Will it be before the decade is over, or are they (and by 'they,' I guess I mean the record company who owns the catalog) going to keep us with the old CD's until 2020?

The current CD's of the old albums (1983-1988) stink in sound quality. I know those songs could sound absolutely awesome if they were remastered.

Is there news? Please tell me there's news. (Megadeth had their old albums remastered.)

If they were remastered they would probably end up sounding like Death Magnetic. Leave them alone.

I'm sure Lars thinks they sound fine.

Or even worse, St. Anger

yeah, if the first 4 actually had the double bass and the bass guitar where you could hear them, they'd be fine.

Beat me to it. I have to finagle my stereo every time I play Metallica just so I can hear the bass. But if they're just going to crank everything up to 11 like they did on Death Magnetic, then leave em.

Lightning and Puppets were already released on 24K gold discs years back, they sounded fantastic. Self titled was also done in DVD-audio, also sound fantastic. Kill, ride, puppets, ajfa have recently been remastered from the original tapes onto 180 gram Vinyl....they sound fantastic, but the bass levels are still low on ajfa.

Originally Posted by yoshimi
Or even worse, St. Anger [/QUOTE]


So true...

My problem is having tracks from one of the first four albums on my iPod - I have to crank the volume up on my car, as it sounds like the Metallica songs are coming from a great distance.

Get the same guy who mastered the Megadeth albums.

I second the Mobile Fidelity remasters. Master of Puppets is especially improved over the original, bass is tight, and the cymbals are crisp.

Mixing is differnt than mastering.

St Anger had HORRIBLE mixing, but decent mastering.

Death Magnetic has the opposite problem. Decent (actually great) mix. Horrible mastering.

I would be in favor of a reMIXED and remastered ...And Justice For All (where you could actually hear the bass).

i always thought the self titled album sounded tinny and master sounded flat

I prefer Justice as it is. It was Lars' album anyway. Plus, I consider it an homage to Cliff to show how much he'd be missed. Odd way to do an homage, but whatever....

I've also heard good things about the gold disks. I collect vinyl (only have the creeping death single though) and may end up getting the 180 re-issues. There's also a French release of Ride the Lightning with a green cover that looks pretty cool that I may pick up just for kicks.

I read an interview where James Hetfield said you can't hear the bass because Newsted was doubling James' rhythm. I don't know enough about music to know if that's the case, but that's what James said.

Edited to add: I'm having problems hearing the bass on Harvester of Sorrow from Live Shit as well. I don't necessarily have an ear for that sort of thing though.

I could go for that too!

As posted in the Death Magnetic thread several pages back
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Blackened w/ enhanced bass, this is the original track,since it was a song in Rock Band, and the guy who upped this turned the bass up significantly

Amazon.com is listing Master of Puppets and Ride The Lightning as "Original Recording Remastered."

How true is this? And how good is it?

I don't buy that just because there are plenty of heavy bands who have the bass doubling guitar and you can still hear it. Dream Theater would be a prime example of having heavy parts were bass and guitar are doing the same thing but both are audible, but they've only rectified this recently IMO.

Now, Newsted may have been using overdrive, and if that was the case, then yes it can definitely blend in with the guitar. A lot of the Fear Factory records had overdriven bass and it pretty much disappears at times.

I think when stuff like AJFA is being mixed and the guitar and bass are doubling for the most part, it's basically a situation of take from one to give to the other. So Hetfield's guitars probably got all of the sonic spectrum for things like attack and presence of the bass sound, and then Lars' kicks overran the low end parts of the bass. This has happened on several Dream Theater records too.

Guitarist and drummer running the band usually = bass buried in the mix.

anyone know if the 45 rpm vinyls are a limited pressing (and if so, how many?)?

Also, have these been remastered or just re-transfered from the original tapes? Anyway, I guess I'm looking for more detailed info on these releases.

I remember reading 5000 pressings when they originally announced, but that sounds low to me.

Even if it can be claimed that Jason was just doubling James' rhythms, it still doesn't explain why the albums sounds tinny and hollow.

Seconded...anyone?

they're probably the 94 remasters we all have (and that we have been complaining about)

Jason Newsted clearly believes that his bass was turned off on Justice. This was a claim he made after quitting Metallica in 2001, and when discussing the topic, he was very clearly still upset. I would expect so, especially after his excellent bass sounds on the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP.

According to some accounts I've read in magazines and books, Lars Ulrich had a falling out with Newsted at some early point. It's never been specified when, but it went far enough where Ulrich wanted Newsted replaced altogether! This move was blocked by Cliff Burnstein at Q Prime (Metallica's longtime managers), who observed that the band would only be changing players on every album. You made your choice, Lars, now you have to stick to it.

I wish I remembered where I read that, because it was very revealing. Might have been foreign press, as Metallica has always been far more open over there than the States.

So ...And Justice For All. Supposedly, what happened is that Lars turned the dials to zero and simply switched off the bass. Remember that they went back to Fleming Rassmussen after Mike Clink didn't work out (Clink went on to produce Megadeth's masterful comeback Rust in Peace). Rassmussen essentially was a hands-off guy, so Justice was the first album where Hetfield and Ulrich were in the producer's chair, in charge of those decisions.

So the idea that Lars Ulrich would switch off Jason Newsted's bass as a childish payback makes sense. It's baffling why that would happen, since losing that lower end practically ruined the album. Justice sounds so flat, two-dimensional. You could see it as the ultimate rebellion against the hair metal of the time (ugh, worst music ever), but there's no doubt that Justice was notably damaged, and for no good reason. The ultimate case of cutting off the nose to spite the face.

It's interesting to note that when Metallica enlisted Bob Rock for their fifth studio album - what became The Black Album - Rock and his team squirreled Newsted away to themselves. This time, the bass would be protected from outside interferences. The result is that brilliant, heavy, deep sound on The Black Album.