Metallica guitar sound?

[heyman]

Wow, where to begin...

First of all.

1) Great Rythym Playing. Tight picking.
2) Guitars with Preferably EMG Active Pickups. Passive will also do.
3) A REAL AMP.... Not a Sim...

Like a Mesa Boogie Mark 2 or 3 with a pedal in front of it..
or Boogie Recto Series Amp or any of the new modern Gain Amps.

You got to push some air from a Guitar Cab as well. Sims just cant replicate the sound of a speaker being pushed.

4) Multiple takes played tighly and panned left and right.. etc..

[xmostynx]

i found this out the hard way...sims def. dont simulate how a guitar cab hits a mic...

and it really matters on the player..they have to be on top of their game..
that really separates a good sound from a bad sound...where the sound starts from!
beat detective could tighten up a loose player...i don't think nuendo has it tho..

i have the year and a half of metallica vhs from back in the day...i think thats what its called anyway...i'd suggest getting that and pausing it everytime they switch camera angles in the studio and then studying what you see!!!!
thats a good way to burn time and learn stuff...

scoop the mids...that might get you started..and layer..some tight comp will help...

..you know now that you got me thinking...the sans amp pedal that first came out...hmm..the GT2 pedal is a very good sounding metal pedal..it even emulates cabs...i think it sounds pretty good...but not as good as the real thing..

you can put that in line to really any decent amp and get a good sound...it would save you the cabbage of buying a mesa or marshall head...

but if your gonna use a plugin..your sound is gonna sound very weak and not in your face like i presume you want..

i can't really say you WONT get what your want outta the plugin...but i would abandon that idea...and put a mic in front of a cab.

my two cents!

[blaugruen7]

watching the metallica video is great fun!!!
i can only recommend this. call your friends and have a great film.
and this out of my mouth! :-)

[treymonfauntre]

search for the thread "master of puppets" where they talk about mixing metallica. there were 3 guitar tracks each side, one of which was just the low e string chugs

[xmostynx]

oooo....this sounds interesting!

Originally Posted by treymonfauntre

search for the thread "master of puppets" where they talk about mixing metallica. there were 3 guitar tracks each side, one of which was just the low e string chugs

[Farview]

You have to define which metallica guitar sound. Each album had a different thing going on.

[Farcs]

oh yeah i did mean to mention that , i would like to acheive the black album sound.

[Farcs]

Also i'm pretty much a novice when it come to the amps and pedals i dont know which works with different pedals/amps etc. I know in nuendo you can save the settings on each track when u have found the sound you want and simply load it onto another track to replicate that sound then tweak it so it sound a bit defferent and give a more wholeseom overall sound, does anyone know where i can get some saved settings which i could use as a basis to start from?

[Farview]

Besides the 'year and a half in the life of' video, there is also a Classic Albums making of the black album that give a little insight.

[xmostynx]

Originally Posted by Farcs

Also i'm pretty much a novice when it come to the amps and pedals i dont know which works with different pedals/amps etc. I know in nuendo you can save the settings on each track when u have found the sound you want and simply load it onto another track to replicate that sound then tweak it so it sound a bit defferent and give a more wholeseom overall sound, does anyone know where i can get some saved settings which i could use as a basis to start from?

i say man..try them all! with the plugs...i'm sure you can just do a google search...the black album was what i was thinking as the 'metallica' sound....but i also really dig master of puppets and even justice for all...

but the black album...exp sad but true...killer guitar tones...

the guitars are also i believe tuned down a half a step...and maybe a whole step on sad but true...

poke around in here http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=1687

i'm looking at the metal pedal right now...and i'm GUESSING...

crank the dist all the way, get the level so its nice and hot.. boost your lows, take the freq knob and scoop out around 500-600 and take your highs and add some brightness to the sound...it mights suck...it might not..but that should give you some crunch if the plugins are worth anything...maybe add a little compression..well a lot 4:1 and have a medium attack so you still get the pick action, and a medium release so its not compression hell...adjust your thresh-accordingly..

you could even fine tune with that equalizer pedal...stay away from the q's in nuendo..they will kill your sound even more than those waves plugs..

thats what i'd start with just by looking at the picture..


idk man i'm still a big fan to the mic and cab..


try that...remember not only are the guitars nicely sounding...Jason is really thumping on that ****ing bass..and that adds alot of the overall sound to metallicas guitars...listening to sad but true right now...and i think scooping those mids outta that maybe even around 450...

boost your low end to give you that god like dum dum dum...haha

post up your sounds! that would be rad!

what kind of guitar are you playing? your never gonna get that sound outta a strat or a cheap humbucker...you def need a decent ibanez or dean..gibson..remember these guys have the BEST stuff laying around when they record..

post up your sounds if you try that...i'm eager to hear it

[Farcs]

Thanks for the advice guys, i will deffo put up my results on here when i get going.

[CrankyRayHanky]

^yes that's a pretty close tone

It's not just great picking & pushing air into a mic, it's probably 3-5 amps going into a wall of 4x12s going into a fleet of mics crammed down into 1 guitar take. Than tweak and repeat 3 or 4 times. All inside of a great sounding room.

This is a white whale mission, better to go after your own original metal tone, which may be better as things have progressed in the last 20 years- start by looking at Fortin amps, that's what Metallica just picked up in recent months, and with good reason- his amps rock hard!

[fastlanestoner]

Agreed! You need a source as great as Metallica, or at least close. It's all in their playing. Gear is it too, and while you can get some great metal tones with sims a real cab is the only way to go.

Some scooped mids, and aggressive playing might get you there. Remember, they were a one-in-a-billion kind of band and a large part of their sound is..."them".

PS

I'm pretty sure all of their classic albums were done using passive pups