Mixing Analysis 8

Metallica - The Day That Never Comes  
Producer - Rick Rubin (Grammy - Producer of the Year 2009)
Album - Death Magnetic (Grammy - Metal Album of the Year 2009)
BPM - 130.87

Intro 0:00 - 0:15
Heavy Reverb semi-clean plucking guitar -Slight Delay
0:15 3 Kick and Snare hits to lead in next guitar
0:16 Heavily distorted sustained guitar playing riff over plucking guitar
2 guitars playing different octaves
0:34 Guitar solo
Drums fill at the end to transition

Pre-verse 0:50
2 Plucking guitars
0:57 Kick and Crash hits on the one of every bar

Verse 1:05
Full Drums
Kick -12 dB
Snare -11  dB
Crash - 30 dB panned 10 R
2 Plucking Guitars - 20  dB
1:22 James Vocal comes in, pretty dry heavy compressed -13 dB

Chorus 1:54 
Heavy Distorted Chords
Bass comes in  
2:07 High Riff comes in
2:17 Snare Roll

Transition 2:22
2:22 16th Note Snare hit synced with guitar for a cool transition effect  
2:25 Sustained note and Lyric before 2nd verse

Second Verse 2:28 
 Sustained Guitar panned 10 L
Strumming guitar panned 15 R

Second Chorus 3:15
Same as first

3:50 Second Transition into "Bridge"
Synced Snare hits 4 bars

5:00 Breakdown into Solo
Dual Guitar one octave higher panned to the right 15
octave lower panned 15 L
5:54 Third Guitar comes in  
Solos until sudden stop at end

I have always enjoyed Metallica instrumentally, and there songs with no vocals are usually my favorite tracks. There are always multiple layers of guitars in a Metallica track and Rubin mixes them together brilliantly. It almost always seems as if every guitar is double and panned slightly to each side. This adds a great amount of depth with guitar, a mono instrument. The EQing of the multiple guitars is really well done in my opinion because each layer is distinct and can be heard on its own. This is especially true in the intro with the heavy sustained layered guitar vs the plucked cleaner guitar. 

According to http://www.recordingreview.com, "He (Rubin) simply wants to feel the music. He has no technical understanding of preamps, Eqs, etc. He says he’s not a “knob turner”."I found this to be a rather shocking statement from someone as decorated as he is. I think its a great reminder in this up and coming technical world where there seems to be a new musical gadget everyday. It's a great reminder to not get too caught up with the green lights, spectrums and sliders. I often minimize Ableton or turn off my monitor when I'm mixing so I don't only rely on visual levels and it really helps you listen with your ears.

There is even a full movie on the making of Death Magnetic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zonTK9RTwsA if you skip forward to 48 minutes James is doing the vocals for "The Day That Never Comes"