I can shed some light on the red kit at Jason's house. This was an MTV promotion for the Live Shit box set. The 1993 Black Album tour was done and the guys hadn't been together in months. A young guy wins the contest and gets to bring a friend to San Francisco to hang out with Metallica. Later on they go to Jason's house. Jason had his own studio at his place called the Chop House. Each band member had a studio at their house. Lars' studio was called The Dungeon. Jason created that studio for side projects with other bands to jam and have fun. It was nothing serious but years later it lead to Echobrain and a reason for leaving Metallica because James didn't believe in side projects. The day they go to Jason's studio with the contest winners is the first time Lars, James, and Kirk had ever been there. Jason when he was building the studio likely thought the rest of the band would stop by from time to time and they could play. He also had the drums behind glass likely thinking they may jam and record stuff which he did with other bands. The drums had been there for at least a couple of years because at that time Tama was fazing out the Artstar line for the upcoming new Artstar Custom line. Jason probably wanted the kit to mimic Lars' kit in terms of size. Yet there are a number of things wrong like the China on the left, cymbals in different places, no right hi-hat in the X-hat mount. After this aired I never heard of them going back to Jason's studio. Then Load was written in 1995 by James and Lars at Lars's home studio. I know someone who was there and his home studio was hidden behind a mirror wall in his home gym so nobody knew where it was at unless Lars showed you. In that home studio Lars used a piano white Artstar Custom 7 piece kit for the demos they would record. You can see I am also a big drum and Metallica nerd. I bought a Lars Ulrich Artstar 2 Signature kit and also the Deeper Purple kit. If you click on my profile I have 2 videos and one shows it.
I saw, I clicked and watched the whole thing. I do have two Granstars and a bell brass to replicate the black album studio kit for fun. Petition for Lars to talk to these two . Someone who knows him has to watch this!
I’m not sure how much he’d know or remember to be honest, I think the person to talk to would’ve been his former tech Fleming Larsen but he died a few years ago
@@therandomrollercoasterride8751lars def ain't the guy to ask. there's a tama video, where's he's at guitar center in front of his kit, and he's kinda clueless about gear.hed rather sit there with the toothpicks,arms crossed, pretending to be in deep thought kind of fumbling his words like he's speaking poetry
@@NintenDub yeah exactly, well he’s always been open about not really caring about drums and just interested in the overall song, and I’m pretty sure his drum tech did everything for him when it came to his kits
there’s a new video from Modern Drummer where he talks about his M72 kits and he knows his stuff in decent detail, I’d check that out if you’ve got a minute!
Lars is a legend. Period. You don’t have to like his style, but clearly he is able to create some amazing , legendary grooves.. Who HASNT air drummed along to the sad but true snare fill?? lol
I love his early 80's playing. Listened to some old garage demos and man, he was spot on. And honestly when I first started playing drums it was all Metallica. Solid riffs, fairly easy and fun drum parts.
1:15:01 is an Ayotte 1:15:23 there is hand percussion in the background of Bleeding Me and other extended jams on that album 1:15:45 is a Zildjian Earth Plate Low
Awesome episode again guys! Love this kind of content. The gear of Lars Ulrich pt 1 + 2 were also superfun to watch. I really appreciate the time and effort you both put in these videos. Can't wait for part 2 :-D
Thats a 6553 Tama external muffler on the snare! 1:12:01 Also mention that at least the large floor tom ( 18) looks like a Gretsch only cause it appears to have a grey/ silver interior or the Gretsch " silver sealer" as they call it. The wood hoop kit is an Ayotte.
Great video! RE Snare on Justice, it was a Ludwig Black Beauty - not Rick Allen's though. After recording Puppets, Lars went on to buy his own, and used it for the Justice recordings.
Finally got around to watching this! Me as a drummer, I never cared too much about gear videos, but these Lars videos are awesome! Thank you both for all the effort in making this one yet another great video! And Chris, I love the cover on your Insta!
That "Ride The Lightning" mystery. At least two people know the answer .Lars Ulrich and Flemming Rasmussen. I think it's worth tryin to reach out to Flemming.
According to Flemming Larsen in Lars’s interview with Modern Drummer magazine in 1987, Lars used Zildjian’s A Platinum series, plus the newly released Z Dyno Beat Hi-Hats. It was around this point that he downplayed the ride cymbal, and began using the second hi-hat more (the X-Hat) because the X-Hat sounded more powerful to him.
This is amazing, As a musician, and mixer this stuff is priceless. Please keep this up!! The information amazinG. My one thing is on year in a life and one other bootleg in the studio i distinctly saw tama artwood snare 8.5 x 14 but who knows so sick
I talked to the Gretsch rep in New York quite often back in around 2001 and being a huge Grestch die hard he said that Lars uses Gretsch shells and puts all the Tama hardware on them or has it done but the point is supposed Gretsch shells all the time.
Those percussion bits that you see them using such as the cowbell and tambourine for the Black Album did make it onto the album. In My Friend of Misery, a cowbell can be heard in the chorus. In the song The God That Failed, at the beginning of the song where the guitar comes in, you can hear the lever action rifle being stroked/chambered.
@@DrumHistoryPodcast I zoomed into the picture that was on his hi hat stand, and searched on google for it, it turned out to be a picture of Bernard Purdie.
I literally was just now trying to look up the the other Lars episodes to listen and this pops up says uploaded 10 mins ago. Pretty cool. Love this podcast.
Re-watching and finishing the rest of this episode, I can say with 100% certainty that the kit at 1:14:00 mark is absolutely an Ayotte. You can tell by the lugs and inlays on the tom hoops.
Read a 1987 Modern Drummer interview with Lars. He said he used a 60's Black Beauty Snare. After using Rick's Black Beauty for Puppets, he got ahold of a vintage 60's one of his own, and keeps it in a safe and only brings it out for studio.
Thanks for this. From time to time I get on this Metallica kick and learn new things every time I go diving into the history or re-watch a documentary on them. Great stuff!
I'd have to say that Lars' tom sizes for his Load sessions, we're more like - 10x8/12x9/16x14/18x16/24x16/24x16. Also the photo on his kit on the Load sessions may well have been his Mum, who sadly passed around that period, although I think she didn't pass until 1998. The odd looking kit with the wood hoops etc could well have been an Ayotte kit. I believe it was the Sausalito SF 'Plant' studios for Load etc.. not the LA Plant studio. Lars even had the studio extend the ceilings to 30 feet, to allow for a bigger live tracking room 😍😎 it's the same studio that Fleetwood Mac used to track mostly for 'Rumours'.
I still believe that the Black Album Gretsch has 12x8" (not 12x9") first tom, 13x11", 14x12" and it's clear from the pictures, that the 16" is 16x14" RIMS mounted rack tom, not 16x16" floor tom mounted bottom up to the one of the brackets as it was done in the Gunnar video. The 12, 13, and 14 in the video are Solid Black Nitron (wrap) or Piano Black Gloss (lacquer), but the 16" is Dark Ebony Gloss - transperent gloss nitrocellulose lacquer with black stained base, which means that it's not part of the set Ross mentioned in the video. He knows best, but that's what I see. The White Artstar from Lars's Dungeon has 10x9'' and standard sized 12x10" (not 12x11) rack toms I think. Same thing while recording Load/Reload - 10x9'', 12x10". The floor toms you are not sure about look like 16" Tama Starclassic (you can see the inside - yellowish collor of the sealed maple and black fixing screws which are specific to Tama and Pearl lugs) but the 18" is the Gretsch USA because of the silver sealer from inside, longer distance between the silverish collored fixing screws - the distance should be identical to the 16" if it was Tama. The splash over the 12" tom looks more like 10" natural finish, probaly pre A series like the crashes (except they're brilliant finish). He used 12" Z Custom on the silver sparkle live set. The hi hat is the 14" Z Custom Dyno Beat. But in the picture from '98 (Garage inc.) I noticed the brilliant Sabian hi hat Chris mentioned. Interesting fact to mention is that sound engineer rule to not change anything in the studio once you got the drums placed in the room, mic placement and sounds required. From the placement of the mics looks like those drums and mics are not moved from 95 'till 98.
The wood hoop kit is an Ayotte and the reason for it is because their engineer, Randy Staub, recommended them because he loved how they sound when recording. Hence Nickelback used them on Silver Side Up...another album of Randys.
Regarding the Black Album kit around the 42:00 mark. Chris first say's the 24s were Black Nitron, and the 22s were Antique Maple, then immediately says they settled on the 24s, which were the Antique Maple. Its an easy blunder to make in the moment, I'm just wondering if that was ever clarified (im still in the middle of the episode so I'm jumping the gun) what the kicks actually were size wise that they settled on. From the pics it looks like the Antique Maples kicks were the 24s.
I’m almost positive that the rack toms on the Load/ReLoad/Garage Inc. studio kit were 9x10 and 10x12 and I’ve read that the ride was a 20” Ping or Rock ride that he used interchangeably.
Wow, in the photo of Lars and Rick Allen together, Lars Damaged Justice kit has the rack toms without the interior of the shells painted! Very interesting 🤔
AJFA kick was always my favorite from day 1, perfect mix of attack and low frequency. I chase that sound in every band i've ever been in. Was also really curious about the Chinas he used on that album too. Every setup diagram or post i've ever read has varying models listed, i've played them all in person and nothing ever sounded quite like the recording. One china is used sparingly and i has a really unique sound, and the other has a more traditional sound.
concerning Tama drums :Crestar was introduced in the mid 80's when Tama did a wholesale revamp of their drum line. They discontinued Superstar, Imperialstar and Artstar and introduced Crestar, Granstar and Artstar II. The Crestars were a lacquer finished version of the wrapped Granstar. For some reason Tama changed the name to Granstar Custom at the 11th hour. I've heard from various sources that the Crestar name was used for a while in other non-US markets but I've never been able to verify that information. When Tama made new literature available to the dealers, we received small fliers on each of the lines. The Crestar pictured a lavender kit on the cover (all too "Miami Vice" for my tastes) but by the time they started to ship drums the badges read Granstar Custom.
24:47 - Looks to me like there's another kit set up behind Lars', also because of that empty cymbal stand and the angle from which that photo was taken. Probably just a kit belonging to that studio which happened to _also_ be red 🙂 30:35 - Could it not also be possible that this is the _actual_ red Superstar kit and the chrome wrap was added to it?! Which also would explain the red hoops on the bass drums! 😉
Yes, I think a studio kit, looks like old pearl lugs. As for the chrome wrap, I really think that’s the case. I believe they sanded the finish on the toms to get the wrap adhesive to stick, and left the drum interior finish because they liked the bass drum sound.
@@awesomefanger - If they even did go that far! That wrap may also just have been glued at its overlap!? I guess only Lars himself would really know for sure! 😅 And I agree, those do look like Pearl lugs 🙂
The and justice for all kit is STILL the best sounding drum kit I've ever heard in my life! I know it's a heavily edited sound.. and album but.. it's still the best. It's also the best version of Lars that there was, best version of Kirk that there was, best version of James that there WAS! And the album is so thick and heavy it doesn't need a bass! it's the most unique album of all time. that's what makes it great.
With Gretsch NITRON means it's a wrap. That doesn't look like a wrap to me, so it's a black stain. Gretsch uses a nitocelulose which is a lacquer like violins use and most companies don't use.
Theres a picture floating around of Lars recording Reload in 1997 with the silverspark kit he used live between 1996-2000. I wonder if all the songs werent done in 95-96 and they recorder a couple songs in 97 with that silver kit or was that picture just from the rehealsals.
As far as recording before Bob Rock, Lars and James would play Together and they would record the song pieces at a time. Kind of like play until there's a mistake. Okay, Stop, then take it from there. Continue until there's another blurb then stop, and continue etc. Bob made them play the songs all the way through. Then Bob would go back through the takes with Lars and find the good ones and piece it together. I remember even the late great Vinnie Paul commenting that Bob made them a better/tighter band by making them play all the way through. Hope that helps.
During the video of the contest at Jason’s house, Lars says he’s never been there before. Maybe Jason got someone else in the Metallica organization to set up the drums, maybe Lars tech?
Not complaining, just a correction. the HP45 Probeat had one more footboard variation, the same footboard the first generation iron cobras used. The one with the giant TAMA logo going down the footboard.
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The "Artstars" referred to all the way through this video are actually Artstar 2"s. I've also never seen Charlie Benante play an "Aspin white imperialstar" in '84. He played a black Gretch kit from '83 to '86, then a black Tama Granstar. Would love to see any pics or more evidence to support this.
I can't argue with that statement. I was done after Justice but I can't deny they haven't released anything I liked after Load and Reload which each have a few tunes I enjoy.
did you ever notice on the Black album recording kit that there is what appears to be a second hit hat clutch on the rod above the hihat Sabian rock hats. It is just there not holding any cymbals just chilling above the hi hat clutch being used...I wonder what that is all about...my guesss is it is used as a make shift memory lock. To double up on making sure the hi hat cymbals wont open to high incase the main clutch comes loose while playing.
I always wondered this: at 31:41 the inside of the kick interior looks red stained or mahogany but in others it appears to be bare wood colored like the inside of the toms of the same chrome o wood kit. Oh wait, the toms also have the reddish interior on another pic of that kit. 28:54 I would guess he maybe had the red ones that had red interiors in the pics wrapped in chrome possibly, or requested that for the interiors maybe. Or maybe there were two chrome kits. 29:34
The inside of the chrome Superstar bass drums look stained cherry wine as well. Is it possible that the chrome kit is in fact the cherry wine kit sanded and rewrapped? but not sanding the inside of the drums because it’s the sound that they liked. Plus it matched the hoops. I know the stain/lacquer finishes don’t hold up too well on tour
I knew a guy that worked on the Black album and he said the 2” master tapes of just the drums takes ALONE filled up a minivan. Heavily, heavily edited.
That & recording is out of public eye. So you can just say We brought in a whole bunch of gear. Could that red mystery kit be them test driving kits for the next cycle? Some drummers get a free kit for each album.
It was me that pointed that out to Chris after the first episodes. The most interesting thing about it, I think, is that the lugs seems to be swapped so that the batter sides have Tama lugs and the reso sides have Camco lugs. And the added bass drum might also be the reason the whole kit got painted black in the first place.
@@LeoNasstromgood call! That makes perfect sense. It makes me wonder if the Tama Camco lug and Superstar / Imperialstar hole spacing was the same to make the swap easy.
@@billyharringtondrums I think Lars's Camco kit was a Hoshino/Tama era Camco and therefore it makes sense if the hole spacing is the same. Tama used to have the same hole spacing for a long time on a number of models (70's into the 90's)
Check out Chris's awesome Drum Room Tour video and subscribe to his channel! ua-cam.com/video/i129ixZxniY/v-deo.htmlsi=MUj2-jxbjAFbPhCJ
I can shed some light on the red kit at Jason's house. This was an MTV promotion for the Live Shit box set. The 1993 Black Album tour was done and the guys hadn't been together in months. A young guy wins the contest and gets to bring a friend to San Francisco to hang out with Metallica. Later on they go to Jason's house. Jason had his own studio at his place called the Chop House. Each band member had a studio at their house. Lars' studio was called The Dungeon. Jason created that studio for side projects with other bands to jam and have fun. It was nothing serious but years later it lead to Echobrain and a reason for leaving Metallica because James didn't believe in side projects. The day they go to Jason's studio with the contest winners is the first time Lars, James, and Kirk had ever been there. Jason when he was building the studio likely thought the rest of the band would stop by from time to time and they could play. He also had the drums behind glass likely thinking they may jam and record stuff which he did with other bands. The drums had been there for at least a couple of years because at that time Tama was fazing out the Artstar line for the upcoming new Artstar Custom line. Jason probably wanted the kit to mimic Lars' kit in terms of size. Yet there are a number of things wrong like the China on the left, cymbals in different places, no right hi-hat in the X-hat mount. After this aired I never heard of them going back to Jason's studio. Then Load was written in 1995 by James and Lars at Lars's home studio. I know someone who was there and his home studio was hidden behind a mirror wall in his home gym so nobody knew where it was at unless Lars showed you. In that home studio Lars used a piano white Artstar Custom 7 piece kit for the demos they would record. You can see I am also a big drum and Metallica nerd. I bought a Lars Ulrich Artstar 2 Signature kit and also the Deeper Purple kit. If you click on my profile I have 2 videos and one shows it.
I saw, I clicked and watched the whole thing. I do have two Granstars and a bell brass to replicate the black album studio kit for fun.
Petition for Lars to talk to these two . Someone who knows him has to watch this!
I’m not sure how much he’d know or remember to be honest, I think the person to talk to would’ve been his former tech Fleming Larsen but he died a few years ago
@@therandomrollercoasterride8751lars def ain't the guy to ask. there's a tama video, where's he's at guitar center in front of his kit, and he's kinda clueless about gear.hed rather sit there with the toothpicks,arms crossed, pretending to be in deep thought kind of fumbling his words like he's speaking poetry
@@NintenDub yeah exactly, well he’s always been open about not really caring about drums and just interested in the overall song, and I’m pretty sure his drum tech did everything for him when it came to his kits
there’s a new video from Modern Drummer where he talks about his M72 kits and he knows his stuff in decent detail, I’d check that out if you’ve got a minute!
@@jakeseitzI did a while back. It is very cool. Unfortunately he did say his signature snare was made of bell brass which it is not.
Lars is a legend. Period.
You don’t have to like his style, but clearly he is able to create some amazing , legendary grooves.. Who HASNT air drummed along to the sad but true snare fill?? lol
And Justice drumming is incredible. I've always loved this album and that bass drum sound blows my mind. Lars is an incredible drummer! Keep Rockin'!
I love his early 80's playing. Listened to some old garage demos and man, he was spot on. And honestly when I first started playing drums it was all Metallica. Solid riffs, fairly easy and fun drum parts.
Fantastic episode! Thanks for the shout out Bro!!!!
I LOVE these drum nerd festivals covering the gear of different drummers!!!! Thank you!! 🤟
It’s like porn 🤣
1:15:01 is an Ayotte
1:15:23 there is hand percussion in the background of Bleeding Me and other extended jams on that album
1:15:45 is a Zildjian Earth Plate Low
Love this guy! Been wanting to know all this since childhood
They didn’t “write” anything for Garage Dayz, it was all cover tunes! 😂
Awesome episode again guys!
Love this kind of content.
The gear of Lars Ulrich pt 1 + 2 were also superfun to watch.
I really appreciate the time and effort you both put in these videos.
Can't wait for part 2 :-D
Thats a 6553 Tama external muffler on the snare! 1:12:01
Also mention that at least the large floor tom ( 18) looks like a Gretsch only cause it appears to have a grey/ silver interior or the Gretsch " silver sealer" as they call it.
The wood hoop kit is an Ayotte.
Great video! RE Snare on Justice, it was a Ludwig Black Beauty - not Rick Allen's though. After recording Puppets, Lars went on to buy his own, and used it for the Justice recordings.
I believe rhw picture during Load era is him as a kid!!!!!!!!!!!!
🤘🤘🤘
Finally got around to watching this! Me as a drummer, I never cared too much about gear videos, but these Lars videos are awesome! Thank you both for all the effort in making this one yet another great video! And Chris, I love the cover on your Insta!
I can’t believe that this video hasn’t been watched by 100’s of thousands.
Very cool show, I love knowing the details. Lars never really divulged this sort of info and only focused on the music
That "Ride The Lightning" mystery. At least two people know the answer .Lars Ulrich and Flemming Rasmussen. I think it's worth tryin to reach out to Flemming.
Yes for UA-cam Chris is the only one out here doing anything like this
According to Flemming Larsen in Lars’s interview with Modern Drummer magazine in 1987, Lars used Zildjian’s A Platinum series, plus the newly released Z Dyno Beat Hi-Hats. It was around this point that he downplayed the ride cymbal, and began using the second hi-hat more (the X-Hat) because the X-Hat sounded more powerful to him.
If I’m not mistaken , “ Garage Days “ is all covers , they didn’t write any of those songs.
Correct, it’s all covers
Thank you, I cringed every time he said they "wrote" Garage Days.
@@TheZappawizardside note, I always found it funny that most of Anthrax’s biggest songs were covers
Backstage kits too? Granstar, Artstar, Rockstar and Later his former Starclassic kits became backstage kits
This is amazing, As a musician, and mixer this stuff is priceless. Please keep this up!! The information amazinG. My one thing is on year in a life and one other bootleg in the studio i distinctly saw tama artwood snare 8.5 x 14 but who knows so sick
I talked to the Gretsch rep in New York quite often back in around 2001 and being a huge Grestch die hard he said that Lars uses Gretsch shells and puts all the Tama hardware on them or has it done but the point is supposed Gretsch shells all the time.
Just stumbled across this video and it was definitely cool seeing the progression of his gear over the years, great job and keep it up
Those percussion bits that you see them using such as the cowbell and tambourine for the Black Album did make it onto the album. In My Friend of Misery, a cowbell can be heard in the chorus. In the song The God That Failed, at the beginning of the song where the guitar comes in, you can hear the lever action rifle being stroked/chambered.
I absolutely love that those rifle racking sounds made it on the recording! You can totally hear them.
That black kit with the white hoops were probably used for Low Man’s Lyric on ReLoad..loving these vids btw 🤘
At 1:14:00
Thats definitely the kit that he used when he recorded Low man's lyric. Theres that tambourine that you hear on the song itself.
Fun fact! Bernard Purdie played drums on all the metallica tracks.
Yes lets start that conspiracy theory!
@@DrumHistoryPodcast I zoomed into the picture that was on his hi hat stand, and searched on google for it, it turned out to be a picture of Bernard Purdie.
I heard from a roadie that worked for Jethro Tull that it was actually Buddy Rich…
hal blaine on justice
Thank you so much for doing stuff like this, I love Lars and his kits and videos like these are great🤘
And yes Chris put videos on UA-cam please
I literally was just now trying to look up the the other Lars episodes to listen and this pops up says uploaded 10 mins ago. Pretty cool. Love this podcast.
Re-watching and finishing the rest of this episode, I can say with 100% certainty that the kit at 1:14:00 mark is absolutely an Ayotte. You can tell by the lugs and inlays on the tom hoops.
Read a 1987 Modern Drummer interview with Lars. He said he used a 60's Black Beauty Snare. After using Rick's Black Beauty for Puppets, he got ahold of a vintage 60's one of his own, and keeps it in a safe and only brings it out for studio.
Gotta love Larz ❤
Thanks for this. From time to time I get on this Metallica kick and learn new things every time I go diving into the history or re-watch a documentary on them. Great stuff!
Nice! Great info, good work guys!
Chris rockin the bucee’s hat!
That drum room for And Justice is HUGE! Especially considering how tight the drum sound is on that album.
I came up with "Live, Laugh, Lars"
I just like yelling, “dammit Lars!” for no reason at all😂
@@mztweety1374 there IS a reason
Hell yeah!! Chris is the best
I'd have to say that Lars' tom sizes for his Load sessions, we're more like - 10x8/12x9/16x14/18x16/24x16/24x16. Also the photo on his kit on the Load sessions may well have been his Mum, who sadly passed around that period, although I think she didn't pass until 1998. The odd looking kit with the wood hoops etc could well have been an Ayotte kit. I believe it was the Sausalito SF 'Plant' studios for Load etc.. not the LA Plant studio. Lars even had the studio extend the ceilings to 30 feet, to allow for a bigger live tracking room 😍😎 it's the same studio that Fleetwood Mac used to track mostly for 'Rumours'.
Correction at 1:16:15. The Plant was not in L.A. it was in Sausalito in the Bay Area , 15 minutes from Lars’s house in Tiburon.
That kit with the wooden tom hoops is an Ayotte. Another great episode guys!
I still believe that the Black Album Gretsch has 12x8" (not 12x9") first tom, 13x11", 14x12" and it's clear from the pictures, that the 16" is 16x14" RIMS mounted rack tom, not 16x16" floor tom mounted bottom up to the one of the brackets as it was done in the Gunnar video. The 12, 13, and 14 in the video are Solid Black Nitron (wrap) or Piano Black Gloss (lacquer), but the 16" is Dark Ebony Gloss - transperent gloss nitrocellulose lacquer with black stained base, which means that it's not part of the set Ross mentioned in the video. He knows best, but that's what I see. The White Artstar from Lars's Dungeon has 10x9'' and standard sized 12x10" (not 12x11) rack toms I think. Same thing while recording Load/Reload - 10x9'', 12x10". The floor toms you are not sure about look like 16" Tama Starclassic (you can see the inside - yellowish collor of the sealed maple and black fixing screws which are specific to Tama and Pearl lugs) but the 18" is the Gretsch USA because of the silver sealer from inside, longer distance between the silverish collored fixing screws - the distance should be identical to the 16" if it was Tama. The splash over the 12" tom looks more like 10" natural finish, probaly pre A series like the crashes (except they're brilliant finish). He used 12" Z Custom on the silver sparkle live set. The hi hat is the 14" Z Custom Dyno Beat. But in the picture from '98 (Garage inc.) I noticed the brilliant Sabian hi hat Chris mentioned. Interesting fact to mention is that sound engineer rule to not change anything in the studio once you got the drums placed in the room, mic placement and sounds required. From the placement of the mics looks like those drums and mics are not moved from 95 'till 98.
The wood hoop kit is an Ayotte and the reason for it is because their engineer, Randy Staub, recommended them because he loved how they sound when recording. Hence Nickelback used them on Silver Side Up...another album of Randys.
Great episode
I'm pretty sure the weird studio kit is a Ayotte kit, it also appears in St Anger photos too. He used the kick ar the Bridge School Benefit gig too
So So Awesome Episode’s 🔥🔥
Regarding the Black Album kit around the 42:00 mark. Chris first say's the 24s were Black Nitron, and the 22s were Antique Maple, then immediately says they settled on the 24s, which were the Antique Maple. Its an easy blunder to make in the moment, I'm just wondering if that was ever clarified (im still in the middle of the episode so I'm jumping the gun) what the kicks actually were size wise that they settled on. From the pics it looks like the Antique Maples kicks were the 24s.
You can tell at least the “18 floor Tom is a Gretsch is has the Gretsch silver sealer painted on the inside of the shell
Load/Reload studio 18” floor tom looks to be Gretch. You can see through the drum and see the painted interior that the Tama toms don’t have.
When’s part 2 coming! I’m Patiently waiting!
Just released it!
I’m almost positive that the rack toms on the Load/ReLoad/Garage Inc. studio kit were 9x10 and 10x12 and I’ve read that the ride was a 20” Ping or Rock ride that he used interchangeably.
Wow, in the photo of Lars and Rick Allen together, Lars Damaged Justice kit has the rack toms without the interior of the shells painted! Very interesting 🤔
AJFA kick was always my favorite from day 1, perfect mix of attack and low frequency. I chase that sound in every band i've ever been in. Was also really curious about the Chinas he used on that album too. Every setup diagram or post i've ever read has varying models listed, i've played them all in person and nothing ever sounded quite like the recording. One china is used sparingly and i has a really unique sound, and the other has a more traditional sound.
china always sticks out, shortest straw
A commenter on a Facebook post regarding the kit used for AJFA said the China used for recording was a 19” K China with brilliant finish.
concerning Tama drums :Crestar was introduced in the mid 80's when Tama did a wholesale revamp of their drum line. They discontinued Superstar, Imperialstar and Artstar and introduced Crestar, Granstar and Artstar II.
The Crestars were a lacquer finished version of the wrapped Granstar. For some reason Tama changed the name to Granstar Custom at the 11th hour. I've heard from various sources that the Crestar name was used for a while in other non-US markets but I've never been able to verify that information.
When Tama made new literature available to the dealers, we received small fliers on each of the lines. The Crestar pictured a lavender kit on the cover (all too "Miami Vice" for my tastes) but by the time they started to ship drums the badges read Granstar Custom.
I believe that strange kit was used for Low Man's Lyric.
24:47 - Looks to me like there's another kit set up behind Lars', also because of that empty cymbal stand and the angle from which that photo was taken.
Probably just a kit belonging to that studio which happened to _also_ be red
🙂
30:35 - Could it not also be possible that this is the _actual_ red Superstar kit and the chrome wrap was added to it?! Which also would explain the red hoops on the bass drums! 😉
Yes, I think a studio kit, looks like old pearl lugs.
As for the chrome wrap, I really think that’s the case. I believe they sanded the finish on the toms to get the wrap adhesive to stick, and left the drum interior finish because they liked the bass drum sound.
@@awesomefanger - If they even did go that far! That wrap may also just have been glued at its overlap!?
I guess only Lars himself would really know for sure! 😅
And I agree, those do look like Pearl lugs 🙂
@@mightyV444 yeah the lacquer finishes don’t survive long on tour, I’m sure it was the same story with the Camco set. All gouged and scratched
The and justice for all kit is STILL the best sounding drum kit I've ever heard in my life! I know it's a heavily edited sound.. and album but.. it's still the best. It's also the best version of Lars that there was, best version of Kirk that there was, best version of James that there WAS! And the album is so thick and heavy it doesn't need a bass! it's the most unique album of all time. that's what makes it great.
With Gretsch NITRON means it's a wrap. That doesn't look like a wrap to me, so it's a black stain. Gretsch uses a nitocelulose which is a lacquer like violins use and most companies don't use.
Theres a picture floating around of Lars recording Reload in 1997 with the silverspark kit he used live between 1996-2000.
I wonder if all the songs werent done in 95-96 and they recorder a couple songs in 97 with that silver kit or was that picture just from the rehealsals.
If camco was made by tama, I don’t know it at the time but I had a matching 6.5 wood snare with the inlay in the middle that matched those toms
We should get a video of Chris Russio playing that replica kit of his
As far as recording before Bob Rock, Lars and James would play Together and they would record the song pieces at a time. Kind of like play until there's a mistake. Okay, Stop, then take it from there. Continue until there's another blurb then stop, and continue etc. Bob made them play the songs all the way through. Then Bob would go back through the takes with Lars and find the good ones and piece it together. I remember even the late great Vinnie Paul commenting that Bob made them a better/tighter band by making them play all the way through. Hope that helps.
Another great episode like always. It would be cool to see episodes on nicko mcbrain or vinnie paul please
During the video of the contest at Jason’s house, Lars says he’s never been there before. Maybe Jason got someone else in the Metallica organization to set up the drums, maybe Lars tech?
I feel like Lars would be happy to come on this podcast and tell you what you wanna know.
how the hell he pull off justice. even live he never played all the album fills
In the studio, everyone sounds great. Live is a whole other story, though.
The 18” floor tom on the load kit is a gretsch for sure. Its got the silver paint on the inside
Not complaining, just a correction. the HP45 Probeat had one more footboard variation, the same footboard the first generation iron cobras used. The one with the giant TAMA logo going down the footboard.
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Excellent video, and I don’t want “be this guy” but i’m 100% Lars use the 14 Dyno Beat to record The Load to Garage Days.
The "Artstars" referred to all the way through this video are actually Artstar 2"s.
I've also never seen Charlie Benante play an "Aspin white imperialstar" in '84. He played a black Gretch kit from '83 to '86, then a black Tama Granstar. Would love to see any pics or more evidence to support this.
Load and Reload are actually good albums. They’re more coherent and focused than anything Metallica has recorded since.
The older I get the more I understand and love those albums. The creativity and musicianship is criminally underrated.
More focused than MOP? The Load's had Ronnie and Mama Said. More diverse, not more focused.
I can't argue with that statement. I was done after Justice but I can't deny they haven't released anything I liked after Load and Reload which each have a few tunes I enjoy.
Metallica terminó con el álbum negro. And Justice... para mi fue su prime.
Tom fills with bigger diameter from his previous drumkit are missing on that album.
So funny. In 1986 when we all had master you never hear one Lars bash.
The drum kit with the wood hoops on toms are Ayotte drums
The wood hooped kit is an Ayotte kit from Canada. Now defunkt.
Yes they are beautiful. Hard to miss those beautiful hoops!
Those extra red toms in the background could just be reflections off of the studio glass
Or other in-house drums
Yes. Those are Atlas Booms.
did you ever notice on the Black album recording kit that there is what appears to be a second hit hat clutch on the rod above the hihat Sabian rock hats. It is just there not holding any cymbals just chilling above the hi hat clutch being used...I wonder what that is all about...my guesss is it is used as a make shift memory lock. To double up on making sure the hi hat cymbals wont open to high incase the main clutch comes loose while playing.
is it a hi hat release switch, for double bass use ??
1:16:11 that hanging " cymbal plate " i believe is a Zildjian Earth Plate.
Do you have any info about the drums he used when he recorded the song "Return of the vampire" with Mercyful Fate ?
Good question!!!
I always wondered this: at 31:41 the inside of the kick interior looks red stained or mahogany but in others it appears to be bare wood colored like the inside of the toms of the same chrome o wood kit. Oh wait, the toms also have the reddish interior on another pic of that kit. 28:54 I would guess he maybe had the red ones that had red interiors in the pics wrapped in chrome possibly, or requested that for the interiors maybe. Or maybe there were two chrome kits. 29:34
Alt drum set appears to be Ray-era Ayotte's. With Bob Rock being native to Vancouver, BC those drums could be Bob's of the studio.
The pictures from Paris look like a premier kit.
Ayatte kit wit a 26inch kit. That was the kit he did for the Tuesday gone covet.
I think he also used it for those unplugged fundraisers…
@@xxgil2 he did in the 90’s and uses the Tom’s still.
@@xxgil2 there’s a video of him playing that kit for the garage inc. for Tuesdays gone. I’ve seen it once on here but idk where to find it again.
@@garrettguadiana1327 ua-cam.com/video/-9K9RfowZjM/v-deo.htmlsi=y1IpdmZhV5QTZaaB
The inside of the chrome Superstar bass drums look stained cherry wine as well. Is it possible that the chrome kit is in fact the cherry wine kit sanded and rewrapped? but not sanding the inside of the drums because it’s the sound that they liked. Plus it matched the hoops. I know the stain/lacquer finishes don’t hold up too well on tour
I have been rack mounting my 16 floor tom since the 90s. That way I could reach the 18 better. Bigger drums, bigger sound.
I knew a guy that worked on the Black album and he said the 2” master tapes of just the drums takes ALONE filled up a minivan. Heavily, heavily edited.
prob justice too
He went down to two toms on the 1994 shed tour.
The Hi hat on Load is not a Sabian is Zildjian Dyno beat very used. The floor Tom are one 16 starclassic and the 18 is a Gretsch Maple
Pretty sure that wooden hoop drum is Ayotte. The lugs look right.
That & recording is out of public eye. So you can just say We brought in a whole bunch of gear.
Could that red mystery kit be them test driving kits for the next cycle? Some drummers get a free kit for each album.
Ayotte drums are the ones with the wood hoops. Amazing kits before Ray Ayotte got let go from the company he created
What was that about?
Hoping to do an episode with Ray at some point
The reason he likes the kick sound so much is because the bass isn’t getting in the way
you can say that again!
Ayotte Drums!!
Ayote also came to mind.
1:16:04 zildjian earth plate
Want to hear the cowbell? My Friend Of Misery @5:09
This critical guy who gave him super important pictures ...."his name was Leo or Peter or something." My friends call me Leo, you can call me Peter.
Just don't call him late for dinner
It was me that pointed that out to Chris after the first episodes. The most interesting thing about it, I think, is that the lugs seems to be swapped so that the batter sides have Tama lugs and the reso sides have Camco lugs. And the added bass drum might also be the reason the whole kit got painted black in the first place.
@@LeoNasstromgood call! That makes perfect sense. It makes me wonder if the Tama Camco lug and Superstar / Imperialstar hole spacing was the same to make the swap easy.
@@billyharringtondrums I think Lars's Camco kit was a Hoshino/Tama era Camco and therefore it makes sense if the hole spacing is the same. Tama used to have the same hole spacing for a long time on a number of models (70's into the 90's)