Korn III: Remember Who You Are - Writing and Recording

Writing and Recording

In the early stages of production, Luzier, Arvizu, and Shaffer wrote material for the album in Arvizu's garage. During this time, Davis had purposely avoided hearing the band's new material, stating that he would work on lyrics after the music was recorded. The band reported that it had written about fifteen or sixteen tracks of original material. According to Arvizu, the band had planned to play new material on tour, but abandoned the idea due to the amount of material that had emerged during the recording sessions.

After the conclusion of the band's Escape From the Studio Tour in late 2009 the band returned to the studio with Robinson to begin recording. While the band's previous album had been more experimental and contained keyboards performed by touring member Zac Baird to give their music more atmosphere, the album was recorded as a four-piece band with guitars and lap steel. Unlike the band's more recent albums, the music was recorded with an analog 24-track tape machine and without the use of Pro Tools, similar to the band's first albums. In addition to the songs already written by Shaffer, Arvizu and Luzier, Davis wrote eleven songs in less than five days. He recorded demos of his songs, playing guitar and bass himself over a programmed drum beat. He presented the demos to the rest of the band, who played the material live, to "add their own flavor to the songs", according to Davis. Shaffer later revealed that "The Past" and "Never Around" were based on re-written riffs from Davis's demos. While the band had access to a large recording studio, Robinson insisted that the album was recorded in a small 8' x 8' cubicle nicknamed "the catbox" originally intended for recording guitars.