January 20th, 2021

Metallica – Metallica

Each month we take a look at a classic track or album and discuss it from a music production perspective, examining anything notable that took place during its recording. This month we investigate Metallica's eponymous fifth album, commonly known as The Black Album. 

The album was the band's first with producer Bob Rock, and the band-producer relationship was initially very strained. In time, however, the two parties began to trust each other and the resultant album, an instant metal classic, was the catalyst for Metallica achieving true crossover success.

The band brought Bob Rock on board after hearing Mötley Crüe's Dr Feelgood album. Despite seeing 'hair metal' bands such as Mötley Crüe as 'the enemy', they recognised that the record was as sonically huge as anything on the radio and that its producer could bring the same set of skills to their new album. 

The producer was not afraid to challenge the band – an approach that was to yield excellent results, but one that leads to the first few months of production being incredibly difficult for all involved. Drummer Lars Ulrich remembers Rock being 'brutally honest' with them, telling the band 'I've seen you guys play a bunch of times live, and I've listened to your records, and you guys have not captured what you do live on a record yet.' Ulrich describes the band's response: 'Excuse me? Who the fuck are you?'

Up to this point the band had always recorded all of their parts separately, and Ulrich admits that this lead to the performances becoming stiff; 'it was always about not fucking up, it was never about just letting the music carry you to someplace.'

It wasn't just the recording methodology that Rock challenged either; he questioned the tempo of songs, the parts the band were playing and even the lyrics. After three months of resisting Rock's methods, the producer eventually became, in the words of lead singer James Hetfield, 'a trusted extra pair of ears'. As important as Rock's technical contribution to this record, was his commitment to recording the best possible version of the album, and his bravery in challenging the band to improve their work. He went on to work with them on their next four albums over the following twelve-year period. 


Comments:


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Lucas Tobon
Jan 22, 2021
I remember have seen a documentary explaining the 32 channels used in the several days of experiential positioning of mics!
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Diego Mayorga
Jan 21, 2021
I would love to know how they got that HUGE drum sound!

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