He had to miss the 2021 shows due to post-COVID-19 travel restrictions[1] and was replaced as FOH engineer by Greg Price who continues to mix Metallica on their 2023/2024 M72 World Tour.

While an apprentice at British Steel Corporation, he studied electronics at a local technical college and also gained experience on the thriving Midlands music scene including working as a roadie for Judas Priest.

This is in direct opposition to the usual soundcheck which starts with the kick drum and ends with the vocals, but actually makes a lot of sense since the final sound of any instrument is going to be the combination of the ambient and close microphones.

When not busy with Metallica, Hughes has worked with Halford, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Queens of the Stone Age and Steve Vai.

[13] In 2007, he was asked to mix the FOH sound for the Led Zeppelin reunion concert[14] at London's O2 Arena in conjunction with Robert Plant's personal vocal mixer, Roy Williams.