In 1 Question With… presented by host Chris Akin, producer Flemming Rasmussen talks about the notorious lack of bass on Metallica’s 1988 album …And Justice For All. The album was the first to feature new bassist Jason Newsted. 

The 66-year-old Danish producer also worked on Metallica’s previous two albums, 1986’s Master Of Puppets and 1984’s Ride The Lightning. 

An excerpt below:

Chris Akin Presents: When (...And Justice For All) was put out and it doesn't have bass on it, or doesn't have you know…

Flemming Rasmussen: It doesn't have bass guitar on it. It has bass, but it doesn't have bass guitar on it. Yeah.

Chris Akin Presents: For you as the producer, are you mad about that? Because it does reflect on you.

Flemming Rasmussen: Yeah, I was. Lars [Ulrich, drummer] came and played it to me and I looked at him and said, “what's that?” He said, “It’s the mix.” I said, “No, it's not.” And he was like, “Yes, it is.” I said, “What? There's no bass.” He said, “Yeah, there is. You can hear it. It's in the bottom of the guitar.” So I was like, “no.” Yeah, but I mean, you know, you're gonna have to ask Lars and James [Hetfield, guitarist] why they took the bass down, because I didn't mix it because I came in so late. They had already hired Stephen Thompson and Michael Barbiero to do the mixing. And I mean, they've... you just go online. You can get the story from the horse's mouth. What happened? There's no reason for me to retell that. No, no. It was Lars, James, and why they did that, I'm not even sure they know themselves, but you know.