BY
MELODY PARKER
Courier Lifestyles Editor
CEDAR FALLS - It may have been the quietest invasion of a metal band in history.
Stone Sour, with vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root of the double-platinum selling band Slipknot, slipped into Cedar Falls for six weeks this summer, recording at Catamount Studios.
Catamount's Tom Tatman, co-produced and engineered Taylor's side project for Roadrunner Records at his spanking new studios in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park.
Grammy winner Toby Wright (Alice in Chains and Korn), mixed the album at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.
Taylor is riding high after scoring a hit, "Bother", on the successful "Spider-Man" soundtrack. An alternate version, which the Slipknot vocalist wrote seven years ago, made the final cut.
Slipknot is notably controversial, not only because of their albums, including "Iowa", are filled with foul language and subversive lyrics, but because they took on numbers instead of names (Taylor is #8 and Root is #4).
They also wear weird masks, noting that their music is "not about our names or faces."
But they can't mask talent.
"They are spectacular musicians. I recorded Root earlier in his career with the bands Atomic Opera and Deadfront, and I've always thought he was a gifted guitarist," Tatman said.
Tatman described the release as "much more accessible. Corey is one of the best aggressive metal singers, and on this album, he shows he also has an extremely good rock voice. That's evident on all the tracks, but especially on 'Inhale'".
"That song is the album's 800 pound gorilla ," Tatman said. "It's the next single release, and I think it's going to be a hit. It's got a great hook, and Corey's voice and the musicianship are just incredible."
Tatman has recorded his share of notables, a musical smorgasbord ranging from Brother Trucker, The Nadas and David Zollo to House of Large Sizes, Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey. Root actively lobbied for Tatman and stopped by to see the studios last winter as construction wrapped up.
"It was exciting to record in a totally new place," said Root. "The way Tom engineers and produces makes it fun to be in the studio - and it's a great studio. The sound is incredible."
The 4,000 square foot world-class studio was designed by fabled Carl Yanchar of Wave Space in Los Angeles. Yanchar has designed some of the world's most famous recording studios, including The Plant, Mad Hatter, Lion Share, CBS Studios and Capitol Recording Studios, among others.
For 21 years, Catamount has been building a reputation as one of the best recording studios in the region.
Root wanted Tatman to give the album a live sound.
"Tom is one of the best guys around," he said. "It was a relaxed environment, and we had a good time. It wasn't intimidating, like recording can sometimes be."
Tatman, modest to a fault, likes to give bands a "warm, live sound. I have a certain style of producing and engineering that has everyone playing together in the same room for a live feel. I encourage them to act the way they do on stage to feel at home in the studio," he said.
" I believe in bands playing as bands. The grooves happen better, and the musicians feed off it. Everyone can see each other and stay connected. It makes for a better recording. I can't engineer a great performance. That has to come from the musicians themselves," Tatman said.
Tatman also prefers analog over digital recording, a sound also favored by Root and Taylor.
The new material debuted at the Whiskey A Go-Go in Los Angeles. "It went over really well. We wanted to try the music in front of dedicated fans. We were on fire - it was awesome and so well received," Root enthused, "especially since L.A. is such a tough music town."
Although their tour de force recording sessions went largely unnoticed in Cedar Falls, some diehard fans found out what was up.