In pre-release interviews , Manson pointed out that final recording took place in a Hollywood Hills mansion that once belonged to the escape artist Harry Houdini `` because it 's got big rooms to record drums in , which I could n't really do at home . '' In a brief pre-release interview with the singer in its July 20 , 2000 issue , Rolling Stone magazine pointed out that final recording took place in a Hollywood Hills mansion that once belonged to the escape artist Harry Houdini .