r/Metallica • u/Sniperizer Puppet of Masters • 3d ago
Ride the Lightning Flemming Rasmussen. The Tone God behind Metallicas RTL, MOP and AJFA.
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u/Seiryth 2d ago
Is it weird that I don't think the albums he produced sound anywhere near as good as Bob Rock's? The songs are better, but that's also the band at the time.
Bob's stuff brought the bass front and center and gave all the instruments space to breathe and be huge.
The bass is buried in the mix, and even Call of Ktulu's bass solo is lost. Master of Puppets barely features any truly audible bass other than during Orion, leper Messiah and damage inc, and that's only because the bass being front and centre is part of the riff.
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u/Masterofknees 2d ago
Flemming's albums all have their own distinct personality, which is cool, and that's why it's also fun to try and recreate the sound. But that aside, yes, they're not particularly impressive albums when it comes to the production, not even for their time.
Bob's albums sound a lot better, and finally captured the power the band had live. TBA in particular is one of the best mixed rock/metal albums ever, you can hear how they've slaved over every little detail. He also did a phenomenal job with S&M, it's really not easy to find the balance he did between the symphony and the band, as evidenced by S&M2.
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u/CodeNamesBryan 2d ago
I always thought it was the venue that made S&M2 so great, but now that you mention there was more to it.
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u/DJdcsniper 2d ago
I agree, but the guitars sound better to me on the first 4 albums, especially Puppets. I would be interested in solely how he gets the guitar tone, but besides that I would never mix the way he does.
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u/jkkkjkhk 2d ago
Well to be fair, Flemming didn’t mix these either. He was the producer and engineer, but the mixes were sent off for mixing by someone else.
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u/HarvesternC 2d ago
Yeah, I agree. They sound good for their time I guess, but I don't know how anyone can argue the Bob Rock albums don't sound better overall.
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u/BeatingHattedWhores 2d ago
Master of Puppets bass is clearly audible to me on every song. Are you listening to an original master, or one of the countless remasters over the years that have compressed the sound to shit?
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u/Seiryth 2d ago
I literally have the original vinyl, purchased not long after it was released, with a decent system. It's not that audible, at all.
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u/BeatingHattedWhores 1d ago
Vinyl is notorious for cutting out the low end. The CD is superior, I just listened to it again and could hear the bass on every song. I agree with you on RTl and AJFA though.
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u/Pfeffersack 2d ago
All I can say is it's an acquired taste.
Yes, their Load, Reload, and the newly recorded disk of Garage Inc. has way more range, more bass, etc. But the way Metallica and studios recorded music has a very different character (80s vs 90s). Not just the riffs or lyrics.What I'm talking about is the process of recording, sampling, etc. Theoretically, you could re-record Load's riffs, basslines (and so on) and put it through the recording/mastering process of the 80s. What you'd end up with doesn't have the breathing space of the original Load but the character of the 80s.
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u/MutedReading7036 3d ago
Ride the Lightning 🤘🏻 Master of Puppets 🤘🏻 and justice for all 🤘🏻 are all 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
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u/Fit-Umpire3257 3d ago
The best three consecutive albums without a doubt
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u/MutedReading7036 2d ago
Exactly. Im old so I remember when Ride and Master was fresh and just released. And there was nothing else like it 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
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u/marshallkrich 2d ago
That would be KEA , RTL, MOP, and HUGEEEEE drop off for AJFA, then Bob Rock saves the day.
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u/Whisky919 2d ago
People thinking that any producer will change how Metallica sounds is diluted. They can be guided, but at this point no one is telling them what the guitars should sound like.
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u/PRETA_9000 2d ago
For the love of God I hope they hire him again for one more album
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u/Sniperizer Puppet of Masters 2d ago
Yeah I can imagine he will try to get their old tone back. Will be awesome.
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u/KevThuluu 3d ago
$150 for that video package. Thats crazy money. I know it'll be a lot of great info, but considering the studio notes are out there, and all the deep dives people have done over the years, can it really be worth that much?
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u/MutedReading7036 3d ago
Time will tell , if people are willing to pay
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u/pbqdpb 3d ago
A lot of people think they can buy their way out of practicing so yeah people will buy it for sure
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u/MutedReading7036 2d ago
You’re right, but there is no way around practicing. Practice makes perfect 👌
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u/jkkkjkhk 2d ago
Is it worth it depends on the person, but I bought it last year and it was totally worth it for me. I’m a musician, but also an audio engineer so it’s cool to see Flemming recreate the 3 albums with his original notes but majority from memory. The end result was surprisingly close, except for AJFA which all of what went sideways was during the mixing process, which he was not involved in. There were a few Q/A sessions with Flemming so I got to ask his quite a few questions too.
No idea how other commenters are saying people would buy this to get out of practice. How is that even related?
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u/tomistoma84 2d ago
I’ve been thinking about purchasing the course. Honestly, I mostly just want the impulse responses. Have you tried them?
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u/jkkkjkhk 2d ago
Yes I have tried them quite a bit. If I remember correctly, there’s for each album: all mics raw, sm57 raw, sm57 with board eq, all mics with trident eq, all mics with neve eq, and then a 2nd of each for subtle differences. Honestly though, maybe it’s just my experience, but the IR’s sound very boomy and like they are clipping the low end. I messaged Tonegodz so they could be aware, but it’s likely too late to do anything about it, if there is in-fact a problem. Listening to their final mix sounds fantastic, so not sure what happened with the IRs.
There are also one-shot samples of the Superstar kit used to record RTL and MOP (and the kicks on AJFA).
Honestly though, if you’re into recording and wanting to understand what goes into making a good album, it’s worth getting it. The IRs and samples were an unexpected bonus.
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u/TheKrakenLord 2d ago
I once read that he was famously "the guy who let Metallica produce themselves"
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u/Vinipinheiro88 3d ago
Loved how Lightning and Puppets sounds. Not a fan of Justice's tone, though.
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u/notoriousrte 3d ago
A reminder that Bob Rock ruined this band…
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u/jtrick33 3d ago
Lol….wild you think Bob Rock had enough say over the direction of the band that he could “ruin” them.
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u/homercles82 Rode the lightning 2d ago
that is certainly a take considering the change in direction, tone, and style was the band wanting to evolve but go ahead
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u/0xfleventy5 2d ago
I love all three albums and tones, but Metallica's greatest tones, IMVHO, are on Garage Inc.