Editing Automatic for the People (section)

==Background and recording==
What would become ''Automatic for the People'' had its origins in the mixing sessions for R.E.M.'s previous album ''[[Out of Time (album)|Out of Time]]'', held at [[Paisley Park|Paisley Park Studios]] in December 1990. There, demos for "[[Drive (R.E.M. song)|Drive]]", "Try Not to Breathe", and "[[Nightswimming]]" were recorded.<ref>{{cite web|title=R.E.M. Timeline - 1990/91 Concert Chronology|url=https://www.remtimeline.com/1990.html|website=The R.E.M. Timeline|access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref> After finishing promotional duties for ''Out of Time'', the members of R.E.M. began formal work on their next album. Starting the first week of June 1991,<ref name="pulse">Robbins, Ira. "R.E.M." ''Pulse!''. October 1992</ref> guitarist [[Peter Buck]], bassist [[Mike Mills]], and drummer [[Bill Berry]] met several times a week in a rehearsal studio to work on new material. Once a month they would take a week-long break. The musicians would often trade instruments: Buck would play mandolin, Mills would play piano or organ, and Berry would play bass. Buck explained that writing without drums was productive for the band members.<ref name="Fletcher, p. 208">Fletcher, p. 208</ref> The band, intent on delivering an album of harder-rocking material after ''Out of Time'', made an effort to write some faster [[Rock music|rock]] songs during rehearsals, but came up with less than a half-dozen prospective songs in that vein.<ref name="remote control">Fricke, David. "Living Up to ''Out of Time''/Remote Control: Parts I and II". ''Melody Maker''. October 3, 1992.</ref>

The musicians recorded the demos in their standard band configuration.<ref name="Fletcher, p. 208" /> According to Buck, the musicians recorded about 30 songs. Lead singer [[Michael Stipe]] was not present at these sessions; instead, the band gave him the finished demos at the start of 1992.<ref>Fletcher, p. 209</ref> Stipe described the music to ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' early that year as "[v]ery mid-tempo, pretty fucking weird [...] More acoustic, more organ-based, less drums".<ref>Fricke, David. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080501001409/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/rem/articles/story/5938078/the_rolling_stone_interview_michael_stipe The Rolling Stone Interview: Michael Stipe]". ''Rolling Stone''. March{{nbsp}}5, 1992. Retrieved on March 12, 2009</ref> In February, R.E.M. recorded another set of demos at [[Daniel Lanois]]' Kingsway Studios in [[New Orleans]].<ref>Black, p.{{nbsp}}190</ref>

The group decided to create finished recordings with co-producer [[Scott Litt]] at [[Bearsville Studios]] in [[Woodstock, New York]], starting on March 30.<ref>Black, p. 191</ref> The band recorded overdubs in [[Miami]] and [[New York City]]. String arrangements were recorded in [[Atlanta]].<ref name="Buckley, p. 216">Buckley, p. 216</ref> After recording sessions were completed in July, the album was mixed at [[Bad Animals Studio]] in [[Seattle]].<ref name="pulse" /> "The countermelody I sing on "Try Not to Breathe" is one of my favorites because everybody else left," Mills explained in 2023. "I'm in the studio and looking in the control room — I know there's something that's going to be good in this spot of the song. I try all these different things and I'm not finding it. And then I hit the right thing and I locked eyes with [[Scott McCaughey]] from 40 feet away. We just both knew that was the direction. It was very thrilling to have that moment."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ivie |first=Devon |date=2023-09-13 |title=The Most Heartfelt and Goofy of R.E.M., According to Mike Mills |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/mike-mills-rem-michael-stipe-superlatives.html |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=Vulture |language=en}}</ref> Seattle-based McCaughey spent time with the band while they were at Bad Animals Studio.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-22 |title=R.E.M.'s Prolific Scott McCaughey On THE NO ONES Band - AMFM Magazine.tv |url=https://www.amfm-magazine.tv/r-e-m-s-prolific-scott-mccaughey-on-the-no-ones-band/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |language=en-US}}</ref>