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At that time, One On One was equipped with an E‑Series 48‑channel SSL 4000, two 24‑track Studer tape machines and Tannoy monitors, which the producer bypassed in favour of his own JBL 4311s. Having recorded Metallica’s two previous albums with the Trident A‑Range console at Sweet Silence, Rasmussen was no great fan of the E‑Series, and so he used One On One’s old Neve desk for all of the inputs, retaining the SSL as just a monitor console.
“The only input that went through the SSL was for the bass,” he says. “That was the DI, while the amp went through the Neve preamp.”
Whereas Jason Newsted played his five‑string Wal on the left side of the main room, with his amp in a rear booth, Lars Ulrich’s drum kit was on the right side of the live area, facing the control-room window, for recording on to an entire 24‑track reel. Accordingly, there were five Shure SM57s on the toms, a couple more 57s above and below the snare, Ulrich’s recently acquired contact mics underneath each of the cymbals, recorded in a stereo spread, Electro‑Voice RE20s on both bass drums, and about half a dozen room mics.
“The guys were in a layering mode, aiming for perfection, so we’d lay down a guide track for the tempos, as well as a click track for Lars to play to, and then we’d do all of the guitar parts as a dub,” Rasmussen recalls. “Kirk and James stood near Jason, on the left side of the main room, and [their ESPs] were each recorded with a Shure SM7 placed at a 45‑degree angle close to the cone of the best‑sounding speaker in the [Marshall] cabinet, as well as a Neuman U87 right next to it. Then, for a room mic, I’d use an AKG tube mic which was a replica of the old C12 tube, placed at a 45‑degree angle about three to four feet away from the corner of the cabinet, while for ambience I used some B&K 4006 omnis. That meant a total of four mics on each cabinet, and we probably used two cabinets for everything, with me mixing and matching them when we did the recordings. The basic rhythm guitar was always recorded on two tracks — one with the cabinet [and one with the ambient mics] — so I’d mix the SM7 and U87 right away, and then for the rest of the guitars I’d mix everything into a mono track and double it.
“James’s vocals were all recorded with an SM7, as were Jason’s backing vocals, going through the Neve mic pres with some EQ or through a Urei 1176 compressor. Everything went on to tape and I think we ended up with three reels for each song — one for drums, one for the bass and guitars, and one for anything else that we did. You see, we recorded each of the instruments right across the album. So, if Lars needed a break, we’d start doing the guitars and lead vocals on those songs that already had finished drum parts. In fact, some of the last stuff that we did was the bass. Jason’s playing was very different to Cliff’s — he was much more of a bass player, whereas Cliff was like a bass artist; a one‑off who was impossible to categorise and whose kind we’ll probably never see again. He might have problems with some of the easier stuff, but he was fantastic on all the crazy, difficult shit, and in that sense he was irreplaceable. Jason, however, did a great job in his place and did it in his own style.”