(By Matt Ibach)

Recording the bass tracks took about 3 1/2 hours (yeah, that’s all). After hauling numerous amps down into the studio, we decided that the bass sounded best when recorded direct. I used my brand new red Jackson bass with the tone set to the neck pickup. I quickly thrashed out “Supernatural Warfare,” having to go back and do a few punch-ins due to the strange timbre of the metronome distracting me. All went well until I had to bang out the mid section in “Sarnath.” You know, that riff. It took me probably 50 takes. Part of the problem was that the tempo of the song had been slowed down significantly (for an amazingly heavy result) without my knowledge. I think it works, but I wasn’t used to playing it like that. I finally put down something acceptable, and we went back and overdubbed some fills into “Supernatural Warfare.” Then we were done. This concludes my part of the studio diary segment. (Props to Greg for sitting there the whole time.)

Dave often killed time by making chain mail.