FWIW, IMO the SLO does actually sound fat and chewy and I couldn't think of any better words to describe it.


However, once we enter the territory of "woody mids", it's time to GTFO.

When it comes to Metallica and guitar tones, there's nothing that will best Load. Whether you like it or not that album had some delicious tone.

Heartwork is 5150 and Marshall SS.


We will be using a similar-ish setup on my band's EP (which is actually beginning to take some amount of form in a pre-production recording of riffs respect ).
5150 + Line 6 Flextone II or Line 6 Gearbox.
The digital aspect for the gross, skronky scooped digital crunch.

5150 + Flextone II = The Blackening.

NIN- The Fragile Nothing more to say beyond that. Brilliant.
The Sisters Of Mercy- Floodland. Layering.
The Cure- Disintigration.
Tool- Lateralus
Metallica- Reload. I actually don't really like the album, but it sounds phenomenal. Heavy rawk production benchmark. Bassy bass is fucking bassy.
King's X- Dogman. Holy Toan, Batman! Love those drums. Love them.
Soundgarden- Superunknown. Best rock vocal production ever. Love the roomy reverbs and use of subtle distortion on the vox. Also, amazing drums.
Gov't Mule- Dose. Any Mule record will do, really, at least anything pre-High And Mighty. Deja Voodoo has one of the most epic kick drums ever.
Ani Difranco- Dilate, if only for the snare drum.
Tomahawk- Tomahawk.
Collide- Chasing The Ghost. DEEEEP BASS.
Isis- Panopticon. Pretty much anything Matt Bayles, really. Minus The Bear sounds great, Mastodon sounds great but I think they're being killed in mastering.

The Wizard Modern Classic on Reload sounds better if we're talking rhythm tone. Load is pretty fuckin' great sounding, though. I really like the way they experimented with tones around that time. Those two are the best sounding Metallica records by far. Nothing else comes close. I love James' solo on Thorn Within.

Oh, I forgot to mention Depeche Mode- Songs Of Faith And Devotion.

I am hoping it will be super slammin'.

Three votes for Lateralus. It really is a remarkable production.

Also, multiple votes for Disintigration and The Fragile.

They're undeniably masterpieces.

All three are pretty much unfuckwithable epic rawkingness.

Oh, and if I need to pick a metal mix: Grip Inc.- Solidify. Real live drums (you can actually hear Lombardo come in late at one point), all cut to 2" analog, perfect heavy guitar tone, big bass high in the mix, phenomenal vocal performance, totally clean, huge sounding mix, great separation, nice subtle layering of effects and synth tracks.

The last two Opeth records have been pretty great sounding, but I was dissatisfied with the drum sound on Ghost Reveries. Watershed sounds great, but a little squashed.

Indeed. The drums were overproduced on Ghost Reveries. I really dig the drum sound on Watershed though. That snare.

Edit: Actually, Ghost Reveries was generally over produced.

The kit sounded nice in the brief solo bits, but I didn't like it in the mix. It sounded small.

Martin Axenrot's kit on Watershed sounds huge and sounds like he's beating the everloving hell out of it. It added quite a bit of heaviness to the band. He was great live, too. The feel of the band live was totally different with him vs. Lopez behind the kit. The current incarnation is a much heavier Opeth.

That snare on Watershed is pretty great. And the acoustics are probably the best acoustic guitars I've ever heard on a metal record. Nothing in that genre touches them sound-wise. Opeth's mellower tones are always great, and really stand out in a genre not exactly known for its great tone in its mellower moments, where things are usually thin and effected-out and still totally '80s to this day. Opeth makes a damn fine rock band.

Oh, best acoustic guitar sound ever:



Obviously there is some delay and reverb going on, but it sounds fantastic.

Actually, Ghost Reveries was generally over produced IMO, not just the drums.

Re: Drum smallness, yes... it sounds like the snare and kick are a really narrow frequency, and a similar one at that. I don't think that's good producing.

Axenrot is a pretty excellent drummer. And bonus, he plays Opeth's first blastbeat.

I think those albums were their best music too. Their metal was killer, but the rock stuff makes me feel good. Their metal never did that for me.

Hero Of The Day is a huge guilty pleasure for me.

Load and Reload sound Gigantic.

I contend And Justice For All is Metallica's best work. That's a miserable depressing record though. And I actually like the production on it, though I don't want to hear that mix on anything else. It suits the vibe of those songs so well though.