Editing Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (section)

==Recording and production==
In late 1995, Slipknot and producer Sean McMahon entered SR Audio, a studio in the band's hometown of [[Des Moines, Iowa]] to work on what they intended to be their debut album.<ref name="Arnopp1">{{Harvnb|Arnopp|2001|pp=45–47}}</ref> Retrospectively, McMahon said that the band was "driven" because they spent the majority of their time in the studio for the four months it took to produce the album.<ref name="Arnopp1" /> Slipknot self-financed the production, which came to an estimated $40,000.<ref name="Arnopp1" /> The band expressed how much of a learning process this time was, being the first time they had recorded their music, specifically the challenge of capturing additional percussion elements.<ref name="Arnopp2">{{Harvnb|Arnopp|2001|pp=48–49}}</ref>

The band aimed for a [[tribal house|tribal]] sound, but encountered problems including minuscule timing errors. However, during this period, Slipknot refined their percussive sound by experimenting with erecting walls to isolate the drums and rearranging parts.<ref name="Arnopp2" /> In February 1996, during the mixing process, guitarist [[Donnie Steele]] decided to leave the band for religious reasons and as a result, [[Craig Jones (musician)|Craig Jones]] joined the band to fill the spot.<ref>{{Harvnb|Arnopp|2001|pp=50–51}}</ref> However, the band realized that they were incorporating too many media samples on their recordings and could not replicate these sounds live. To solve this problem, Jones abandoned his position on guitar and moved to the position of sampler, and [[Mick Thomson]] stepped in to join as guitarist.<ref>{{Harvnb|Arnopp|2001|p=57}}</ref> Originally, the band had planned to include twelve tracks on the CD,<ref>{{cite news|first=Erin|last=Kinsella|title=As common as a padlock through a pig's snout|work=[[The Des Moines Register]] Datebook|date=April 25, 1996}}</ref> two of which – "Fur" (also known as "Fur Covered In Blood") and "Part of Me" – already appeared on their first demo in 1995. In the end, ''Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.'' was released with only eight tracks. The band threw a release party at The Safari, a club in Des Moines where the band played many of their earliest gigs.<ref>{{Harvnb|Arnopp|2001|p=62}}</ref>