Ever since its release, And Justice For All has been criticized for its audio mix, which buried bassist Jason Newsted's parts and rendered them practically inaudible.
Steve Thompson, who originally mixed the album with Michael Barbiero, has stated that he recently contributed some material to the reissue but got the impression that the band won’t be remixing the effort. Appearing on the Talk Toomey Podcast, Thompson said, “I just contributed to the anniversary album of …And Justice For All. I just sent them a bunch of pictures and some outtakes, but they have no desire to re-mix the record. They want to keep it the way it is."
- Thompson added, "They’ve lived with it this long. I’ve lived with most of the criticism, ’cause everybody assumes it’s my fault. And I guess I have to take blame cause it says my name says mixed by me and Barbiero."
- The producer maintains that drummer Lars Ulrich asked him to turn the bass almost all the way down, saying, "I brought it down where you barely audibly could hear it. And he goes, 'Now drop it down a little more.'"
- Thompson continued, "But I remember when Metallica got elected to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, they flew us in there to be a part of it -- which I thought was great -- and I remember hanging out with Lars and Lars basically came up to me and said ‘Steve, what happened to the bass on the record?’ He actually asked me that."
- The reissue of ...And Justice For All has yet to have its release date officially announced.
Story source: The PRP
CHECK IT OUT: Here is a fan version of the Justice album with the bass turned up: