Metallica - All Nightmare Long (Test Remaster from GH3 Stems)

This is a test file I decided to upload. There are alot of Death Magnetic remixes and remasters already up, but I have taken a different approach than most of them. I've spent alot of time EQing, tweaking, and trying to create the sound I wanted. The bass sits alot higher in the mix, and I've given it back alot of mid-hi presence. I personally prefer to have the bass really audible (as opposed to the retail CD mix), especially when the bass has the kind of distorted/overdriven, "floppy" character and sound it has on this album. Basically, there is alot of things done here. So do take a listen and let me know what you think of the sound, mix, EQing etc. :) With enough positive comments I might try the whole album, despite me not liking how it has been recorded to begin with.

udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80
udp://open.demonii.com:1337
udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969
udp://exodus.desync.com:6969

inmortus (2008-11-23)

I´ll listen to it and i´ll give you my opinion
Anyway , I´m very interested in mixes that it has the bass loud.
Thanks

WaaLLe (2008-11-23)

I think this sounds really good - Please, do the whole album!

Tech-Noir (2008-11-23)

Cheers WaaLLe. :)

Slayer6969 (2008-11-24)

I have actually been waiting for you specifically to do this album! Your work on ...And Justice For All was absolutely outstanding
I really hope you tackle the whole thing. I think that would make it the be-all version of this album

Slayer6969 (2008-11-24)

Oh wow. This is everything i hoped it to be. Can you PLEASE do the entire album like this?

bebang (2008-11-24)

How do I open this .flac file. Pls. help

Tech-Noir (2008-11-24)

Slayer: Thanks mate, glad you liked it. I am actually quite happy with how it sounds, most evident in the fact that I can listen to it over and over and not get annoyed over the sound. ;)
Bebang: The .flac file is basically a normal .wav file, but compressed to save space. All the data from the original uncompressed .wav file is still there though.
Many Media Players today can play .flac files without any addtional codecs (Winamp being the most well-known example).
Depending on what Media Player you are trying to play it with, you might need to google search plugins or such for your media player that will add support for FLAC files. Of course, if you haven't already, do try to simply open it with your media player of choice and see if it plays.
If you can't play it at all, then you can download a media file format converter program like dBpowerAMP or similar. With this program you can convert the .FLAC file to a .WAV file (basically removing the extra .FLAC "layer" that can make the file hard to play for some programs). After the converting process, you are left with the "pure" .WAV file (16 bit, 48kHz). :)

biff100 (2008-11-25)

Awesome mixing and mastering. Would love it if you could do the album

Tech-Noir (2008-11-25)

Thanks biff100. ;)

Tyrant- (2008-11-29)

Maaaaaaaaaan I was waiting for you
I downloaded your previous remastered Metallica albums and I have to say that you know what the hell you're doing
I am tracking this song and wishing that you Do the hole album
and another thing, you probably heard of a band called Iron Maiden
see, their albums is great but the problem is that it has a dusty sound, so I was that you can your clean touch to it and make it sound better
you're allright man!
Thanks.

Tech-Noir (2008-11-29)

Thanks Tyrant-. ;)
Any particular Iron Maiden album that you think I should look into? For example your fav album, or the album you think has the best songs or such.
Usually the newer albums from artists are the most easy to work on. Old recordings have different recording sensibilities that usually tends to not be easily corrected or "fixed", however you want to describe it. :)

jasonrburke (2008-11-29)

NICE WORK, AWSOME MIX !!!
*PLEASE* mix whole album
(my critical feedback: call me crazy but i think the guitar sounds *a bit* too heavy and theres *a bit* too much bass)

Slayer6969 (2008-11-30)

So Tech-Noir, are you working on the rest of the album? Your mix is lightyears ahead of the rest of them.

Tech-Noir (2008-11-30)

Well, the problem is that the Guitar Hero stems seem to be quite inconsistent from eachother. SOme have alot of compression and pumping on the drum/vocal track, others don't.
Also due to how they have mixed the tracks, I need to treat the guitar track and drum/vocal track as one entity (when a lead or solo guitar plays on the guitar track, the rhythm guitars are moved to the drum/vocal track temporarily, so to have consistency in the guitar sound you need to do the same changes to both drums and guitars.
But I will try my best soon. Actually got a new job starting tomorrow, but there's always the weekends. ;)

Tyrant- (2008-12-01)

Hey
The bets iron maiden album for my taste would be POWERSLAVE it's really catchy and heavy and it ends with a gigantic bang which is RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
I am sure that you will like it too
I hope that the issues in it is easy to fix but my guess is that it lacks power in the lower bass 80 khz I THINK (Bass drums are floppy and I couldn't hear the Tom Drums well
SO, If you have the time I think everyone would apreciate this
the best song is Powerslave
THANKS!

Slayer6969 (2008-12-01)

I agree with Tyrant about Maiden, but i'm more focused on finding a good version of Death Magnetic.
I know what you mean about some of the tracks being combined, but whatever you did is what makes your track stand out from everyone else's remix. To me it sounds like the guitars have more separation (the retail version might as well be mono), and you've especially helped the rhythm guitar during the solos. Nobody else has this sound going for them, and that's specifically why i can't wait for your mix!

AmonSOTS (2008-12-08)

Thanks for killing off the brain-scratching clipping, but as for mastering: turn up the vocal track more. I've been straining to hear not only James' lyrics but his voice as well. And finally turn up Kirk's solo a bit more too. So there's both of those criticisms & (in case those end up clipping) you can reverse them instead (turn down the drums, guitar, & bass).
Best of luck!

Tech-Noir (2008-12-09)

Thanks alot for the feedback AmonSOTS, I appreciate the comments and critique. :)
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of having the guitars, bass, vocals and drums all completely separated. I think the vocals are undermixed aswell (or if no tundermixed, then atleast in need of some adjustments to make them more intelligible). Also if I had the guitar tracks completely separated, they would be alot more beefy in the midrange.
Unfortunately the drums and vocals are on one stereo channel, so any attempt to brighten the vocals are also going to make the drums sound like crap, and vice versa. This is the best compromise I could get for what I ideally wanted to hear. :)

mscbuck (2008-12-10)

First, I really really really love all the remasters you've done. While personally, I actually really liked the dry production of AJFA (I felt it kind of contributed to the theme), your remaster of it was absolutely breathtaking. Listening to it on a really good sound system was like listening to a new album.
I felt like your remix of All Nightmare Long was really really really good. Most notably, I thought you did an extremely good job of getting that bass back into the mix. The little interlude in the 5:25-5:45 range, as well as most the 0:45-1:05 mark really makes it clear. Also, I don't know if it was just kind of me wanting to hear it, but it seemed like you could distinguish the rhythm / lead guitar much better.
My only critique is that perhaps it's just me, but I think the bass pedal could be slightly thicker or more up in the mix, and the drums are still a bit too dry. I'm not sure exactly if it's possible, however, as you said the drums/vocals were on the same stem. However, I think with a boost of the drum/vocals, and maybe some way to make em a bit "thicker", you'd have a real winner. The album as it was was incredibly dry I thought, so just the fact that there seems to be some thickness to the sound in this makes me happy in the pants.
I'm not gonna lie, I've been hoping you'd remaster this one ever since it came out :)

painbird (2008-12-11)

this sounds fantastic. thank you so much. i have all your other re masters and this is right in line with them. very very very good. do the cd please!!!

WaaLLe (2008-12-22)

I'm still stunned by how good this sounds. Great job! I would really, really like you to do the whole album! :) Only thing I would change is the bass, it could be bruoght back a bit, I think. Except that, perfect sound!

jasonrburke (2008-12-29)

just a thought: with GH: Metallica coming out you may be able to do remaster most of the songs from Kill 'Em All !!!

AmonSOTS (2008-12-31)

An idea I thought I'd mention is the band Atheist. Great technical material but their "remasters" are just louder (like anything these days, lazy fuckers) so if it interests you/have the time, just a little something to try & remedy.
PS: what do you use for your remasters? Like materials or programs or whatever.

Slayer6969 (2009-01-09)

Just wondering if there's any update on the possible whole album?

Tech-Noir (2009-01-15)

My computer PSU decided to kill itself (to its credit it did it calmly and with dignity, taking care not to harm anything else, but still...).
Now a new PSU finally, and the computer sprang back to life, thankfully.
Now all I need is time away from my job... ;)

jasonrburke (2009-01-24)

Tech Noir - have you heard the Broken, Beaten & Scarred Mystery Mix? - this is definately the sound that i would be going for (i believe he uses snare sampleing from the black album and it sounds awesome)

Tech-Noir (2009-01-25)

Yeah, I heard that one, sounded very nice. :)
But unfortunately I've no desire to spend time adding samples and such. If Rick Rubin and co can't take the time to record a proper album... ;)

Slayer6969 (2009-01-28)

I'm just waiting for someone to replace all the drum tracks with DFH. I can dream can't i? Haha

jasonrburke (2009-02-11)

please post an update to progress atm?

Tech-Noir (2009-02-12)

Not much I'm afraid. It's so hard to get a consistant sound, some tracks are so muddy and compressed, the result is quite unlistenable. Not alot of transient material + pumping compression + lots of muddy frequencies = mess. If the vocals and drums were separated and the guitars were also completely separate I imagine you'd be able to get something OK, but as it is atm I don't like it.
I'll keep trying, but don't hold your breath. :/

Slayer6969 (2009-02-13)

Well if you're having problems with that, maybe you can make a proper mix of what i've been trying to hear...pretty please?
What i've done is taken Moderus' second mix and tuned the entire thing down 1/2 a step so everything is in Eb (except nightmare). I then cleaned up the eq and scooped it pretty drastically. My only problem is that I have nothing resembling studio monitors, so the mixes sound completely different on different stereos.
My reasoning is that James set up his rhythm guitar tone in Eb and then just tuned up to record the album, which explains his god awful sound. The weird thing is, when i did this, it also really clears up the snare sound and gives the bass drums some room in the mix. (the kicks might be more to do to my boosting the bass, but i'm pleased with it). Maybe give that some thought? Thanks!

Tech-Noir (2009-02-15)

Tune down as in pitch-shift, or having both pitch and tempo go down? :)
Please explain more about what you are looking for, and I'll see what I can do. ;)

Slayer6969 (2009-02-16)

Sorry, i should have specified. I leave the tempo as-is and pitch shift it down 1/2 step so everything is in Eb. I left nightmare alone when i did it because i had your mix haha

Slayer6969 (2009-03-09)

Should i assume it's safe to say that my idea is out the window by this point?

Tech-Noir (2009-03-10)

Well hehe. I probably wouldn't think it was "pure" enough to tamper with pitch-shifting and such (though with the amount of processing on ANL I shouldn't be the one to complain I suppose). :)

jasonrburke (2009-03-20)

hey - how far are u getting - overcome any problems? anxiously awaiting ur DM release =)

Tech-Noir (2009-03-21)

I've pretty much given up. It's just turd polishing, and even though I think I got ANL one pretty listenable, some of the tracks are so poorly recorded I don't even think its worth it.
Plus I've got a job and all now so spending my freetime sighing over someone elses poorly recorded material isn't really on my to-do-list unfortunately. ;)
Sorry if I disappoint anyone, not my intention. :/

mscbuck (2009-04-05)

Hey Tech!
Sucks to hear the news about the rest of the album! I must say I was looking forward to it. But i understand it must take a long time.
Have you at all taken a listen to Bryston's GHIII rip? It's being heralded around the forums as probably the best.

He explains all his techniques and sich there

Slayer6969 (2009-04-22)

Since this is the unofficial "rant to Tech-Noire about Metallica tracks" place, i was wondering if you had gotten ahold of the metallica master tracks that are floating around Demonoid. Except for the death magnetic ones, all the songs have vocals on a separate track from the drums. I'd love to see what you can come up with!

Tech-Noir (2009-04-25)

Thanks for the Heads Up Slayer6969. I had some hopes for something like this considering the Metallica GH game (or is it Rock Band...) is due to be/will be/has been reelased. :)
I shall check this out.

AmonSOTS (2009-08-22)

Concerto For Group & Orchestra by Deep Purple would probably be an interesting pet project for you TN.

Tech-Noir (2009-08-23)

I'll look it up, never heard it I think, or anything from deep purple in general for that matter... :)
What ails it in your opinion?

AmonSOTS (2009-09-15)

It was recorded live in '69 & had an ungodly scream of a tape hiss. Other than minor EQ issues, the album sounds ok. Just called it a pet project because of the tape his kind of.

Tech-Noir (2009-09-29)

I see. :)
I downloaded that one a while ago, and didn't notice anything odd. It said it was remastered though, so either they fixed it from the master tapes at some point, or it might have been the wrong torrent. :)

Tech-Noir (2014-02-20)

If anyone should come across this one, I also have the entire album uploaded in my torrents, just recently mixed and mastered. Just FYI if at all interested.