New Metallica album recorded to tape, no ProTools

Here's hoping for a nice, dynamic vinyl!

 

Great news! Now hoping it will sound awesome.

 

My favourite Metallica album is "Load" so I was thrown by St Anger, although the documentary "Some Kind Of Monster" was fascinating.
I hope they do another album that's as good as "Load".

 

I love the sound of tape. But why is Metallica doing a new recording using tape? What are the advantages and besides I read the fan comments in the Rolling Stone link. Their fan base is a bit vulgar too.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdai...lbum-ridiculous-sick-bitchin-says-matt-sorum/

 

I work on Pro Tools everyday. I can say from experience that like anything else, crap in...crap out. If the bit and sample rate are high enough, and the converters of high enough quality, and the word clock is clean, the sound of what you record can *approach* analog quality. Furthermore, there are various tape-emulation plug-ins that work very well to give that "glue" like analog sound.

I don't say "stop using tape"...I just don't think it makes a difference one way or the other if Metallica uses tape or tracks straight to Pro Tools (cause you know that this will hit Pro Tools at SOME point...). Especially if it's going to get mauled within an inch of its life by Vlado Meller in the mastering phase.

 

Wow, I've never met anyone who thinks that! Actually, I commend you for being so open-minded. A great record.

 

Count me in as a Load fan too. I love the way it and ReLoad were mixed. Mastering is a bit crunched, but the mix is great. I don't know if it was hunger from the 5 year drought between "The Black Album" and when Load came out, but I just listened to the heck out of it back in '96 and think there are some great songs on there.

 

Count me in as another Load fan...

 

Me too...Load rocks! "King Nothing" is one of my faves.

 

Metallica’s New Album: “Ridiculous,” “Sick,” “Bitchin’” Says Matt Sorum
Metallica are hard at work on their next album with producer Rick Rubin, and at least one person outside the band has heard the songs: Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum. We’ll let him take it from here: “Lars is a good friend of mine. He played me the demos from San Francisco, and I turned and looked at him and I said, ‘Master that **** and put it out.’ It’s ridiculous. The demos were sick. Eight-minute songs, all these tempo changes, crazy fast. It’s like, ‘Dude, don’t get slower when you get older, but don’t get faster!? How are you gonna play this live?’ And then me and Lars were out partying all night, and he had to go in the studio the next day and do this stupid like nine or ten minute song, and I was laughing at him — because he played me the demo of it, and it was [sings really fast drum part], so fast. I called him, and said, ‘Dude, how are you feeling?’ He was like, ‘Dude, I’m hurting.’ They’re cutting everything to tape, no ****in’ Pro Tools — live, no clicks. Bitchin’. I dig it. I’m really excited for them.”


Matt comes across like that little cartoon dog that was so happy to be hanging with the big bulldog he kept jumping over him and walking in front of him while saying "Right, Spike"., "Huh, huh"...

I wish I knew the cartoon to post a link.

 

Wrong. For rock and metal nothing sounds like tape. AmateurTools is no match for a Studer or any other 2-inch analog multi-track recorder. AmateurTools sounds like crap. Sometimes I think it is not even a match for a good cassette deck. I never liked the sound of it. Drums, electric guitars and bass simply sound better in analog. Digital recordings have no soul. No air. No life. They sound dry, sterile, lifeless, boring, flat and one-dimensional. They give me ear fatigue.

And every single damn time there is discussion about tape or analog on some discussion board, some AmateurTools fanboy chimes in about how awesome AmateurTools is, and how tape is worthless and useless and etcetc.

Grunge did not kill heavy metal. AmateurTools did. And nothing sounds like tape. End of story.

 

While I do like LOAD, my favorite is Kill 'Em All. I wonder if they'll be able to make a decent record anymore? It's gotta be tough for a middle aged millionaire to be angry these days.

 

A statement like that is obviously not coming from an objective source.
Though there are obviously MANY bad recordings made with "AmatuerTools", there are also many excellent, open, dynamic, high fidelity recordings made with it and not tape (might I suggest Bob Dylan's latest "Modern Times" just as a start).
But the final product's quality is definitely and primarily due more to the people behind the tools than to the tools themselves.

That said, I think Rick Rubin has a great way of cutting to the essence of an artist, especially when there's a lot there to begin with. I think Metallica could make something great with his stewardship (tape or no tape).

 

First of all...wait, let me bold this for you...you need to calm down.

I am not a "fanboy" of Pro Tools...nor do I ever say in my post that I think tape is worthless or useless. I am simply stating that it is all subjective and in the hands of the operator as to whether or not digital sounds like "digital".

I've heard good digital...I've also heard bad analog.

And, more power to Metallica if they dust off the razor blade and keep their album all analog to the end...but mark my words, most likely they are TRACKING to analog, and will dump the analog tracks into Pro Tools (again...not pushing "AmateurTools", just acknowledging that it is omnipresent in the industry) because it is simply easier to edit and mix that way.

And if their album sucks...you can't tell me it's because it might have been mixed digitally.

Open your mind...breathe in...breathe out...digital is not THAT bad...

 

If I were starting a big project with a well known rock band, I would definitely track to analog, maybe even 16 track. You can't beat analog tape compression for rock guitar, drums and bass.

I was hoping the new Rush would be recorded this way, but it was tracked to ProTools. It was mixed to analog 1 inch tape though. It's too bad the mastering isn't very good.

Here's hoping the new Metallica will have a good mastering like the Black album does.

 

We've heard this many times under many different user names. Same guy.

 

His current user name seems quite fitting.

 

This is mostly correct (for rock and metal etc) but overgeneralizing. A good engineer with good ears and good taste can make equipment work for them, not vice versa.

But we can both thank and blame analog recording for Classic Rock albums. Had they been recorded on todays tiny, sterile, lifeless sounding gear, nobody would want to hear it more than once.

People record onto computers for convenience, then they try to get a fat, ballsy sound by maximizing and smashing and end up with something that sucks.

 

True words.

 

Wow ... have some of you actually ever been in a recording studio? I know I have. I've tracked to both analog and digital (various systems over the years). As others have said, it's more who is using the tool than the tool itself. Analog tape is a tool. Digital is not evil.

A lot of the quality has to do with other things like mic pres, the board itself, other outboard gear used ... oh, and the people running all of that. How about the songwriting and the performances themselves - where does that play in?

Are you honestly going to say there have been no bad analog recordings and that because it was recorded onto tape, it must be good? I'm not saying that the natural compression/saturation that comes along with analog tape should be dismissed (and then let's get into differences in analog tape brands and width), but done right, digital sounds just as good and you can even add some of that sound to your mix. The A/D converters these days - especially top end ones - sound great. We've come a long way since the 80s.

 

When Hell freezes over, and even then, not a chance.

 

Now THESE are true words as well!

 

Hey, Iron Maiden's newest album came out with great mastering!

 

well, I wouldn't say great (it's still loud, but I'm sure it was mixed that way just to be "safe"), but better.
I can't imagine Rubin not using Mr. Brickwall Meller.

 

Well, the Iron Maiden has decent dynamics for a metal album, and none of the peaks are squashed. Pretty decent considering the alternatives!

Vlado Meller also masters Metallica's live tracks when tacked onto singles, etc. I'm drawing a blank on who mastered St. Anger