Can a modern remix finally fix the missing bass on Metallica's Justice album?
In short: Adam Ragusea attempts to restore Jason Newsted's bass to the track Blackened. By analyzing the challenges of balancing low-end frequencies against rhythm guitars and kick drums, he explores whether a professional remix of the original masters could finally do the album justice.
The original mix of Metallica's Justice album is infamous for its lack of audible bass guitar. Ragusea argues that many fan-made remixes on YouTube fail because they either make the bass too prominent or apply a frequency profile that is far too broad. His own experiment, limited by using compressed source tracks from YouTube, suggests that a high-quality remix is technically feasible if the original master tapes were used.
The primary technical hurdle is the overlap between the bass guitar, the rhythm guitars, and the kick drum. Removing enough frequency space for the bass without sacrificing the punch of the kick drum is difficult, yet Ragusea concludes that Metallica should officially revisit the album to produce a proper, balanced remix.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Metallica — "Blackened" (bass restored)
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