Editing Weezer (Green Album) (section)

== Recording ==
On October 23, 2000, Cuomo announced that Weezer would start recording material "with or without" a producer.<ref name="page 308">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 308.</ref> However, the band's record label decided to have the band employ a [[record producer]] due to the commercial failure of their self-produced album ''Pinkerton.''<ref name="page 308" /> The band began rehearsing and arranging both the ''Summer Songs of 2000'' and newer material Cuomo had written at his home with engineer Chad Bamford.<ref name="page 308" /> The band eventually decided to hire [[Ric Ocasek]]—who had also produced their debut album—as producer,<ref name="page 304" /><ref name="page 310">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 310.</ref> and began sending demos to Ocasek during the summer of 2000.<ref name="page 309">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 309.</ref> There was much debate among the band members as to whether they should record in Los Angeles or Ocasek's New York home, with the band eventually deciding to record in Los Angeles at Cello Studios.<ref name="page 310" /> The band continued to [[Demo (music)|demo]] new music daily and started to work through more than seventy-five demos, eventually homing in on twenty-five potential album tracks in anticipation of Ocasek's arrival.<ref name="page 311">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 311.</ref> Ocasek worked with the band to trim these down further to eighteen songs.<ref name="page 313">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 313.</ref>

After the mixed reception to ''Pinkerton,'' Cuomo wrote simpler songs with less personal lyrics; he stated the songs "very intentionally not about me. Not about what was going on in my life, at least in a conscious way."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/4/26/rivers-end-the-directors-cut-the/|title=Rivers' End: The Director's Cut {{!}} Arts {{!}} The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com|access-date=July 20, 2015|archive-date=July 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721231712/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/4/26/rivers-end-the-directors-cut-the/|url-status=live}}</ref> Recording sessions began in early December, with Ocasek providing feedback by telephone.<ref name="page 310" /> On December 27, the band embarked on what would be close to six weeks of studio work by playing songs repetitively in order to track the [[bass guitar|bass]] and [[drum]]s parts.<ref name="page 314" /> They also did "scratch takes" of the [[Lead vocalist|vocals]] and [[Rhythm guitar|guitar]], designed to get accurate rhythm tracks before being redone more efficiently later in the recording process.<ref name="page 314" /> While recording the album, the band continued to perform gigs under the pseudonym Goat Punishment.<ref name="page 314">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 314</ref><ref name="page 312">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 312.</ref>

During the recording sessions, an executive at the band's label, Geffen Records, visited to observe the band's progress and expressed dissatisfaction with several tracks.<ref name="page 315" /> This feedback eventually forced the band to discard a few of the album's possible songs.<ref name="page 315">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 315.</ref> The band relocated for three weeks to a smaller studio in another part of Cello Studios where Cuomo and Bell worked on guitar takes while the entire band recorded vocal tracks.<ref name="page 316">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 316.</ref> Ocasek said: "Rivers always does his guitar parts in one take."<ref name="page 316" /> [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|Mixing]] began on January 31 by [[Tom Lord-Alge]] at South Beach Studios inside the Marlin Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida.<ref name="page 318">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 318.</ref><ref name="page 321">[[#luerssen|Luerssen (2004)]], p. 321.</ref>