"You forgot the bass!" Metallica's ...And Justice For All producer recalls his shock at hearing album's final mixes

James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Jason Newsted and Kirk Hammett of Metallica on 8/6/89 in Chicago, Il. — (Image credit: Paul Natkin/WireImage)

Serial Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen has once again spoken about the notoriously absent bass guitar sound on the band's fourth album ...And Justice For All and says he has no idea why it turned out that way.

The album was the thrash pioneers' first with Jason Newsted on bass, following the tragic death of Cliff Burton. Rasmussen had produced the previous two records – 1984's Ride The Lightning and 1986's Master of Puppets – but his availability was limited in 1988 as Metallica returned to the studio.

When he came to the desk late in the recording process, he was surprised by how low in the mix the bass parts had been buried.

He tells Futuro: "By the time I got there, they already got some hotshot Los Angeles mixers, Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, to mix it.

"And the story is that Metallica flew in, listened to what they'd done, and they went, 'No, no, no.' 'Where's my drum sound?' 'Where's my guitar sound?' And actually Lars said, 'Now take the bass down so you can just hear it.'

"They did that. There's plenty of videos of Steve Thompson talking about this. And then once they'd done that, he said, 'Take it three decibels more down.' So, it's Lars and James that decided, and why they did that, I've asked them a thousand times. I do not know."

Rasmussen continues: "Lars has a thing that every time they've done an album, he comes and plays it to me. And he always hopes that I nod and say, 'That's a good lad.'

"And when he came and played …And Justice for All for me, I just looked at him and said, 'What's that?' He said, 'That's the mix.' I said, 'No, it's not. You forgot the bass.'"

The producer also speculates that the bass sound might have been part of Newsted's initiation into the band.

"What they hated most about Jason was that he was such a Metallica fan," he says. "So every time they asked him anything, he just did it. So I think they took it down just to piss him off, because they were expecting him to say, 'Can you turn the bass up?' And he probably never did. That's why the bass is so low."

Whatever the reason, Rasmussen says it's a pity because Newsted did a great job.

He adds: "As one of the few people in the world who has heard the bass on ...And Justice for All, I can just say Jason did a hell of a job. They sound really good. They are really good bass tracks."

"Lo que más odiaban de Jason es que era un fanático de la banda": Flemming Rasmussen sobre Metallica - YouTube

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.

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