Dylan Emerson

Mr. Cloutier

MUS 2950 Sec. 001

2 November 2021

Engineer Research Paper

Ross Robinson is an American record producer that primarily works with metal bands.

He is most notable for discovering bands like Korn, Slipknot, and Limp Bizkit. Robinson was

especially prominent in the late 1990s, producing Slipknot’s self-titled and Iowa albums, 1999

and 2001 respectively, as well as Korn’s self-titled and Life Is Peachy albums, which were

released in 1994 and 1996. These albums in particular were what really launched both the artists

and Robinson into the public eye and to the top of the charts. Through his work with Korn,

Robinson quickly became “one of rock’s most in-demand producers, …[producing] others,

including Machine Head, Sepultura …, Soulfly, Amen, Cold, Glassjaw, At the Drive In, and

even Vanilla Ice’s rap-metal makeover/comeback album, Hard to Swallow” (Prato, “Ross

Robinson Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More”). Robinson is clearly an important engineer in

the rock and metal scene, as he has worked with dozens of bands in the past thirty years.

Recently, Robinson has also worked with acts such as Ghostemane and Sepultura.

During what could be considered Robinson’s peak in the 1990s, he typically used an

analog approach to engineering. In an interview with Andrián Pertout, Robinson mentions that

he uses “a ‘75 or ‘77 3M tape machine...the console is a Dean Jensen custom board...all the

crossovers are hand-wired...I use like weird battleship mikes from World War II...and lots of

other weird things to get creative with. I also do a lot of vocals through old ribbon mikes...Yeah,

I like that sound” (Pertout, “Ross Robinson: The Art of a Record Producer”). In the studio,

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Robinson typically enjoys using various analog equipment, such as tape machines. He also

employs ribbon microphones and battleship mikes to get interesting and weird sounds that are

not very common in modern music. Robinson favors this gear because it gives him a unique

sound and the ability to stand anywhere in the room and have a great sound. These old-school,

analog approaches to recording often produce much more full and punchy sounds, giving the

record a “raw” feeling, as Huber and Runstein explained (181). Even now, Robinson still favors

using an analog approach to engineering, but has also started incorporating the DAW Pro Tools

into his engineering regime.

As recently as 2013, Robinson had produced an album for We Are Knuckle Dragger,

titled The Drone. Originally from Europe, Robinson allowed the band to fly out to Los Angeles

and stay with him at his home on Venice Beach. Here, Robinson recorded and produced The

Drone from his home studio, which in itself contains upwards of a million dollars in equipment

for recording and mixing. As shown in the video “WE ARE KNUCKLE DRAGGER / ROSS

ROBINSON: The Drone” uploaded by SapienRecords, Robinson is all about the energy and

vibes from the band. We Are Knuckle Dragger can be seen mic'd up and playing together in

Robinson’s basement, feeding off of each other’s energy. Thus it would seem that Robinson’s

approach involves getting the whole band to play together, rather than recording each individual

member and layering the individual tracks together. Lead vocalist Aran Glover states in the

video “Ross is renowned for being physically involved...with the bands that he works with,

trying to get the best out of them...With regards to the physical violence, there would be

occasions where he would stop, where he would say ‘You’re playing it too perfectly.’ There’s a

number of parts on the record where you can actually hear Ross grabbing my guitar mid-bits, but

it was all in good jest and all to remind us to make it as real as possible...The flaws are the beauty

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in the work” (Glover et al.). Robinson seeks to get raw emotion out of the bands he works with,

and expects everything but perfection. To provoke this emotion, Robinson gets as involved as

possible with the band, even if this means getting involved physically. With that being said,

Robinson only gets involved physically to elicit a meaningful, emotional response, but maintains

a good spirit about it and is typically a pleasure to work with. He tracks the band live as a group

in his home studio, but may overdub some parts, such as if the vocals came out well but the

instruments need to be re-recorded.

In conclusion, Ross Robinson is an American record producer that drove dozens of bands

to become household names, like Slipknot and Korn. To this day, Slipknot’s self-titled and Iowa

albums are highly regarded by their fanbase to be among the best records the band has ever

released. Robinson uses analog equipment, such as a 3M tape machine from the 1970s and

ribbon microphones, but has also incorporated digital platforms like Pro Tools. He is very

involved in the recording process, oftentimes physically grabbing the band’s instruments while

their recordings if a take did not go as planned. This approach allows his tracks to have a much

more emotional and raw feel, as opposed to a track that was perfectly played. To this day,

Robinson still records and mixes music in his home studio in Venice Beach. Today’s metal

would not be the same without Robinson’s masterful and emotional recording and mixing

techniques.

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 References

Huber, David Miles, and Robert E. Runstein. Modern Recording Techniques. 7th ed.,

Elsevier, 2010.

Glover, Aran, et al. “WE ARE KNUCKLE DRAGGER / ROSS ROBINSON : The

Drone.” YouTube, uploaded by Sapien Records, 30 July 2014,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngWV5gHkpRE.

Pertout, Andrián. “Ross Robinson: The Art of a Record Producer.” Australian Musician,

7 June 1999, https://www.pertout.com/Robinson.htm. Retrieved October 28, 2021.

Prato, Greg. “Ross Robinson Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More.” AllMusic,

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ross-robinson-mn0000851181. Retrieved October 27,

2021.

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