interview with Seventeen magazine, Lovato stated: "I love being back in the studio! It's been very therapeutic to be able to express my feelings and talk about who I really am, through my music. It also helps that I've been lucky enough to work with such talented people on the record so far! With my new album, I'm hoping to provide inspiration for girls everywhere who are going through the same issues I've faced. I think this will come through in a lot of the material." Around 20 tracks were recorded and speaking about the album to E! in July 2011, Lovato said people could expect to hear her sing "about some issues that I've never even spoken about before" and also revealed: "There are some [topics] on there that are very deep and it's really out there. For the rest of it, there are a lot of songs that are dancier and a lot more R&B vocals," one of which she confirmed as a duet with an R&B singer. She also worked with Dreamlab, who produced the title track, "Hold Up" and "Mistake". The songs were recorded at Dreamlab Studios in Los Angeles, California and mixed by Serban Ghenea, with assistance from Phil Seaford, in Virginia Beach, Virginia at MixStar Studios. John Hanes was attributed with engineering for the songs. Lovato also worked with Rock Mafia, Ryan Tedder, and Kara DioGuardi on several tracks. About working with Lovato, Tedder commented: "Demi blew me out of the water vocally! I had no idea how good her voice is. She's one of the best singers I've ever worked with. Literally, that good... I mean, she's a Kelly Clarkson-level vocalist. And Kelly has a set of pipes." He also explained that the song they co-wrote together is much more upbeat than "Skyscraper", stating: "I think everybody wanted to hear her talk about that, and this is basically flipping it 180, saying, 'Oh, by the way, I'm still also just young and want to have fun.' There's even like a little rap feature on it." In sessions with Tedder, Lovato recorded various songs but only one was included on Unbroken, "Who's That Boy". Commenting about the song, Lovato described it as "flirty, it's sexy, it's exciting and I love it." Record producer Timbaland wanted to record with Lovato after he heard her voice; he felt impressed and curious to work with the singer