Reznor has been at work in his New Orleans studio on his follow-up to 1999's "The Fragile," a sprawling, two-disc set that has sold about 875,000 copies. The forthcoming album, titled "Bleed Through," is expected to surface later this year.

Last week, Reznor launched a revamped version of his long-dormant website, and he has been posting his responses to a number of fan-submitted questions.

"I've really approached the writing and arranging process differently this time around," Reznor wrote of his work on the new album. "My brain is in a completely different state than the last record and therefore my motivation and methods are different."

Reznor said that he alone has written all of the material for the album so far, and that his "right hand man in the arranging/programming process is Atticus Ross."

Asked what a typical workday is like for him, Reznor replied, "If we're recording in the studio ... up at 8 a.m., write and think, in the studio by 11, leave the studio at 1 a.m., repeat."

Reznor said that he is using a mix of real drumming and old drum machines during the recording process, and that "one of the 'rules' of this record has been to orchestrate only using monophonic voices. No chords. Anywhere."

"Some music, repeat, some music created and recorded [on] computers can sound awfully stale and lifeless to my ears--devoid of passion or sincerity," Reznor added in another post. "I love working on computers and probably always will, but I've adopted some strategies that seem to work well to ensure the sound in my head gets on the disk the right way. The element of performance is one of them. Editing and correcting is avoided if possible, whole takes are encouraged as opposed to looping, etc."

In contrast to "The Fragile," "Bleed Through" will not contain any instrumentals, according to Reznor.

"The dedicated instrumental side of Nine Inch Nails may be evolving into its own thing," he wrote. "I'm not sure yet. I'm seeing what develops naturally before I commit."

Reznor has not specified a release date for "Bleed Through."