Editing Pretty Hate Machine (section)

==Background==
While working nights as a [[handyman]] and [[engineer]] at the Right Track Studio in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], Reznor used studio "down-time" to record and develop his own music.<ref name="Yeung">{{cite web|last=Yeung|first=Neil Z.|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nine-inch-nails-mn0000351733/biography|title=Nine Inch Nails|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=April 9, 2022}}</ref> Playing most of the [[keyboard instrument|keyboards]], [[drum machine]]s, [[guitar]]s, and [[sampler (musical instrument)|samplers]] himself, he recorded a demo. The [[music sequencer|sequencing]] was done on a [[Macintosh Plus]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Honan|first=Mathew|url=http://www.macworld.com/article/1384/2002/02/reznor.html|title=Pro File: Nailing a New Look|website=[[Macworld]]|date=February 1, 2002|access-date=February 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325103002/http://www.macworld.com/article/1384/2002/02/reznor.html|archive-date=March 25, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Reznor mainly used an [[E-mu Emax]], [[Prophet VS]], [[Oberheim Xpander]], and [[Minimoog]] as synthesizers.<ref name="Doerschuk">{{cite magazine|last=Doerschuk|first=Robert L.|url=http://www.nin-pages.de/1990_Keyboard_April_english.htm|title=Nine Inch Nails|magazine=[[Keyboard (magazine)|Keyboard]]|location=San Bruno|volume=16|issue=4|date=April 1990|access-date=July 6, 2019}}</ref>

With the help of manager [[John Malm Jr.]], he sent the demo to various [[record label]]s. Reznor received contract offers from many of the labels, but eventually signed with [[TVT Records]], who were known mainly for releasing [[Novelty record|novelty]] and television [[jingle]] records. ''Pretty Hate Machine'' was recorded in various studios with Reznor collaborating with some of his most idolized producers: [[Flood (producer)|Flood]], [[Keith LeBlanc]], [[Adrian Sherwood]], and [[John Fryer (music)|John Fryer]]. Much like his recorded demo, Reznor refused to record the album with a conventional band, recording ''Pretty Hate Machine'' mostly by himself.

"A lot of it sounds immature to me now," he stated in 1991 of the recordings that were then two years old. "At first it totally sucked. I became completely withdrawn. I couldn't function in society very well. And the LP became a product of that. It's quite small scale, introverted, claustrophobic – that's the feel I went for."<ref name="Perry1">{{cite magazine|last=Perry|first=Neil|title=Hard as Nails|magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]|location=London|issue=9|date=March 1991|page=14}}</ref>

Reznor discussed the recording and touring of ''Pretty Hate Machine'' in the April 1990 issue of [[Keyboard (magazine)|''Keyboard'']]. He used an [[E-mu Emax]] because it produced a high-end buzzing noise when transposing down sounds.<ref name="Doerschuk" /> Rough and first takes of vocals and guitar were used to contrast the quantized drums and bass.<ref name="Doerschuk" /> Reznor hated the factory sounds of the Emax but had not transferred anything from his old [[E-mu Emulator|Emulator]], and used samples from his record collection for all the drum sounds. He initially expected to use real drum sounds when recording the album, but in the end he and the producers merely equalized his drum samples.<ref name="Doerschuk" />

After the album was released, a recording known as ''Purest Feeling'' surfaced. The [[bootleg album]] contains early rehearsal recordings of many of the tracks featured on ''Pretty Hate Machine'', as well as a couple that were not used ("Purest Feeling", "Maybe Just Once", and an instrumental introduction to "Sanctified" called "Slate").{{sfn|Carr|2011|pp=28, 30, 33–34, 36, 108}} These early songs also featured [[Chris Vrenna]] (who initially played keyboards/samplers in the band) and original drummer Ron Musarra.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Hanley |first=Jason |date=2011 |title=Metal Machine Music: Technology, Noise, and Modernism in Industrial Music 1975-1996 |url=https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b096437e-e280-48ed-8a6a-c4ed87b49736/content |page=361 |publisher=Stony Brook University |access-date=March 21, 2024}}</ref>