opportunity would not arise again. Lane went to the offices of Atlantic Records, the band's label, in New York City to announce the developments. His request for a $200,000 advance for the album was rejected outright by chief financial officer Sheldon Vogel, but Lane secured a deal worth twice as much after the label had accidentally transferred $400,000 to his account some months prior, and used the clerical error in his favour. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun flew to London to assess the situation and see if the new formation was commercially viable. He approved, thus giving the green-light for a new album. Recording Drama was recorded in approximately three months at Townhouse with each band member credited for its production and Hugh Padgham, Gary Langan, and Julian Mendelsohn as recording engineers. The sessions began with Eddy Offord, Yes' engineer and producer throughout the 1970s, but several issues resulted in his departure as the album was being made; Downes said Offord "left in strange circumstances. It was a fraught and manic time", but he remained credited as producer of the backing tracks. In 2021, Howe revealed that he fired Offord when three weeks of increasingly erratic behaviour by the engineer culminated with Howe being asked to come down to the studio café immediately, where Offord was frying a pigeon he had apparently caught in the street in a saucepan with the intent of eating it. Padgham, who had previously worked on a session with the Buggles, accepted Horn's invitation to get involved with the album. He recalled the difficulty in working with Yes during this time as the sessions were "full of dramas" with "so much tension around." The music was put together in several London locations; Howe put down his guitar tracks at RAK and Roundhouse Recording Studios and the rest was recorded at Townhouse and SARM East Studios. Howe recorded his parts in two weeks, saying: "I had total freedom. I went away and recorded 90 percent of the guitars on my own in a London studio and went back and presented it to the band. At first, people said 'Your guitars sound too bright and treble-y.' I said 'No, shut up and use them'". Horn spoke about his efforts to get the album finished: "I got married and two hours later, I was back in the studio. [We decided that] for our honeymoon, we were going to spend