One thing that happens with every album, ever, in the history of record production, is that it will leave the artists’ control completely and go to the hands of the Mastering Engineer. This is the step that puts the polish, the pizzazz, the extra touches on the songs to make them come together as an album. It’s also, of late, where a completely listenable album gets killed. This was the lesson I learned from Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” album.
Dear Metallica: Do NOT allow this to happen, again. Please. Please. PLEASE.
For reference, as I sat listening to “Pack Your Bags,” the aforementioned monster with the wall of sound and face-melting music, I was reminded of the difference between the released version of “Death Magnetic” and what later became known as the “Guitar Hero Mixes.” If you’re not familiar with the tale that wasn’t right, to borrow from Helloween, the following transpired:
- Metallica recorded “Death Magnetic.”
- Guitar Hero Metallica needed the mixes – so the unmastered versions were sent.
- ”Death Magnetic” was sent to mastering.
- Metallica went on tour.
- ”Death Magnetic” was released…overloud, and completely lacking dynamics.
- Metallica was unhappy, and rightfully so.
What’s missing on the allmusic credits is anyone actually directly called a “Mastering Engineer.” I wonder if that was on purpose. The upshot is that a very solid, listenable album went to the mastering engineer and left an overdriven, crispy, clipping, mushy mess. What do I mean? Well, take a look at the waveforms for “All Nightmare Long.”
The top waveform is from the album version. The bottom waveform is from the mixes sent for inclusion in Guitar Hero:Metallica. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the top waveform is barely a waveform at all, with no room for dynamics and with boatloads of clipping – which you can actually hear in the song as clicking and crackling. The biggest thing I noticed listening to the quieter, more sedate version of the song was that the intro vocals to each verse are run through a neat filter like James was singing through a fan. This effect is completely lost in the album version, which is too bad, because it was a neat effect.
Dear Metallica: Do NOT allow this to happen again. Please. Please. PLEASE.
This was the lesson that I brought with me into approaching what is already a mine-field in the self- or tiny-budget-production arena, and that’s mastering your own mixes. It’s generally seen as a “no no” and something that, under normal circumstances, I would try to avoid. However, with no budget, it’s kind of hard to justify $50-$500 per song for mastering. To me, what “Death Magnetic” told me, in no uncertain terms, was that – no matter what – don’t just slide the volume faders all the way up. It also kept me mindful of the waveform, that precious waveform. What it didn’t really prepare me for is how hard it is to maintain that waveform, and keep those dynamics alive, when the feedback from the artist seems to revolve around, almost to the exclusion of anything else, “just a touch louder.” It’s hard, and it’s a delicate balance. I know I’m not the only producer to encounter an artist who wants the album to be loud and in your face. I think the biggest difference is that most producers have more experience with not only handling these requests with a polite, “no,” or, more importantly, how to actually give the bumps in volume without the rest of the mix suffering. That was the biggest challenge for me.
I think the worst part, for me, is that while working on this project, I was learning constantly. Now, that, in and of itself, isn’t the bad part. The bad part comes when you’ve sent all the masters off to the artist and they’ve been submitted for duplication and then you find that better way, that cleaner mix, that perfect sound. Below is an example of that. The song is “Tiocfaidh Ár Lá (Our Day Will Come)” and the top waveform is the album version while the bottom waveform is the “Perfexion Mix” that I’ve put together since.
While it’s still nothing compared to the brutality that occurred with “Death Magnetic” and “All Nightmare Long,” it’s still a drastic difference. While the bottom version of the song is obviously going to be quieter, meaning you’ll have to turn the volume up a bit if you want it to be the same volume, it’s also got much better definition, clarity and overall production quality and, for my money, sounds almost 100% better. That said, this particular mix came two weeks too late and will, most likely, be relegated to a “remixed, remastered” version of the album to be released in the future.
So, this open letter I spoke of – here goes:
Dear Metallica,
Your music is enjoyed and treasured by millions. I have been a fan since “Ride the Lightning” back in 1985 – 30 of my 41 years. I have been your strongest supported and, indeed, your harshest critic. It’s probably a little strange, but, after all these years, you’re kind of like family and so, you take the good and you take the bad, but the love is still there. I don’t know if you noticed that this past album, “Death Magnetic,” the criticism was not “wow…this is NOT metal, OR Metallica,” but instead, “wow – there’s so much of this album I’m NOT hearing because of the production and the decision to mash the living crap out of the mixes to win the ‘loudness war.’”
There are so many dynamics-related things on “Death Magnetic” that a lot of people missed because they didn’t seek out a little-known, but well worth the investigation, group of files called the MIII mixes. These mixes were the pre-master mixes that all had everything – clarity, dynamics, tone and, yes, power. Sure, you had to turn it up a little more in the car, but you could also hear the bass line in “End of the Line,” the guitar movement during the chorus of “Broken, Beat and Scarred,” and, as mentioned above, the filtered vocals in “All Nightmare Long.” While I’m not expert or a producer on the level of Rick Rubin – heck, I’m not comfortable being in the same sentence with Mr. Rubin! – I am someone who’s got enough mixing and producing experience under my belt to know one thing – to hell with the loudness war. It is, indeed, a war no one wins and when it comes at the expense of the band – you know, you guys…the ones who pour your heart, soul and money into producing the music you love – and, ultimately, the fans who are paying to hear the music you’ve produced, it’s definitely a war not worth fighting.
So, with that, please take that into consideration when you enter and, eventually, leave the studio. For the love of all that is good in this world, make sure your waveforms are clean, gentle and beautiful – full of dynamics and perhaps, more importantly, clarity. Please make sure that my ears will hear every note, every high hat, every heavy, palm-muted down-stroke, every harmony. Please take every step possible to make sure that the producer doesn’t allow the mastering engineer to take your hard work and turn it into an overloud, unlistenable jumble of crap, but instead a polished, pristine album worthy of the name “Metallica.”
Sincerely,
Phil
