Sean Malone said that he enjoyed playing on the album, but that "it would have been nice to work out parts with Mike as they were being recorded rather than after the fact". He took a "session approach" to the album, "trying as much as possible to create parts that fit what Jim et al had created, versus trying to impose anything upon it". He was sent MIDI bass parts for each song which served as a guideline. For the particularly sparse and texture-heavy tracks, Malone did much doubletracking to create "a natural kind of chorusing" he prefers to any digital effects.