Ross Robinson is the producer behind many different albums by world renown bands. These artists include Korn, Sepultura, The Cure and Machine Head. All respectable bands within their fields. His rise to prominence in the 90’s creating a sound of an era earned him the name of “The Godfather of Nu-Metal”. One album in particular is his most well known and respected (especially by myself), Slipknot’s self titled album.
Ross Robinson was a very well known producer back in 1999 (the year that Slipknot – Slipknot came out) as he had also produced some of the biggest Nu-Metal albums of the decade. These albums being Korn’s self titled album and Limp Bizkit’s “Three Dollar Bill, Y’all$”. As Slipknot had a Nu-Metal sound to them and Ross Robinson’s speciality at this time was this exact sound, the band reached out to Robinson as they knew he was the man for the job. After meeting the band he saw their dedication and passion, was intrigued by their sound and signed them straight to his own personal label and would later help them to be signed by Roadrunner Records in which they are still signed to now. For the people who are unaware of the type of bands signed to Roadrunner Records, a list can be found here http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/artists/.
Before Slipknot were the global phenomenon that they are today, Ross Robinson was given the task to get this band from Des Moines, Iowa who were getting attraction from major record companies due to their over the top live shows and theatrics, and to translate this to CD. Luckily for Ross Robinson he is a visionary producer but he was also just as crazy as the band was and had a few tricks up his sleeve to achieve this sound.
In an article with Loudersound.com, the drummer Joey Jordison stated “Ross had me pounding that kit so hard that my hands were bleeding, and that was when we were just setting up the drum levels. My hands were covered in these bloody bandages”. Also, the singer Corey Taylor stated “It was a fight. Ross was throwing punches at us. He was so into it. You can hear that on the record.” This showed the level that he expected each and every musician in the band to perform at. He expected them to leave everything and more within the studio. The article that these quotes came from can be found here (https://www.loudersound.com/features/slipknot-story-behind-their-debut-album).
The following video is footage of Slipknot and Ross Robinson recording the album;
At 0:30, you can see Robinson himself pumping up the musicians to feed them energy to put back into their playing. Especially with the sound and attitude of Slipknot, the environment needed to be what Ross Robinson made it, a very dangerous, energetic place. If this was a relaxed environment the energy and raw sound that you hear throughout the whole record wouldn’t quite be right. The guitarists were made to stand whilst playing and not to sit down and Robinson would be in the middle of things with them to keep them playing with the same energy pushing them about to anger them.
It’s stories like this were I as a fan of the album and producer, can appreciate both even more as you can see what they gave to give the best piece of art as they could whilst listening. It’s this enthusiasm that greatly makes me want to work and be a part this field. Although I won’t be taking all of his techniques (such as throwing plants at bands), I will however be taking his work ethic and getting the best out of bands to create the album that will stand the test of time.
Featured Image found here https://loudwire.com/suicide-silence-producer-ross-robinson-doris-backlash-hatred-awesome/
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