Metallica’s Big Mick Agrees, ‘I Love It When A Plan Comes Together’

29th February 2012 Adam Rayner

My old chum ‘˜Big’ Mick Hughes ( I swear he comes up when you Google just ‘˜Big Mick’) has finally got a ‘˜new’ car. Well, I say ‘˜new’ as he has got a fully loaded sexyful Audi A8 SE EXEC FSi Quattro A with 366bhp and massive 4.2 litre real petrol engine and every comfort the Audi executive (for it was a director’s car) could specify except a high quality OEM sound system. One single year and irrelevantly low miles later, it’s half price, HAHA!!
Now, as more than once being holder of the coveted Sound Engineer Of The Year award and being a legendary Front of House sound mixer for the most famous heavy metal band in the world, Mick does rather like potent sound. The Bang & Olufsen or BOSE options from Audi didn’t really impress and his is not even that, despite having cool controls and a competent disc spinner.
In the past I have shamelessly sucked on his fame to make fun editorial and incidentally, swag him stuff like a slightly better price on a 61 inch plasma TV from the days before HDMI, when they cost thousands and thousands.
He called me for advice and I made some enquiries and I can now happily reveal that stalwarts Karl and Ian at Ultimate Audio in Bromsgrove are going to sort him right out with help from my chums at FOUR who will supply the Audison BIT 10 or BIT 1, (depending upon what they find in the Audi when they open her up) and the top chaps at Celsus Ice who are to supply JL Audio speakers and amplification as well as bass enclosures to make his car rock.
We are all going to meet up at the trade car audio and electronics Expo held by Mobile Electronics News on the 13th and 14th of March at the Jaguar Exhibition Hall at the Ricoh Arena stadium of Coventry City footy club. The Audison equipment uses the same Analog Devices SHARC 32 bit processors as are used in his own Midas mixing desk. See the similarities. First, here is the BIT 10’s video – check at 4m 18 secs:

And Mick’s desk, you can see the relationship with the virtual Equaliser screenssee especially at 43 to 49 seconds.

I’ll be hosing down the whole enterprise with stills and video and we’ll get Mick on camera too. So here’s to another fun project and 2012’s first for meit’s the also the first time that passes to get into Download festival have been part of the whole ‘˜sell’ of the concept to the talent i.e. Karl and Ian of Ultimate Audio, who are FOUR Masters AND JL Audio dealers, to help make it all happen. Clever boys.
Watch this space.