Metallica - Master of Puppets (Massively Enhanced Bass)

Ever wondered how Metallica would sound if James was just singing and while Kirk's playing the guitar solo Cliff's the only one providing rhythm and harmony? Well, here's how it sounds!

This is my version of "Master of Puppets". I mixed it using Reaper and mastered it using T-Racks CS. This is part of my "Burton of Puppets" project, I'm actually uploading all Burton songs I can find in mogg format, that way I can mix the bass as loud as I want to.

This sounds as if Metallica were a power trio, so whenever Kirk plays a guitar solo, Cliff is the only one providing foundation, rhythm and harmony to the song. He opted for a bass with distortion for this song, probably to add heaviness and body to the rhythm section. I also think that when he played live, his overdriven bass would stand out more than a clean bass depending on the arrangements of the track being played live.

I think that with this type of line-up (power trio), Cliff's work can really shine and stand out in the mix.

If you add a rhythm guitar(either James's or Kirk's), things get cluttered and the bass disappears (unless the recording engineer equalizes them and adjusts the volume accordingly). And my goal here is for us to hear every single note Cliff is playing. So the volumes are all switched.

When we hear guitars on a record, they're always much louder than the bass, and this is our revenge! Here the bass is the star of the song!! And Cliff deserves that, his arrangements are simply beautiful and shouldn't be buried in the mix, so please listen to it as many times as you want and promote it away.
I also turned up James' vocals, I like vocals to be the loudest instrument in the mix, that way people can appreciate the melodies and the lyrics.

How was I able to do that?

I had access to the original isolated tracks, so that way I felt free to mix them and highlight the sections I thought were richer to the whole project. That meant cutting off some of James' guitar parts during Kirk's solos, and leaving Lars out of the spotlight. That way, Cliff's bass line came to life and the song sounds amazing!

Видео Metallica - Master of Puppets (Massively Enhanced Bass) канала Alex Tamulis