Metallica’s iconic Master of Puppets was released on March 3, 1986. their debut of “Kill ‘Em All” laid the foundation to thrash metal music. for the creation of Master of Puppets, Metallica was not satisfied with the acoustics of American studios to they recorded it in a studio in Denmark. Metallica was also new to recording and music in general so one member Ulrich, took drum lessons and another member Hammett took lessons on how to record properly so they could be a hit.
It was recorded on tape though a Trident A Range console (attached image below) which Rasmussen still uses to this day even though technology has advanced. According to Mixonline, “He used the desk’s preamps and EQ’s, and sent signals through a UREI 1176 compressor with two synced 24-track tape machines.” They also used SM57 microphones as close mics and room mics and put an EQ on the guitar amp to further fine tune the sound. Another member Burton did not like using headphones so they put him in a vocal booth with a pair of JBL speakers and he would play that way.
Once recordings were done they were sent to Michael Wagener in Los Angeles. He had never heard a sound like Metallica before. He was confused at first because they didn’t want reverb they wanted it “…dry, in your face, and everything loud”. He then transferred it to digital tape and mixed the record in 2 weeks with barely any touchup’s to keep the song authentic. Master of Puppets wasn’t Metallica’s biggest record but it opened a new world for the band and is now one of the most influential albums in thrash metal.