Metallica Mixer Explains Missing Bass on 'And Justice for All'

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Mixer Steve Thompson reflects on the missing bass sound in Metallica's '...And Justice for All,' which came out Aug. 25, 1988. He also reveals a conversation he had with Lars Ulrich about the matter years later.
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[@rubenskodicdeler2145]

The short anwser:Lars The long anwser:Lars Ulrich

[@mgolec]

Lars Ulrich is also a short answer.

[@VortechBand]

Lars: "Lul rich"

[@RaxiusMajor]

a more specific answer: Lars Ulrich, drummer

[@CarloNassar]

@Kasi Kai James too? Where can I see the evidence?

[@NOWtheband]

With regard to anwsers generally: It's better to have an anwser than to have no anwser. Anwsers are important for clarity. ;-)

[@huolong437]

And Justice for All? More like Adjust It for Lars

[@DavidRandBridgnorth]

Marco Roman - Underrared comment.

[@nekoshka7985]

Super underrated comment

[@juanjamm]

Most underrated comment in KZbin by far.

[@reverendjimjones1043]

No Jason for ya'all

[@igorjajic6898]

hahahah good one

[@RemorfChuket]

"Vocals. Guitar. Bass. Drums. Long ago, the four members lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when Lars opened his mouth."

[@AriocKaichi]

Yeah, Lars is the culprit for the horrendous bass mixing...and no one kicked him in the ass for it.

[@dbateman]

And the others let him get away with it.

[@AVB91]

When Lars says "Ulllm"

[@johnnydjiurkopff]

Only the buckethead, master of all four instruments, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new buckethead, a bass player named Davie504. And although his string skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Davie can save the world.

[@ForgeAheadwithMike]

Everything changed when Cliff died.

[@DizzyDez613]

I really, REALLY wish I could hear the version of this album that THIS man wanted to mix. “I wanted to make Puppets sound like a demo.” Fucking beautiful.

[@dastiffmeister1]

there are versions to be found called "And Justice for Jason" where you can choose the level of bass you want ^^

[@DizzyDez613]

@@dastiffmeister1 Yea, I’ve listened to “…. And Justice for Jason”, and some other “bass boosted” mixes. But I’m curious what the exact one that THIS man wanted sounds like. Edit: Cuz this guy fucking hated the drums as well.

[@red3994]

listening to MOP the track itself it honestly is a demo within its own right since the rest of that album tears that song to shreds, the song itself even sounds better through a RTL tone rather than its own finished track.

[@dastiffmeister1]

​@chuckbuskeeas far as I know there are 6 different bass levels to choose from.

[@TVsMrNeil]

Yeah, Justice For Jason doesn't fix the kick drum splat sound. It's hard to fix that unless you can isolate the kick drum replace it with a nice, meatier sound. Perhaps AI could do it.

[@alfredthegreatkingofwessex6838]

To summarize the video: “Everything was great” 1-"but Lars..." 2-"then Lars..." 3-"so Lars..."

[@Soter94]

It's funny because Metallica are great, but Lars....

[@Grimmjow_13]

Ohh shit, this make my day

[@cjstibitz2130]

@@jackhaugh at least James has a hot daughter

[@H.E.M.]

Brian Onuscheck not anymore. They’re all humble old people. Is not the 80s anymore. They grown up. Stop acting like they’re still the same.

[@ej22_gc86]

I’d like to drop a like, but there’s this perfect number of 333

[@FranHevia]

This video was perfectly edited. Then Lars came into the room.

[@pssed]

This should be top comment! :D

[@Conker.]

Perfect comment

[@Bulhakas]

Hahahaha

[@drakeholliday5671]

Hahaha

[@TheAldrahn]

I never comment on youtube, but this broke me. I'm in tears!

[@karamelizesogan]

This video editing is unbelievable. We feel like we are missing so much of the stuff that *you* shot, literally for us to watch. What is this, your own version of Lars’ing or something?

[@jansonrawlings8169]

It was edited almost as poorly as the bass was mixed on Justice for all 😂

[@andysott]

LOL......brilliant!

[@ralphfurley4217]

'and James goes like this' - you cut that out editor fool. Horrible video editing.

[@GrayD_Fox]

Im willing to bet it was edited just to make Lars look like the bad guy.

[@1realtruthrightnow742]

Totally agree

[@ultraparanoia]

The three biggest Metallica crimes soundwise: - St. Anger's Snare sound - Death Magnetic's sound compression. - And Justice For All's basslessness.

[@englishquizfactory]

Agree on 2 of them but not death magnetic. I liked it the way it was

[@LateCambrian]

Don't forget Lulu....

[@englishquizfactory]

Special mention goes to the omission of solos on St. Anger for the icing on the cake

[@mlody969]

@@englishquizfactory Death Magnetic mastering is a crime. Really you don't hear that compression?

[@englishquizfactory]

@@mlody969 BS. Rick Rubin was the producer of that record. He is literally the greatest producer on Earth

[@robertomedina6112]

Metallica was ahead of their time creating karaoke for bass players...

[@redpilled3569]

Couldn’t have said it better my self. It seems most metal bands need a lot more bass.

[@asmpoohbear4332]

lol i have a playlist with bass backing tracks and i just used the studio versions from and justice for all

[@pempotfoy6206]

@@redpilled3569 Thrash metal most of the time have good bass and really good mixes (Obviouslly not Metallica). Old bands have good bass (Black sabbath, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc), some progressive bands as well. Technical Death metal has a lot of bass too. The lack of bass in our era is mostly bass players fault, they have really bad tones, they all sound like 1 week experience, in studio. In Live, engineers dont care at bass at all (not always, even the shitiest bass tone can sound amazing live with the right engineer). But its all about the tone, most of bass players sound like Slayer´s bass, their eq is bassically this: Bass:12 Mids:0 Treble:0 They never change strings, never boost mids (they dont even know what that is) and their bass lines are pretty mediocre as well.

[@TJS3]

Also Lars was first one to drop the bass.

[@ercankarabayir006]

@Audio Maverick sad but true

[@aragusea]

"And Hetfield went like this..." You chose that moment to cut to b-roll? Please, please recut this. I really want to know what Hetfield's reaction was.

[@TheLambchopper]

he basically just shrugged and gave a "i guess its what he wants" expression

[@KaneMartin1]

My assumption is it was a thumbs-up or a head nod.

[@michaelangeloh.5383]

What he was doing is putting his hands up. In another interview, which was over the phone, he literally said "Hetfield put his hands up...", as in, he didn't want to get into that argument. He backed off, basically. - Because apparently the production of that album didn't have a good atmosphere. I suppose he just didn't want to cause any more negativity, so he let Lars get his way.

[@Chatman666]

Adam Ragusea I thought the same exact thing.

[@wardkdouglas]

Adam Ragusea my thoughts exactly

[@johnzackarias11]

Lars really is an enigma. Without him, Metallica wouldn't even exist and without his artistic vision we would have missed out on a lot of highlights of their career. Ironically, however, *because* he is in the band we have also been subject to the absolute lowlights of their career. All in all I have a lot of respect for the guy, but wow, he really has made some dubious choices! Also he can't keep the tempo live. I don't think he ever really has.

[@eriklarson9137]

I am sure Lars is so sad. One of the best drummers of all time in one of the greatest metal bands of all time due it large part to him. What a total failure Lars is. If only he had a life as awesome as mine...

[@johnzackarias11]

Completely missing my point@@eriklarson9137

[@twiz66]

@@eriklarson9137 To paraphrase the Beatles joke: “Lars wasn’t the best drummer in the world… Let’s face it, he wasn’t even the best drummer in Metallica.”

[@ChickenJoe-tq6xd]

@@eriklarson9137definitely not one of the best but yes he’s important to the band

[@hoothoot2112]

Lars has played a great part in Metallica becoming as great as it is today. However I also feel like Metallica could arguably be even better if someone filled Lars' shoes on the drums. Metallica has never had weak guitars or bass in my opinion, far from it. Personally, I believe the drumming (especially nowadays) has held back these guys musically for a long time

[@User-jk8wq]

Just a quick reminder that Steve also mixed Appetite For Destruction by GnR and Poison by Alice Cooper. Just imagine how great Justice would have sounded if Lars didn’t fuck everything up

[@korgied]

I have literally never heard a story about Lars that actually improved my opinion of the guy.

[@JPREEDY77]

Lars is a douche!

[@Dog-O]

Listen to Jim Breuer’s story about them out drinking one night if you haven’t already. It will confirm your opinion.

[@mattrock12]

Dog-o “the backpack” 😂😂😂

[@Dog-O]

Matt Rock 🤣 yep. What a douche.

[@Kottesque]

'Large Oil rig' - The John McEnroe of Drummers. TWAT!

[@stevechambers500]

Who else wants to hear the way this guy woulda mixed it? I really want to.

[@jackluminous6364]

I think we´ll never will, but there are a couple of videos on YT called"...and justice for Jason" in which they re mastered the whole album and you can actually hear the bass. That´s the closest we´ll get I bet.

[@turdfergusonize]

Jack Luminous if u search the internet you can find the album

[@turdfergusonize]

Jack Luminous here a KZbin, there are dls if u know how to scour kzbin.info/www/bejne/foSve6yah7OajrM

[@miguelochoa7978]

The best mix that is NOT ...And justice for Jason is called

[@davewalker3873]

Add a good drummer, let him mix it better. The album might have sounded good

[@astralkidd]

I can’t believe they have not yet had the bass lines redone and re-issued it. That’s baffling to me does anybody else feel that way?

[@jamesb1988]

It's not gonna happen, their reason being that every album they have released, with whatever flaws they have, are snapshots of the band from that time. And besides, there's a bunch of fan made versions of the album on KZbin with more prominent bass that are just fine.

[@darkbeach72]

@@jamesb1988 This is a snapshot where someone took scissors to the polaroid and there are no negatives to print from. It's not an accurate representation.

[@derekrushe]

As he said in the video, the master tapes for justice has so many edits (due to lars shitty drumming), trying to do a remix of Justice would almost be impossible now 35 years later

[@ReekRendTest1]

@@darkbeach72 Didn't the person somehow extract the bass tracks from the Guitar Hero versions ?

[@silverback68]

​@@ReekRendTest1probably not the exact same tracks.

[@bronzeageancientone4844]

I bought the cassette the morning it came out. I went back to my dorm and my roommate and I listened to it. We kept messing with the EQ thinking it was my stereo. We went down the hall to some guys who had CD players. They all sounded equally shitty. I went back to the record store and asked if they got a bad batch. The guy told us, " they all sound this shitty."

[@onewhitepony]

Wow 😂 haha thats crazy.. still cool you bought it day it came out

[@bradmodd7856]

This was when it exploded for Metallica and the cold dry harsh edgy sound of this record was a huge part of what made them cut through and stand out from the rest of the standard mixes at that time

[@Metal_Horror]

​@@bradmodd7856This was ironically the album that introduced me to metal as a ten year old. For years and years it was my benchmark for metal guitar tone and riffage, and I actually remember loving the sound of the drums. Nowadays my opinion is pretty predictable: I wish they'd mixed the bass right. The biggest tragedy is that Jason KICKED FUCKING ASS on this record. His right hand gives James's a run for its money, and that is definitely saying a lot. It's ridiculous.

[@GamingManual]

You know it's bad when you doubt the mix on a cassette, lmao! Great story!

[@clockofthelongnow2695]

😢

[@OldBuford]

"and then Hetfield went like this" * no cut away to show what Hetfield did * Director of editing: Lars Ulrich

[@forgetful47]

the cutting of it is pretty shotty, i was thinking to myself "please cut back and show his expression. . .wtf"

[@kertsang2053]

I'm guessing what he's describing is Hetfield threw up his hands and gave a "Hey, don't look at me, pal" look.

[@OldBuford]

@@kertsang2053 sadly we will probably never know for sure

[@josh18230]

He probably gave a thumbs up.

[@Intentspunk19]

*stares at St. Anger*

[@Ean9881]

Great editing! Go to a cut scene during a part where he’s using physical gestures to tell the story!! Genius move

[@penalozaur]

They didn't want to throw Hetfield under the bus...

[@rockoutwithyourckout]

Haha so glad someone said this.

[@haukurjohannesson9089]

The cameraman fucked up not the editor, you can hear the sound of a camera starting to record at 2:15 so he probably stopped recording on accident ;)

[@DRC-of2ci]

I saw it too lol

[@sebw89]

@@penalozaur Was that reference to Cliff Burton intentional? ^^

[@joecrowaz]

I just broke a rib laughing my ass off! This is exactly why I quit recording and producing bands. And one of the last bands I worked with (ironically), Flotsam & Jetsam 😂 Just before Jason left. I'll never forget him asking me for some duct tape. He put a baseball hat on, then the headphones. Then wrapped the tape around the headphones so he could headbang doing his Bass tracks.

[@jalderink]

Thanks JC, great story! It's hard NOT to love Jason & it seems like James and Lars are the only people who don't.

[@teep3049]

Is that really a true story 😂?

[@peoplelegend8476]

@@teep3049 Wouldn't be surprised if Jason did that 🤣 God he's such a fucking goofball and I fucking love him!

[@kooijbas]

Underrated band, but talking about production: the recent Flotsam & Jetsam albums have insane amounts of compression on them. Sound awful.

[@konajinx]

So he did what Keith Moon had done years before. Amazing.

[@yesterdaze114]

This is what happens when a band has too heavy a hand in the final sound of their record. This man is a professional mixer and should have been aloud to put his own touch on the album. Would have been 10000x better too.

[@nessy9022]

Steve Thompson definitely should have been listened to, otherwise he's just a glorified technician. Which is a humiliating position to put the guy who mixed Appetite For Destruction in. But it sounds like Lars making decisions unilaterally for the entire band was the key issue here. Many albums have been mixed with full bands signing off on the final mixes (most notably The Beatles). I'm guessing if Kirk and Justin had been equally involved in the mixing process with James and Lars that AJFA would have been a vastly better listen. I like that that Steve mentioned Jimmy Page, ie by contrast, an artist who proved himself eminently capable of unilaterally guiding that type of process with impeccable results.

[@thesaneparty4079]

"aloud" seems appropriate here.

[@CMZIEBARTH]

​@@thesaneparty4079I was about to throw in a courteous "allowed" but your comment is better.

[@beetheimmortal]

This exactly. Why even hire a mixer if you're just going to shit on his work anyway?

[@mondobananas1832]

I feel like Kirk was the only one who mildly respected Jason.

[@benjaminknotts745]

Sort of ended up that way

[@ryanspencerlauderdale687]

Maybe a little bit...

[@NIGHTSTALKER973]

Apparently Kirk and Jason got on well it's such a damn shame Jason couldn't have picked both a best and worst time to join Metallica they just hit it big and were riding the wave and he got on it at the best time on the other hand he was the punching bag for the grief felt by the guys because of Cliffs death it took Jason leaving the band for the guys to realize what a mistake they made.

[@fabricio2467]

the funny thing is that lars and jason still have a good relationship

[@mondobananas1832]

Fabricio I know, I think they’re both over it now.

[@ITSergioFelix]

"...and Hetfield went like this" Well... how? How did Hetfield went like? Thanks Loudwire for not showing that important part.

[@chrisnichols2241]

IKR

[@texarcana2002]

I'm pretty sure Lars had that cut, too

[@xx-ug9hn]

**Hetfield makes wanking gesture**

[@canonegro666]

I imagine he threw his hands up in in the air palms up.

[@garethfitzsimons8614]

Yeah im an editor and i was ripping my bloody hair out at that bit. Interns on the job again!

[@martanoconghaile]

My late mother once told me that loss and regret are the most distressing human emotions. You can really sense his regret at not having mixed it the way he wanted and kept a spare reel. What we wouldn't give to hear that now. Not that "Justice" is a bad album. In fact, it could be their best, according to Flemming Rasmussen, who produced it, which really turned a lot of musicians onto Metallica, including the technical death metal crowd. But it does sound a little flat.

[@Zett76]

I‘d argue that the feeling of being DENIED is the worst emotion. Which plays a role in this story, too. His vision and expertise has been denied.

[@brandocalrissian3294]

Agreed. If I were him I would have stayed late alot and mixed a copy the way I wanted to do it and one for dumbass Lars. It would be so cool to have that personal copy at home.

[@turnsoonest]

Just fantastic editing of this video

[@bkpickell]

So Lars is the reason that the only damned thing you can hear on St Anger is that damn pot and pan set he's beating on. I haven't heard that album in like ten years and I can still hear that snare pinging in my head.

[@yasindiouri6088]

Lmao same

[@thephoenixhasflown]

Yeah that snare sounds like a trash can.

[@tomiasthexder7673]

Classic. I can't get that damn drum.sound out of my head...makes the whole record unlistenable

[@mickeysymbiose]

This made me lol

[@dynamo4543]

of course it was Lars,,if you listen to the some kind of monster edited version it dosent have that pinging noise & its what st anger should have sounded like instead of the garbage we got

[@coolst0rybruh]

and Hetfield went like WHAT???? was Lars editing the video?

[@INTHEATRIUMofficial]

HE EDITED EVERYTHING !

[@taufikefendi6204]

I asked the same question. "and Hetfield went like WHAT????"

[@gianluigidautilia6417]

I am laughing

[@Phobophiliac]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

[@TheBatman2292]

😭😭😭

[@buddylhirondelle5377]

Steve Thompson is awesome. The album is awesome . A very influential album and a masterpiece . That mid scoop sound is cool but too bad the bass wasn’t a bit more audible or it would be perfect

[@insertcoinracing1582]

This was the first Metallica record I heard, and at around 10 years old it really kicked me in the ass. The way the drums were so dry and intense it almost made the music sound illicit. The snare at the beginning of Blackened set the tone for something that was unlike anything else at the time. It may not have made for the best mixed album of all time, but it kicked off a lifetime of fascination and love for thrash metal that will never die, and that's why for me it's the quintessential thrash record over Master of Puppets, Rust in Peace or even Beneath The Remains (which is probably 2nd imo).

[@BrianM-44041]

While I disagree that and justice was Metallica's best, as I'm a ride the lightning and master of puppets fan , and that rust in peace is Megadeths best (peace sells is canon), I wholeheartedly agree with you about beneath the remains. Such an influential and perfect record. Try to imagine that year when among the living, reign in blood, master of puppets, and peace sells came out at the same time. It was glorious for metal. Sepultura was still on morbid visions or schizophrenia at that time. Crazy.

[@pitpride1220]

The way they treated Jason is unforgivable. I don't care who passed. No excuse. You shouldn't have hired him if you were just gonna hate bang him for decades.

[@anitabonghit2758]

Its as if Jason put tve ice on the road

[@TheyCallMeMrMaybe]

Granted, their label gave them no time to grieve for Cliff's death. They were forced to go back on tour and then start And Justice for All, or risk being kicked off their label. Of course Jason deserved 0 hazing, but it was just a really bad situation all&around.

[@mr.iiconic]

You dub thee unforgiven.

[@pitpride1220]

@@anitabonghit2758 exactly

[@pitpride1220]

@@mr.iiconic perfect 🤣

[@dxaustindd2305]

And years later Lars develop his sound, and creates the St. Anger's drums.

[@bernardonunes128]

"Drums"

[@astrea5849]

pots and pans*

[@jeaniebird999]

Is that why St. Anger sucked?

tick plock tick plock tick plock ponk

[@vallangaard]

St. Anal was painful.....

[@ts4gv]

2:06 great editing, guys. lol. good interview though it's nice to hear what happened.

[@soulcrusher0357]

This is my favorite album by Metallica, and to think what it would have been with a more prominent bass makes me feel like this dude. MOP is a close 2nd but this one is #1 for me.

[@Glarblenuck]

Remember when Lars accused James of being a control freak

[@ryanspencerlauderdale687]

Alt Both of them kinda are.

[@joekerr2476]

@Your Daddy dude I agree with you. The way they treated Jason too, fucking wankers.

[@liquidbraino]

I've met James. He's a super nice guy but definitely has that vibe of someone you don't want to fuck with. I just can't see him being a control freak. Lars is the control freak. Remember when Napster and Morpheus first came into existence? They were losing control of distribution and Lars was the one that tried to have all P2P file sharing networks shut down.

[@miket.220]

@@liquidbraino Lars seems like an ass, but I'll give him credit for fighting Napster, he was 100% correct about it being theft. I couldn't believe Napster existed when it came out. I used it like everyone else, but only downloaded stuff I already owned on vinyl and cassette cause I was too lazy to hook up all the gear and digitize it myself. But to sit and download stuff you don't own, that's just theft. It could be argued that if more bands stood with Lars, the music industry might be different today.

[@IcedEarth426]

They were all control freaks in one way or another.

[@exshenanigan2333]

2:00 the audio engineer: makes face and hand expressions to recreate the moment better video editor: it would be too bad if someone would cut extremely old and irrelevant metallica footage on it.

[@Jaburu]

probably problems in the footage. at 0:09 there is a problem, too

[@rockboy360]

It was edited by lars

[@filipebeat]

X,D

[@neonblack211]

@@rockboy360 lmfao

[@fredegundestratton4891]

As much as there are reasons for mixing down the bass that dont make sense, ive almost wondered if it was a sort of subconscious way to cope with the loss of cliff. He left a massive hole in theirs and our hearts and that album is almost a testament to how big of a hole he left in the bands sound too. Its like a whole album of just James, Kirk, and Lars jammin away without Cliff and its like its all for Cliff. Especially when you think of To Live Is To Die. That being said it doesn’t excuse how they treated Jason then and all the way till he quit.

[@LTPottenger]

That's probably also why they treated him bad, they just couldn't cope. They were still fairly young at the time and it was not only a personal issue but also a wrench in the works for their band sound they had to cope with.

[@ryanslauderdale]

With all the remixes of the Justice record online these days, I’d be interested to hear Steve’s version, if he’d want to do it just for his own enjoyment. Like a director’s cut of a movie. That seems to be a popular thing now.

[@stanky9875]

As Metallica progressed and succeeded in their careers after Cliff died, the "what would Cliff do?" or, "what would Cliff say?" was always asked. The fact that newsted got snubbed on Justice, I can only imagine that Cliff was rolling in his grave in udder disappointment with Lars and James. To think they'd treat his successor with such disrespect would anger him to no end.👎

[@Vastatio]

utter*

[@pikkuzon1987]

Thats about right. After Cliff's death however, Metallica-guys wanted to take a break. Their management convinced them that they can't take a break, now that they are on their peek... (and lose dem managers income as well).. So basically, they had no tools to handle that pain of Cliffs death. But alcohol.. (-and overuse of amfetamin?). Now, that pain was being expressed into Jason Newstead for the following years. That they had later come in to realise.

[@rodscooltunes1640]

@@pikkuzon1987 I don't feel that bad for Jason, he just made MILLIONS to be a "whipping boy".

[@2112SNEEK]

​@@pikkuzon1987 Well I think that stupid decisions havin more to do with personality, self-pity and attitude, or the lack, regardless of the substances you take. Maybe for Lars it felt about being staying loyal Burton and for James, whom I classify and as jolly, good-natured, if somewhat naïve really did not want to interfere in such questions because he was to devestated about the loss of Burton.

[@triptychlux]

lars is just a dickhead

[@slamonfpv]

Lars: take out the gestures untill you can't see them at all.

[@BazIrvine]

He gestures like Newsted though so it has to go...

[@to21_48]

@@BazIrvine *Newsted*

[@BazIrvine]

@@to21_48 there you go, my auto spell wanted it to be Newspapers so hey.

[@knightsb4bishops766]

Lol

[@GreasyBelcher]

Man… I was vocalist in a band and when we recorded the album the guitar played and bass player were going into the studio behind my and the drummers backs. They kept turning themselves up in so far in each song you could barely hear the lyrics or feel the drums. I ran the recordings past a friend of mine who is a very highly regarded producer. He laughed at how absurdly out of balance it was. I brought this up with the drummer and then we brought it up with the guitar and bass players. They promised to fix this and gave us a mix that sounded great. We all signed off on this mix. Then they reverted back to the mix they wanted with guitar and bass in total domination of everything. The mix was then sent to be mastered…. The guy going the mastering of the album had to pull the entire middle range out of the album to take back their ego edit for publishing. When the album came out it sounded so thin and tinny it made me furious and I quit the day the album was released… which was the bass players plan all along, the bass player then re-recorded the vocals herself and rereleased the album with the same cover inverted to a negative image of the original. So now when you look up the band on Spotify there are two identical album, both sounding thin and tinny but with different vocalist. I won’t even state the name of the band because they are such fucking clowns. The drummer left shortly after I quit. 😂

[@CrytpicStench]

whats the band?

[@stevdaking6869]

@@CrytpicStenchI’m also curious

[@try2bcool]

I loved the way it sounded back in the day. My big, carpeted speaker boxes had no bass anyway, but I had midrange for days. I could crank it up louder than just about anything else I owned.

[@like-icecream]

Whole world: Turn up the bass Lars: Turn down the bass

[@HiImBQ]

They should've used more cow bell.

[@XX-121]

lars was the reason death magnetic ended up the way it did too. and even after everyone started complaining, i remember seeing a video of him defending it, saying it sounds fine in his car.

[@atomicwedgie8176]

Lars: Make my drums sound like a banjo...that's ROCK!

[@jmcregrut]

@@HiImBQ I've got the feva

[@bigtay522]

Band: We need more bass Lars: Fine, I'll get a third bass drum.

[@paradigmshiftz7]

As if he needs it

[@jorcormy9165]

Lars' like a version of mr.crabs in metal

[@Kruegernator123]

James: *grabs his baritone guitar*

[@MrOctober44]

Lol

[@APPEALtoFEAR]

That’s a good one.

[@AgentXXSmith]

Back in 2004 I was in a studio in Hoboken, NJ with Mike Barbiero and he told the same story. James and Lars said, "Here are the polaroids of the mixing desk we recorded at. Do the same with your faders." + "Pull the bass down till you can't hear it and raise it 1db." And Mike and Steve would argue, "This isn't the same mixing board! It won't sound the same." Didn't matter. He also told me, "we'd put the bass up when they were gone, then they'd fly back in to hear the mixes and make us put everything back they way they told us before. The only song I could sneak any bass onto was 'The Ballad'." Shoutout to the old school copy of THE STAND behind Steve's head there.

[@hoonaignachowaneha]

I love how you put footage of Hetfield plating over the part where the mixer is making a facial expression relevant to the story.

[@sinlokemp]

We want ‘And Justice for Bass’ remixed and remastered release.

[@Ilshatey]

...And Justice for Jason

[@Ilshatey]

...And Jason for All

[@emperoralvis6559]

Dozens already exist. Just none of them are official.

[@spencerwatson771]

There’s a few floating around out there And some of those are actually good

[@etherealcatholic5711]

Борис Лядский Free on KZbin & well worth a listen if you're a fan of "And Justice for All..." It was surreal how much better it sounds as opposed to original 1988 mix.

[@ambule]

"And Hetfield went like this..." and Loudwire is showing live footage. Some editor is getting fired at Loudwire today. Way to fuck up an exclusive.

[@Buraz93]

Probably shaking his head or something, or confirmation :D

[@UptempoMusicLessons]

Pretty obviously confirmation, otherwise he would have went into a story about in fighting. Logic man.

[@jakep1178]

UptempoMusicLessons I think he shrugged

[@najtrows]

"He goes like this.. okay"

[@rihamy2nd]

Mauricio Vargas That was when Lars walked into the room during the video editing.

[@franciscomarques6569]

AJFA is a great album. Had they listened to this man, it could have been even greater...

[@jeepreworked6388]

I love this guy's take on it and believe it 100. Interesting thing is, this record/mix really molded how I sonically was able to approach recording in the early days with limited tracks. It let me leave the bass guitar itself entirely and use whatever few tracks I had for a project really tell the story. You can get the low end you need with a combination of sub lows on the kick and not cutting lows on guitar. Not every style of music needs a groovin' drum n bass player. Just one more instrument to take away from the melody or one cool riff you should be making your statement with. This was the "no rules" album. I still have no idea in that day and age how they faced new guy on bass and said this is our mix, or why he didn't stand up. But take away the whole band mentality, and this record is a beast and a benchmark.

[@RuubRoyce]

When someone uses non verbal communication to emphazise or explain a certain situation you do not overlap the audio with random visuals. You can not hear "the look on his face".

[@derekg7853]

Hetfield threw up his hands to basically say "I'm not getting in the middle of this, just do what Lars wants" He told this story in another interview and they didn't edit over it in that one.

[@TehUltimateSnake]

shafta99 lmao i was gonna say that

[@michaeltsouris8190]

On the bright side, makes it a perfect album to play bass along with. You can even write your own lines and as long as you're in key and on time, it fits nicely. This album was made specifically for bass players to practice to.

[@mikebarnes7441]

Well that's pretty much how you play bass to any music lol. Stay in key and on beat

[@gorcrow]

The Sid Vicious school of bass teaches differently

[@snakeplissken44]

Great point!

[@meavyhetalderzweitegrafvon8240]

@@mikebarnes7441 you dont get the point didnt you?

[@mikebarnes7441]

@@meavyhetalderzweitegrafvon8240 I guess not. My bad

[@drseuss8589]

About time they restored this album what a beautiful remaster, I don't understand why Newstead was outed this is why you need audio engineers whose fine instrument is audio hearing range and perception

[@luger4799]

It's the original copy not a remix

[@eriklarson9137]

Amazing editing.

[@tomekgnr321]

"and Hetfield went like this"

[@KilljoyRPMX]

Tomislav Gredisnjak Isn't it obvious? James wore a black wig and started playing air guitar

[@michaelangeloh.5383]

Tomislav Gredisnjak - What he was doing is putting his hands up. In another interview, which was over the phone, he literally said "Hetfield put his hands up...", as in, he didn't want to get into that argument. He backed off, basically. - Because apparently the production of that album didn't have a good atmosphere. I suppose he just didn't want to cause any more negativity, so he let Lars get his way.

[@drewflanagan4296]

I look forward to an explanation from whoever edited this video

[@Stinkydo0d]

From what I gather from other interviews on this, he said James just threw his arms up in the air and walked out.

[@crackawood]

Snake Charmer they're hiding james simulating masturbation and spraying skeet

[@ElPerroMuchacho666]

This video was edited by Lars.

[@agony664]

Metálisis yes hahahahahhaahaha!

[@clintonwalsh2264]

Metálisis bahaha

[@intoxic8dakalilchuckie755]

Lars is gonna Sue again lol

[@whitsixkiller]

As an original fan from the beginning it would be nice if they released a remastered version of Justice with adequate bass line. I saw them live twice on Justice and you could hear the bass line, it was better that the studio recordings. Probably never happen.

[@keeleye7225]

What you want is a remix, not a remaster. A remaster would simply be adding processing to the original shitty mix. This needs a remix, and then of course that new mix would be mastered by a mastering studio.

[@cwjalexx]

When I was 13 Metallica was my favorite band and their CDs were the first ones I bought. I had also just started playing the guitar as well. I have a distinct memory of listening to ...and justice for all with headphones and my eyes closed listening as hard as I could for the bass and wondering why I could barely hear it.

[@dgmlxcbl]

Till this day I wonder what James Hetfield did.

[@melquizedec]

sam bam pretty sure he backed Lars. No way he could have decided something like that without talking with James.

[@spamsingles5948]

I think Lars was the editor for this video

[@llsnarlll3408]

pretty sure he just shrugged his shoulders inna whatever who cares kinda manner

[@spamsingles5948]

@Bret Zayger_Michigan your mum's a worn out comment

[@berni2905]

He went like this.

[@RetroRescuers]

"hetfield went like this" .... Plays live metallica footage....

[@Atlas65]

My thoughts exactly ... wtf.

[@SonnyGTA]

KiddRetro sooo painfully dumb!!!

[@TheWeatherKnight]

Poor editinggg

[@jaymzx2587]

I know right?? God..!

[@MarkLewis...]

In his defense... Lars edited that part and Het was too drunk to do anything about it.

[@shayneoneill1506]

Theres a fan mix of the album called "Justice for Jason" that they've somehow managed to crank the bass back up and it actually makes the album so much better. Jasons got an absolutely blazing bass line under all that, and nobodies heard it. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a bassist, but Jason got done dirty by that and its really unfair because its the best metallica album that he's on, and due to Lars and Hetfield being asshats due to unresolved g PTSD from losing Cliff (Kirk seems to have a lot of guilt about this, but I refuse to believe Hammetts ever been mean to another human in his life, the dudes a soft spoken teddybear of a man), he got shanked out of his place on that album.

[@ghxfit]

Garage days came out a year before this album and Jason can be heard well. Justice is a masterpiece album just needs louder bass

[@WildBluntHickok]

I own the bass tabliture book for And Justice For All. ...I assume it's correct...

[@crotchy7667]

LOL. Nobody can prove you made a mistake.

[@LMC-xz6qh]

@James Phillippe I mean the parts exist and were recorded

[@visinedrip]

LMFAO 😂

[@doodoodan]

@War Zone 9 Chapters of Nothing but empty pages

[@woodside4life]

Wild Blunt Hickok I didn’t know you could own air.

[@dgenerated]

And 15 years later Lars finally got that drum sound on "St Anger!". 😆

[@herculesbrofister265]

its pretty sweet too. like an angry hobo beating on garbage cans in a psychotic fit.

[@taylorfarr6]

LOL

[@tonzokinawa]

@@herculesbrofister265 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@captdouche77]

Still never nailed his timing.

[@angelainamarie9656]

I saw someone make a whole recording with a trashcan lid, with the express purpose of duplicating his horrible snare sound. HOW COME nobody EVER sat Lars down and said, dude, you have the artistic sensibilities of a GOAT. Let SOMEONE ELSE make those decisions. Play drums.

[@Slimee44]

We need the Steve Thompson mix! RELEASE THE THOMPSPON CUT!!!

[@ArngrimJakobsen]

Funny fact, I always loved how “and justice for all” sounded! We’d never heard anything like that before! How the bass sounded actually made a new guitar sound, never heard before! I’m really happy they did what they did! And if you blame that on Lars, then kudos to him ❤️

[@thuroria7631]

Uh, it's not the way the bass sounds that makes this guitar tone. It's the guitars themselves. You really can't even hear the bass. It's a good 18db below the guitars. Cool if you like the tone but it would be much better with a bass.

[@shazmeister2005]

This guys got my respect, he mixed Appetite for Destruction, one of if not the best sounding albums ever.

[@MisfitsFiendClub138]

It's So Easy

[@MrOasis316]

That album has the most fantastic sound ever. Its so clear but still sounds raw. Didn’t know this guy mixed it.

[@jeronimolegua6606]

No, best album is Nevermind

[@dioseolo]

@@jeronimolegua6606 lol

[@JustinLesamiz]

Until Axl Rose opens his dumb mouth anyway.

[@Ping727]

"...and Hetfield went like this" The editor didn't think to show his face at that part?

[@stuartthehuman5280]

John Ping I thought that bit was confusing too lmao

[@MrBrownstone8881]

Most likely it was a shoulder shrug with an eye roll. Hetfield hated the editing part because Lars was a freaking maniac every time they produced something.

[@elisedelaserre9453]

I guess Lars asked to cut that part out

[@jimborocks8372]

Hetfield went like this.....okay.

[@EdRickerVlogs]

As pointed out by others in the comments, you can clearly hear at 2:15 that the camera recording was restarted. So whoever ran the camera fucked up, and the editor had nothing to work with at that point. Audio was still recorded since it was likely recorded separately on a different device.

[@leadspot]

this is truly heartbreaking

[@chirsbom337]

This was my first CD at the age of 11, got it from a cool aunt. Never heard of metal or Metallica before that. I loved this album and sound, still do. It has heavily influenced my taste in music from that, prefering the "oddballs" like Faith No More, Living Color, NOFX, Primus, Tool etc while all my friends and classmates was into Green Day, U2 and everything Metallica did after the black album.

[@AceMcshred]

Lars 1988: Turn down bass until you can't hear it Lars 2006: He left the fockin' band!

[@louismaynard881]

2003*

[@lynchmaleideal]

@@louismaynard881 2001, you mean

[@natehtf5760]

Wrong year, wrong quote.

[@marlonisaac1]

Lmfao 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@punk_rock_music_teacher]

Everyone who has ever worked with Lars: “are you serious?”

[@andypike1234]

Steve is a true character. I don´t know why but I come to this video regularly :D

[@Steve.Cutler]

A lot of bands did this back then. Bass was second thought like background noise. Non important. Sad too, a lot of us bass players got screwed over like this.

[@Kohntarkosz]

I remember an interview with Scott Ian and Danny Spitz from Anthrax, talking about how Elektra hired Thompson and Barberio to mix Persistence Of Time. And apparently the first thing they said to the Anthrax guys was, "Let's make this record sound the way ...And Justice For All COULD have sounded".

[@Grizzleback07]

That is my favorite album by Anthrax! 🤘

[@lafemmedevastation]

wouldn't it have been funny if the first thing they told Steve was "uh.. can you turn the bass down to barely audible? ...six more decibels"

[@Pneumanon]

you can mix it your own way if it's mixed just how I say!

[@tiabran]

ChannelTonto Ha! What track is this from? Shortest Straw?

[@Pneumanon]

@@tiabran Eye of the Beholder ;)

[@tiabran]

ChannelTonto Dang it, major fail. Gotta brush up on Justice 👍🏻

[@Pneumanon]

@@tiabran all good, been listening to it a lot lately since I stumbled on ...And Justice For Jason. Give that one a go.

[@Berbs73]

Lmao!

[@bjornskivids]

I would love to see a re-release...with bass. I liked the album in general but it's a hard one to crank up.

[@mariokarter13]

"I changed his drum sound. He was so angry he seethed for over 10 years before making St. Anger."

[@AndriyVasylenko]

So, basically Lars was pissed off at 'sabotaging' the sound he wanted (regardless of what the SONG needed). And he, being on emotions, just took revenge by turning Jason's bass down?

[@dokterx4085]

Will this be in one of your new video's? XD Your channel Rocks man!

[@ArcticSeabee]

I just read this in your voice 😅

[@Rekko82]

Lars would have needed therapy before Justice, not before St. Anger.

[@agropsychonaut]

exactly. fuck pansy ass Lars

[@IrLosin]

Because Mustaine was a level headed calm guy in that period, right? Oh wait.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aILPkJ-kpbGXb7s

[@conbriosynthesizers3428]

You know this is probably the ONLY band that could sell a MILLION copies of an old REmixed record. They could get it done with a proper mix and it would outsell their next album.

[@HorrorKidd88]

it has been said that the masters were so chopped up and pieced together with tape (because lars' 50+ punches per take) that it would unravel into a giant mess.

[@Strimbles]

Nobody sells a million physical copies anymore

[@motogplounge6305]

@@GladeSwope so just record the whole thing again.

[@jessewilliams8724]

@@Strimbles Hardwired sold over a million

[@nonewmsgs]

I'd love to hear his production of the CD. I bet it's 🔥

[@mrtimratha]

I wish he'd been able to mix it like he heard it too. It's a great album but that thing he said "Make master of puppets sound like a demo" hints at what might have been the most crushing record of all time.

[@EoinStRandy]

and Hetfield went like "live footage".....

[@bongo_baggins]

EoinStRandy "Is he serious?" *Hetfield headbanging in the corner "Okay..."

[@SPNKr16]

So Lars mum propositioned me and I went like "live footage".....

[@curt6525]

Dying

[@rick-deckard]

Ugh

[@KilljoyRPMX]

...And Justice for Bass ...And Justice for Jason

[@jediwookie6607]

Killjoy ...And Justice for Basson

[@pyrrhus6437]

JediWookie you mean jassbon

[@Zakkarae]

...And Jason For All

[@RickGrimesS5]

Killjoy Hell yeah

[@Calilou52]

look up ...and jason for all. you wont be disappointed

[@prongATO]

The BEST mixed Metallica album and one of the best of that decade, of all albums.

[@jonathanhathaway7796]

I had to teach students a lot off that album at the time, and I was always amazed at how crappy it sounded, especially the drum sound. For all the praise they gave Cliff, you'd think that they would have made his parts more audible on the albums. Whole Lotta Love doesn't really get "heavy" until the bass comes in.

[@Matt-tw3oz]

i would kill to hear Steve's mix, with the drums sounding how he wanted and the bass at the level that he wanted. don't mixers/engineers mix an album how they want, bounce it down, and store it somewhere for personal consumption? or is that illegal? so long as you don't try to sell it for profit and you use your own time and materials to do it, i am not sure how it could be.

[@ricksterdrummer2170]

It’s not illegal to do, but they usually don’t do it because they don’t have the time to do it.

[@richardb8104]

@@chucklefuck This was about 30 years ago, so it would have been a floppy disk lol

[@onerays]

@@chucklefuck well, in those days the bouncing format must have been 2-track 1/2" tape

[@whodat9198]

@@chucklefuck lol flash drive!!!

[@yurdp]

It’s not illegal. However, those mixers and engineers also the mixing studios and boards are not cheap. We’re talking 100s of dollars an hour, just for your engineer. Getting the time to do, what he wanted to do, would have been very costly. But if he snuck in there on his own time- who is to say? I personally would love to hear what he was hearing. Something about AJFA just never sounded… right.

[@diamondhead5432101]

Someone out there needs to remix the album drum free! Then put Justice for Jason all over that 😅

[@LumosX]

Already done to restore the bass: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJzUhZaCrLqMoJo

[@liam8834]

He says in the interview the tapes are too delicate to remix it.

[@moshfists]

Just like most musicians: Lars came in to listen to the mix and was ONLY listening to himself instead if the entire song. The next thing he listened to was the bass. When you focus on a single instrument in a mix, of course it's going to sound louder. I would put mixes I was working on in the background at a moderate level while I set mic stands, amps, etc. (WITHOUT actively listening to the mix). Many times, I found a stray sound that I missed in the control room and I was able to correct it before the final mix. This is exactly what happened when Lars asked if there was bass in the mix. If he would have just listened to the original mix and lived with it for a while, he would have heard the sound that we fans WANTED to hear from Metallica, instead of the thin, wimpy mix we got on "And Junk for All".

[@tablatom]

I am a musician, live engineer and producer. Call it my ego, but if i was Jason, i couldn't have tolerated that mix and i would just have left the band. I saw Metallica in 89 and 91. Jason on stage was so awesome. The whole band was awesome. AJFA could have gone down as one of rock's greatest albums, for me i haven't listened to it for 20+ years. Would be great if Metallica would rerelease it with Jason on bass, and push Lars's drums way back in the mix 🤣🤣🤘🤘

[@jamesb1221222]

Could you imagine how insane it would be if this mixer recorded what he mixed originally on a cassette and kept it before Lars came in?

[@Aidan.17]

There's a youtube video of the bass turned up on justice for all sounds mint as

[@TheEricJBotelho84]

It’s on KZbin, it has Jason’s bass on their

[@THEzTROLLlz]

Literally the one part of the video where he's telling the story with expressions and that entire bit is completely edited over with concert footage. Well done.

[@PablitaPicasita]

2:04 The best part is when Steve Thompson is re-enacting the band member's facial expressions. Great clip.

[@garrylennox8968]

This is a great story about the final mix of this album. When i first heard it i said to myself that, somethings missing and i thought the drums sounded like crap. I guess i was right seeing that Lars wanted that crappy drum sound and Jason Newsted's bass buried in the mix. If Steve Thompson would have mixed it the way he heard it then it would have sounded fantastic. Hats off to Steve Thompson for being honest as well. He is a phenomenal engineer. Cheers

[@asyncawaited]

In 20 years, we'll get to see a "Loudwire editor explains missing video on 'Metallica Mixer Explains Missing Bass on "And Justice For All" [Exclusive]'" and it'll just be Lars not liking the way the video made his drums sound.

[@leoboutilier4219]

LMAO You didn't just hit the nail on the head; you buried it into the wood!

[@JonnySublime]

When musicians care more about their big fat heads than the music we all lose. Metallicat 4 life though.

[@schaekker7411]

Leo Boutilier yep

[@faunaflage]

It will just be a still photo of a mixing board setup, with Lars' voiceover saying "we did have bass....we did have bass..."

[@cleberz8072]

Has it been 20 years since St Anger yet? I wanna hear the editor explain the missing solos

[@j.b.n.1492]

Best name drop ever. " So it was kinda funny, coz i was hangin out with Jimmy Page there too..." Jimmy Page does not reappear in this story.

[@twikirobot6897]

.....😆 no reason whatsoever

[@MaddestMousse]

Right? Lol I commented the same thing, not sure if he was gonna say something and then quickly change ged his mind or what but it honestly just seems like a name drop trying to score some points. It is actually pretty hilarious watching it again, just how out of place it is, doesn't elaborate whatsoever and in the next sentence is moving on with the story, the jimmy lage thing being completely irrelevant lol.

[@MaddestMousse]

*page

[@eloyrascon3202]

I think it refers to the fact that Lawrence asked "we did a bass?" in front of Jimmy which might have been lil embarassing

[@MaddestMousse]

@@eloyrascon3202 ah yes, good point i suppose. that frickin lawrence!

[@multijamesbondfan]

I've heard the Remaster from 2018 and I'd say it's a major step up, (after hearing the new Remaster I can't take the original) o did a new ranking on my channel on KZbin about 2 years ago that's quite a bit different than the original where I basically in a way review all the albums one by one and rank them all. It doesn't include 72Seasons so to hear my thoughts on that one and where I'd rank it you can feel free to look for a review I did on my channel as well.

[@Hallow334]

I really wish they would go back and remix And Justice For All so we could all hear Jason.

[@shixerz_93]

I didnt know my Aunt mixed a Metallica album

[@zachnai4937]

Shixerz_93 your aunt is dead

[@ChickenBalloon]

zach nai buzzkill

[@cahityazar1942]

she actually couldn't

[@justinmitchell7115]

My aunt looks just like this too!

[@carlosparra8976]

hahahah...its either your aunt or my grandma's bridge friend...they have the same hair

[@HueyMaxSucks]

The poor guy having to put his name to that atrocious mix. A great album. I'd love to hear it the way he heard it too.

[@holgerhahn8615]

It should say on the album: Mixed by Steve Thompson, ruined by Lars Ulrich! :-)

[@GMMReviews]

"James went like this -" Loudwire: *Edits video so you can't see the gesture he was making* Who edited this damn video, Lars?

[@ybpentertainment4670]

I always wondered why the bass was so low on that album.