Before heading to The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California to record the album, the band spent time with Fortman in pre-production. Gray said "I've found that those first few days are the most important when it comes to setting the album's tone and challenging the band about their goals and fine-tuning the arrangements for maximum emotional impact." The band rented a ranch in Northern California where they wrote and rehearsed songs for the album. They converted its multi-stall garage into a makeshift studio. As with the band's previous album, Mudvayne chose to isolate themselves to provide inspiration for their songwriting. Matthew McDonough stated "Establishing clear goals for each song has been the key to Mudvayne's quick results. It's a strange contradiction, but it can be very liberating to set limitations on creativity as long as you don't let those limitations define you. It frees up a lot of creative energy when you stop pulling an idea in fifty different directions and start pushing it in one."