and not precious at all about our sound or the way we worked. We threw ourselves wholeheartedly into this different approach." According to the Edge, Eno's points of reference were philosophy and contemporary art, and he was not beholden to the standard schools of thought in rock music. The producer encouraged U2 to work on their more unconventional material, "champion[ing] the songs that didn't seem very U2-ish or things that had strong beginnings but no clear destination". As a result, he did not take much interest in songs like "Pride (In the Name of Love)" or "The Unforgettable Fire". Lanois would "cover for him" such that the two balanced each other out. Since U2 had primarily been interested in working with Eno, Lanois was initially viewed as an "interloper", which caused tension at the start of the sessions, according to Ezratty. Once the band realised his musical talents, they embraced him as a fellow collaborator. As a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Lanois understood musical notation and was able to simplify the songwriting process for them. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. in particular enjoyed working with Lanois, as the producer took an interest in the band's rhythm section, which Mullen felt had been neglected on their past recordings. Mullen called himself "not technically proficient" and appreciated Lanois spending time to develop his skills and encourage different approaches to playing drums. The producer convinced Mullen to utilise timbales and two types of snare drums (one being a piccolo snare) in his drum kit, and he explained how to use brushes and tom-toms on various drum parts. The crew also experimented with distant miking of his drum kit, placing microphones up to 60 feet away. Mullen eschewed wearing headphones while playing and instead used monitor speakers, which caused audio spill issues with other microphones in the recording space. The Edge said that the band's plan for recording at Slane was rather than working in the "dead, acoustic atmosphere" of a studio and "trying to revitalise the recorded work using effects and reverberation and all the standard music trappings, we would go into a very live room and try to do the opposite—try and tame what would be a wild sound". Lanois originally intended for the band to record entirely in the ballroom, which he described as a "beautiful very tall room with big mirrors, chandeliers and windows overlooking the river". Shortly after their arrival, the