Tool are recording their album with all-analog equipment

These last few years have not been kind to Tool fans, who are still anxiously awaiting that follow-up to 2006’s 10,000 Days. With plenty of rumours and innuendo about the new album, almost all of them have proved to be false. However, the last couple of months have finally seen things begin to take off in the Tool camp, with the group now releasing some brief footage of them hard at work in the recording studio.

Back in February, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan revealed that he was finally in the process of receiving music from his bandmates, meaning that he could now start putting words and melodies together. This seemed to gel with what Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello had said previously, noting that the new music recorded by the band sounded “sexy”.

Following a post by guitarist Adam Jones two weeks ago in which he noted that recording had finally begun, Jones has this time taken to social media to show the studio they’re working in, with longtime producer “Evil” Joe Baressi on sound engineering duties, and guitar technician Tim Dawson diligently taking notes.

While to some, these posts may sound a little dry (especially when you consider that there’s no sound to them at all), to some of the audiophiles out there, this is an indication of yet another quality record from the group. In Jones’ first post, he notes that the group are recording their new album onto 2″ tape, meaning that the group are once again employing analog recording techniques for their album.

Previous albums by Tool have seen the group record the musical portions of their record onto analog tape, while Maynard James Keenan has recorded his vocals into ProTools, which was also then used to mix the album.

While the group haven’t yet given any more updates in terms of when the record is set to drop, the fact that we’re getting some visual updates here and there definitely bodes well for this whole process, and tends to indicate that maybe (just maybe) we won’t have to wait another twelve years for this new record.

Check out Tool’s ‘Lateralus’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDlC7oG_2W4

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine