Slipknot’s former producer Ross Robinson has opened up about the most difficult part of recording the band’s 2001 album ‘Iowa.’ He revealed tensions with frontman Corey Taylor during the sessions, according to Louder Sound.
Robinson reflected on the demands of capturing the band’s intensity in the studio, along with the challenges he faced working with Taylor at the time. When asked, “What was the toughest part of recording ‘Iowa’?”, he gave the following response:
“Vocal overdubs could be tough,” Robinson said. “The bar was set so high with the band slamming together – when you’re that extreme, it gets difficult, especially when you’re on your own and trying to get back into the zone.”
He went on to describe the specific difficulties surrounding Taylor’s overdub sessions.
“There was a lot going on with Corey [Taylor, vocals] at the time too,” Robinson continued. “He’d be going out pretty much every night and had this little fanbase of people he hung out with.”
In contrast, Robinson recalled an unexpectedly smooth session with turntablist Sid Wilson, which came under difficult personal circumstances.
“Weirdly, the easiest one to get in the zone was when Sid’s [Wilson, turntables] grandfather passed away, and I’d asked him to do some overdubs for the background of People = Shit,” he said. “He was so distraught, sad, hurt and was just crying. I was like, ‘You’re doing backgrounds today’ and he nailed it.”
Robinson’s comments offer a rare look into the emotional and physical demands behind the making of one of Slipknot’s most acclaimed albums.
The chaos Robinson describes was baked into the entire production. Recording sessions for ‘Iowa’ began on January 22, 2001, at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. The sessions stretched on for nearly two months, wrapping on March 16. The process was tumultuous from the very start, setting the tone for the emotionally charged performances that would define the record.
Robinson himself was working through serious physical pain throughout the sessions. Shortly before production began, he suffered a broken back in a dirt-bike accident. He returned to the studio anyway and channeled that pain directly into shaping the album.
Sid Wilson’s grief ended up leaving a permanent mark on the record beyond the backing vocals Robinson mentioned. The album’s haunting intro track, “(515),” features a manipulated recording of Wilson screaming after learning of his grandfather’s death. That moment of raw personal anguish became one of the record’s most unsettling musical elements.
Taylor’s own commitment to the album’s intensity pushed him to extremes as well. During the recording of the title track “Iowa,” he went to unusual physical lengths, including cutting himself with broken glass, in an effort to capture a more visceral, unhinged vocal performance.
Together, these details reinforce just how much physical and emotional strain went into making ‘Iowa’ one of Slipknot’s most brutal and acclaimed releases.
