love the layered vocals.
Love your videos, you always manage to talk about bands and albums I want to know about
Pls do (Re)Load behind the scenes
Another great video. Well done! Keep them coming.
Thank you!
I remember the day this came out, I was young but already a huge fan of all their older classic 80's records...At the time "I just didn't get it at all". I even sold my copy on CD to a friend in early High School. 20 plus years later I finally "got it" and I bought it again lol!
And I love songs like "The God that Failed" "Sad but True" and "My Friend of Misery"
I pretty much had the same reaction and for the most part, nothing's really changed. I've always thought Sad But True and Enter Sandman were great songs that was served well by the Bob Rock production. The rest of the material sounds better in their demos.
@@redghettosun Totally agree with you on that, Bob Rocks production and guidance put an already huge band into the Stratosphere.
Funny enough somehow 3 of my Metallica cassette singles from the Black album era survived all these years. The B-side/Cover songs to Enter Sandman, Unforgiven, and Sad But True were. Stone Cold Crazy, Killing Time and So What...I to liked their Demos and Covers like the "Garage Days The 5.98 EP" .
I skipped over the whole Load Re-Load era, I never paid attention or bought another record until Hard Wired to Self Destruct.
@@3iopen If they had put all their best songs on Load and Reload into just one disc, it would have been a decent record. All my original cassette tapes and singles are gone due to bouts of poverty lol. I didn't buy another record until I took a chance on St. Anger. Again, great production on Bob's side but sorely lacking in song quality. Sounded like James was on a stoner metal phase. In which case, Pepper Keenan would have been a better addition instead of Robert Trujillo.
Very good 😊
First!! Love this album, great video!
Thank you!
4:12 In that photo all the knobs are not set to the numbers marked above.🧐😂
Where did you get the guitar microphone info? Pretty sure there was a md421 in there somewhere.
OK, so let's open that kick drum thread. Was there a coin used? How exactly?
Load and reload video please!!!
I know some hardcore fans consider The Black Album the album where Metallica “sold out.” The Unforgiven solo also has to be one of Kirk’s best solos in general. But I really appreciate the fact I could hear Jason’s bass compared to AJFA.
And it sounds great!
I read somewhere that the drums were partially samples. Anyone know?
Good years
I'm curious about what happened with analog masters. What we've heard all these years is a digital backup copy?
I think it was common even then for a last stage digital conversion so maybe they did a good job with it. Apparently the originals had some weird noise all through them.
@@mixingmasteringonline According to Bob Rock it had some sort of digital clicking sound when they transferred it from analog.
The mindblowing aspect of this is that NO ONE has actually heard the full resolution version of this. Every copy that's ever existed is just a bit for bit DAT dump.
I'm having trouble believing that part of the video. They spent millions on the album. If the analog 2-track masters had issues, they would simply go back and create new ones. DAT quality wasn't great in my opinion unless they used some killer outboard A/D converters in conjunction with the DAT recorder. They wouldn't simply compromise the album after putting so much into it!
@@Bob_Jones123 I remember there was some kind of audible MIDI track issue, like a click (but not a click track, I can't recall), I'd have to dig back through as this video isn't the first time it's mentioned... the implications are profound, would be interesting for someone to do a deep dive on this
That’s a good point. If there is a 1/2 inch stereo final master tape before they went to DAT , that would indeed be the highest fidelity of the whole production and it would be interesting to hear that mix.
Great job. Two minor notes though. When going over mics; After pointing out the Neumann KM86 on the snare top, you circled the piece of duct tape on a rack tom that Ross from Drum Doctors uses to dampen drums and called that the Sennheiser MD409. The _actual_ 409 can be seen in the next photo when you point out the Shure SM7 on the hi hat. It's the small, square shaped mic just at the bottom right corner of the screen that has a gold front wind screen. The bottom of the circle you draw around the hi hat's SM7 goes right through it. It's an absolutely fantastic mic that is now quite rare and expensive. Next, when discussing James vocal mic, you called it it Neumann U47 when in actuality it was the Neumann U47 _FET_ like the one used on kick out.
Anyhow, how about all those ambient mics on the drums?? _Five_ 414EB's (I wonder if they were the brass or PVC capsule versions?) including two pair of them on either side, then a pair _each_ of C12's and 251's?? That's _bananas._ No wonder they got such a great drum sound with those mics, in that incredible room.
It's almost as impressive as when I saw footage of Jeff Porcaro's studio kit, which had it's four toms all miked with E-LAM 251's. It's _toms,_ lol. As well as a trio of U67 overheads, a C24 (super rare, dual capsule, stereo C12) out in front of the kit in blumlien, a pair of Royer 121's as near rooms on either side of the kit and a pair of Neumann U49's as far room mics.
Great details, thanks!
47 FET
Lars had 2 Kick Drums. 😂 Metal drummers never use 1 Kick drum. ✌️🤘🥁🏴⚖️🇦🇺🇺🇦
The start of where it all went wrong......absolute garbage for suv driving moms
Biggest rock band????lol
When the Black Album came out they WERE the biggest band in the world . Constant videos on MTV . This was right before Nevermind came out .
@@diegomayfield4751 Dude.. I'm nota a beatles fan but facts are facts, The Beatles: More than 6oo million around the world. Metallica: More than 93 million around the world
Unfortunately, Bon Jovi had higher record sales than these guys back then, check with soundscan database and you’ll be surprised the numbers of some artists when record sales counted before downloading
@@alienautopsy9326 yes.. even Bon Jovi was bigger...
I call this album 'the sellout album'.👎
And we call you an idiot
Good to know 👌🏻
when this album was released i quit listening to metallica
Sucks for you then
Thanks for the update
Wow, interesting. Thanks for chiming in.
And we thank you for that.