Black Album Guitars
While you might not like the drum sounds on Metallica records, or the way the bass is mixed, the guitar sounds are killer, especially the rhythm parts courtesy of James Hetfield. Big. Chunky. Articulate.
Of course, all instrument sounds are about the player, the instrument, the pickup—in that order—and then the amp, the cabinet, the mics and the processing. There are plenty of videos covering these variables. We’ll cover that briefly and then get to a weird, secret sauce contribution to this iconic guitar sound, which is The WOW Thing. Which we just happen to have available as a plug-in for $19.99.
So, the guitars have humbuckers—you won’t get this sound with a lipstick tube or a Telecaster neck pickup—and the amps are a Mesa/Boogie IIC+ and a Diezel VH4. These are both high-gain tube amps utilizing 12AX7s on the pre-amp stage. The Boogie uses 6L6s on the power amp, the Diezel uses KT77s. Both amps have low end equalization centered at 80Hz, so if you don’t own either of these or have a model, boosting around 80Hz will move you into the neighborhood a bit more. The presence region of the Boogie is centered around 2200Hz; the Diezel is at 4000Hz. That’s a big clue as to how you might EQ to cheat yourself closer to these particular amp sounds.
Mics: Hetfield’s 4x12s were mic’ed up with everything—from SM57s to U-87s to Royer Ribbons, with everything you can throw on a cabinet in between. I’m always looking to capture complementary ranges of sound, so a more punchy dynamic mic, which rolls off some of the lows and highs but has a pushed midrange (as well as a gentle clipping of transients because heavier mic diaphragm), combined with the deeper low end and glossy top of a condenser or a ribbon (and their faster transient response). Then in the mix, I can favor the condenser or ribbon to get clarity and articulation, or favor the dynamic for that all-important midrange and roughness. I think of these two sounds as working something like this:
Preamps: If you’ve got a bunch, try a bunch. The main thing with preamps is that their character comes from how they’re amplifying the mic signal, using tubes or something solid state, and how hard you’re pushing them, and thus getting additional harmonic distortion. I find that when I’m already slamming a guitar through a high-gain amp, the last thing it needs is the additional character (and harmonic distortion) of a clipping mic pre. Metallica guitar sounds are very very articulate—the rhythm of the playing is essential to the sound and the groove and slopping that up by further mangling transients isn’t going to get you that sound. Tube preamps don’t help this either, as they do tend to be smeary on transients. Remember, too: heavy metal guitars are distorted guitars recorded cleanly through modern solid-state circuits. Vintage guitar sounds (50s, 60s and early 70s) are kind of the opposite: cleaner-sounding guitar tones recorded through pushed tube or early technology mic preamps.
Compressors: Depending on the engineer, there could be compression going in as well as coming out. 1176s? DBX160s? SSL channel compressors? Korneff Audio Pawn Shop Comp? I might compress a part going to tape, to either even out a loopy performance (a player that was inconsistent with his right hand) or to get some needed transient activity from a guitar set up that seemed mumbly. To even things out, you want a lower ratio (under 4:1) and a longer release (400ms+) to keep that compressor always on the signal and riding it. For additional punch, enough attack to let that transient through and a faster release so that the compressor fully cycles before the next incoming transient. As a rule of thumb, a release around 200ms generally works, but speed it up as the tempo gets faster.
I also tend to compress things a touch on mixdown, so in addition to an overall mixbus compressor, individual channels are likely to be compressed. I love compressors and if I had a choice of which to use, compressors or EQs, I’d pick compressors (especially compressors with EQs snuck in... did I mention our Pawn Shop Comp yet?) but I don’t like the pumping and squashed sounding artifacts of compression, so my philosophy has always been 'compress a little bit often'. Spread the word around.
The WOW Thing
The secret sauce on the Black Album was the SRS WOW Thing, a cheap plastic box that used delay and phase to make signals sound wider. It wasn’t designed for use with guitars or in the studio; it was designed for home computers. Black Album engineer Randy Staub found that it worked great on guitars—another one of those quirky misuses of gear, like Tchad Blake’s experiments with the Shure Level-Loc (coincidentally, we have that too as a plug-in) that resulted in pure magic.
So, put The WOW Thing across either a stereo bus of the rhythm guitars, or across a stereo or 2 mic panned out pair of guitar tracks. The WOW Thing is designed to work on stereo things. It doesn’t do mono. Turn up the WOW knob to about 1 or 2 o’clock.
You’ll, of course, notice the guitars step out beyond the speakers a bit, but you’ll also hear them get a little bit brighter and the lower mids sort of scoop away a touch. This is part of The WOW Thing's magic—it lifts the highs for an increase in presence and cuts a chunk out to clear the midrange. And this sort of sonic sculpting is very much in line with what’s typically done on heavy records: an emphasis on highs and lows and a thinning out of the mids. This scoop moves up and down depending on the TrueBass frequency. More about that lower on the page.
TrueBass
The emphasis on the lows from The WOW Thing comes from its TrueBass circuit. This adds back the bass that’s removed by the WOW process. TrueBass is a misnomer: this circuit more reinvents the bass in its own mad image.
Turn up TrueBass to hear it. Now, at upper right is a drop-down from which you can select the emphasis frequency around which the TrueBass will operate. There are choices from 40 to 400Hz—it skips the 80Hz band I mentioned above. Careful setting this too low: 40 and 60Hz is where either the kick or bass live, so pushing guitars out down there will definitely clutter up the bottom end. For heavy guitars, the 100Hz or 150Hz will be your best bet. Now, if you’re throwing The WOW Thing on a guitar solo, depending on the note range of that solo, you might want to go a bit higher to separate out that guitar from the rhythm parts and also to keep the sound from thinning out as the player climbs the neck.
If you’re using The WOW Thing on two different rhythm parts—a rhythm and a double—I’d tend to use two different WOW Things, one on each, and then stagger the TrueBass frequency, 100Hz for one part, 150Hz for the other, to provide a bit more frequency separation, but that is me. I like hearing everything individuated—a charcuterie board as opposed to a pudding.
There’s a switch for TrueBass Dynamics. It basically pops in a frequency-dependent gain reduction—a compressor—which gives you more control down there. Slower attacks and faster releases can eek out a little more punch and articulation on the guitars.
Finally, there’s a DRY/WET blend. I tend to tweak this during mixes—usually have things too wide at the start and need to dial it back. A fun trick is to automate this: pull it a little bit towards DRY to tighten things up during the verses and then open it up during choruses to subtly differentiate these sections in the mix. Another trick to do, either automating this or the WOW knob: open up the width of the rhythm guitars a little bit too much during solos to de-clutter the center of the mix and make some room in the middle for that solo to breathe.
In Conclusion
The WOW Thing is a handy little devil of a plug-in. It’s not just for heavy guitars; it works well on all sorts of mixing issues. I’ll have some more ideas for its use in the near future.
