Nigel Godrich, best known for his work with Radiohead and Beck, was hired to produce the album. The group first attempted to record in Sonic Youth's lower Manhattan studio, which Godrich took a dislike to as it was within ear-shot of several practice spaces, and also set up more like a home studio. Godrich eventually convinced the band to move to a more "proper" 24-track studio, where he had previously worked on albums by the Beastie Boys and R.E.M. Though the producer took an immediate shine to Malkmus, Kannberg and Nastanovich were wary of him. Nastanovich believes that though Godrich "took on a pretty substantial challenge and did a good job," that he "focused his attention on Stephen" and produced them "in a way that just sort of had more disregard for the rest of us." Nastanovich also later recalled an awkward incident where it became apparent that the producer didn't know the auxiliary percussionist's name. Kannberg, still disillusioned over his songs being rejected by Malkmus, said of "Terror Twilight": "It was not fun to do that record from the very beginning. It was the hardest record to make."