Gus van Go was known for having helmed the debut album by the Stills, whom he managed and whose success felt reassuring for Priestess. Heppner told the Montreal Mirror in December 2005 that he trusted van Go's judgment and that the producer "had every drum sound and guitar sound already figured out before he even pressed 'record'". The producer employed such things as shakers, tambourines, and vocal treatments, and Heppner has also stated that piano was occasionally used on the album for its "percussive" quality. In particular, cowbell was used on "Run Home". Even though the polished sound of the record was initially welcomed by the band as being something "different" for a hard rock record, the result of van Go emulating the sounds of well-known older metal records, the group came to be rather dissatisfied with it over time. While initially liking the idea, Heppner later described the album as merely being twelve of their songs in recorded form, and not actually intended to represent the group's live sound; the band pride themselves on their concert performances the most. In comparison to Prior to the Fire, the next album Priestess recorded, he said Hello Master is "a really weird sounding album [where] everything is so tight and really produced."
