METALLICA's Longtime Soundman BIG MICK Relying On AUDIO-TECHNICA Microphones

Longtime METALLICA front-of-house (FOH) engineer and loyal Audio-Technica user "Big Mick" Hughes continues to select a variety of A-T microphones for their sound quality and reliability.

"Big Mick" Hughes' tenure as front-of-house engineer for legendary heavy metal phenomenon METALLICA is almost as long as the band's existence. "This is my 25th year. I was 25 or 26 when I started with the guys, and I'm going on 51 in a minute," recalls Hughes. Although the band has evolved and grown, a key to its longevity is unarguably its constant dedication to hard-rocking heavy metal, showcased brilliantly on the 2008 smash album "Death Magnetic" (Warner Bros.). Another constant for the band has been Hughes' selection of Audio-Technica as the microphones of choice for METALLICA's live stage setup, the most recent incarnation of which is crisscrossing the United States, soon to be followed by Europe, as the "Death Magnetic World Tour".

"I've been using Audio-Technica for years, because of the way A-T mics sound. I can't really imagine using anything else," Hughes commented. "They sound great and have tremendous reliability. I can't remember the last time we actually changed a microphone because it was bad. That just doesn't happen, which is really pretty remarkable."

Hughes has selected a wide variety of A-T mics for the current tour, including the ATM350 Cardioid Condenser Clip-on Microphone for toms and overheads, AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone for guitar cabinets, wired and wireless versions of the AE5400 Cardioid Condenser Handheld Microphone for vocals, ATM650 Hypercardioid Dynamic Instrument Microphone for snare and dual AT 4050 Multi-pattern Condenser Microphones in a stereo configuration on guitar cabinets.

Hughes points out how the band's unique stage setup requires a number of dependable vocal mic units, a role more than fulfilled by the AE5400. "We're in the round, so there are eight vocal positions around the stage, all wired AE5400's. And then we have a few wireless 5400's that we drop in and out for different songs, depending on if they're playing acoustic guitars or something like that. And the wired and wireless all sound exactly the same, making the vocal mix, which I do in subgroups, relatively simple and straightforward for me."

Hughes is likewise vocal in his praise of Audio-Technica's Dual-element AE2500: "The AE2500 is absolutely stunning on guitar cabinets. When I first tried the 2500, I listened to each element individually and said that's not very big. But when I combined the two (dynamic and condenser),it's absolutely crushing. The summation of the two is so much more than the individual elements — it's bizarre. I use the 2500 with flat EQ and only high and low pass filters employed. It's a very, very big sound. We've used the 2500 on cabs for a long time — you just know what works, and why change a winning combination?"

Celebrating over 45 years of audio excellence worldwide, Audio-Technica is a leading innovator in transducer technology, renowned for the design and manufacture of microphones, wireless microphones, headphones, mixers, and electronics for the audio industry.

"Big" Mick Hughes was interviewed by Tom Wendt at the Pinkpop festival on May 30, 2008 in Landgraaf, The Netherlands. Watch the first part of the chat below.

Big Mick has mixed METALLICA at every one of the more than 1,500 shows they have performed since their November 1984 tour of Europe. In 2007, he was asked to mix the FOH sound for the LED ZEPPELIN reunion concert at London's O2 Arena in conjunction with Robert Plant's personal vocal mixer Roy Williams.