Metallica "Enter Sandman" Isolated Drums And Bass

"Enter Sandman," the single off their huge Black Album, broke Metallica to an international previously only touched by pop stars. The song was the first song written and mixed for the album, which set the tone for the rest of the songs.

Here are the isolated bass and drums from "Enter Sandman." Keep in mind that the drum track was cobbled together by section from 50 takes, which was necessary to keep the same intensity between the sections. Here's what to listen for.

1. I think this came from the Rock Band game, which might help to explain why the kick is only on the left and snare on the right channels respectively.

2. There's a huge amount of reverb on the drums. You don't notice it when you hear the entire mix, but its much more than many engineers are comfortable adding.

3. The bass lags behind the drums in spots, especially during the first half of the song. Of course, this was made in the days before DAWs, so what would be an easy fix today required re-recording then.

4. Speaking of the bass, you can hear the amp noise whenever there's a break in the song. Again, that's something that would be cleaned up in the DAW today.

5. Both the drums and bass are playing very disciplined parts, one of the reasons that the band was able to crossover with a hit single. In other words, the song is made like a hit single.

6. If you listen on small computer speakers both the bass and drums speak well thanks to the EQ points selected for the kick and the fact that the bass has a lot of top end.

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