Editing Rocket to Russia (section)

== Recording and production ==
[[Sire Records]] allowed the band between $25,000 and $30,000 to fully record and produce the album, which is a considerably larger budget compared to the band's previous albums. The band spent most of the money Sire had given them on the album's production value. The studio rent was $150 per hour, usually using the first take of a song as its final recording. Johnny explained that "it's best to do it quickly&nbsp;... You do not wanna sit there and bullshit. It's your money they're spending."<ref name="true 95">True 2005, p. 95.</ref>

The recording began on August 21, 1977, and took place in [[Midtown Manhattan]] at [[Mediasound Studios]], a premises of a former [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian Church]].<ref name="true 94">True 2005, p. 94.</ref> On the first day of sessions, guitarist [[Johnny Ramone]] brought a copy of the [[Sex Pistols]]' single "[[God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)|God Save the Queen]]" with him, remarking that their type of music "robbed" the band.<ref name="porter 82" /> He emphasized that the album's sound engineer [[Ed Stasium]] needed to incorporate better production than that of the Sex Pistols, to which Stasium replied "no problem."<ref name="porter 82">Porter 2003, p. 82.</ref><ref name="true 100" /> Johnny relates: "These guys ripped us off and I want to sound better than this."<ref name="true 100">True 2005, p. 100.</ref>

Although the album cites [[Tony Bongiovi]] and [[Tommy Ramone]] (credited as T. Erdelyi) as the head producers, much of the album's production was done by Stasium; Johnny went so far as to insist that Bongiovi was "not even there" during the band's recording sessions.<ref name="true 95" /> ''Rocket to Russia''{{'}}s final mastering was mainly done in Bongiovi's Power Station studio.<ref name="true 94" /> Infamous record producer [[Phil Spector]] offered to fabricate ''Rocket to Russia'', but the band declined, feeling as though the album would not be the same without Tommy and Bongiovi.<ref>Ramone 2012, ch. 3.</ref>