The title track reached No. 1 on the mainstream rock chart. The song "Driven" became a bass showcase for Geddy Lee during live performances, while "Resist" was rearranged as an acoustic song on the Vapor Trails and R30 tours. The band did not perform any tracks from the album on subsequent tours.
In May 1994, Rush finished their Counterparts Tour of the United States and Canada in support of the band's 15th album Counterparts (1993). The group then took a usual break in activity, but this went on to last 18 months as bass guitarist and vocalist Geddy Lee wanted to be at home for the first year of his daughter's life. With their free time, guitarist Alex Lifeson recorded his first solo album Victor and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart released a Buddy Rich tribute album Burning for Buddy and spent time on his technique, receiving formal instruction from the jazz drummer Freddie Gruber.
In October 1995, the band decided to start work on the next Rush album and, as with their previous three albums, retreated to Chalet Studios in Claremont, Ontario, to write and rehearse. Having been together for more than 20 years at this point, Lifeson questioned whether Test for Echo would be Rush's last album, and if they would tour behind it. He changed his mind when it was finished, as the group was already in talks about the next album and said, "We've got a lot of stuff in us yet." The first sessions were difficult for him, having had full control of Victor and the "same old" discussions with Lee as to what direction the new Rush album would be prior to writing. "Once I exorcised those ghosts, the following week we wrote five songs. We dove into it and it was very, very positive from then on".The band put up inspirational slogans on the studio wall, including "Individually we are a ass, together we are a genius" and "If you want something done right, just forget it". Lee and Lifeson completed almost six songs before they presented any of their work to Peart as they did not want to interrupt the flow of their productive writing. They had reserved the studio for around ten weeks, but the productive sessions resulted in the writing finishing three weeks early. Lifeson said the group were in particularly good spirits throughout the album's production and put it down to the break they had taken.
The band adopted its usual method of Lee and Lifeson working on the music with Peart working alone on the lyrics, but the music was written in a different way than before. In the past, the writing had Lee and Lifeson form songs by matching pieces of music to verses and choruses as they went and all three would listen to what was put down and exchange ideas to develop them further. This time, lyrics were matched with suitable sections of music, after which they were recorded and Lee and Lifeson would work on something else. As Peart wrote: "They didn't want to get bogged down in the 'jigsaw puzzle' of assembling whole songs, but rather keep the momentum going with a flow of fresh ideas." After a collection of songs were worked out, the group started to refine their individual parts. In November 1995, the group were faced with heavy snow at Chalet Studios which led into the North American blizzard of 1996 in early January. The snow continued through the recording of the album, which inspired the album's artwork.
The album was recorded from January to March 1996 at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York. The studio was chosen because the band wanted to capture "more size" from Peart's drums and the facility was more suited to his kit. Additional recording took place at Reaction Studios in Toronto, where it snowed for 40 consecutive days. Test for Echo was the first time Rush worked with American engineers and mixers, having only worked with English or Australian personnel before. They chose the recording engineer Clif Norrell, a longtime fan of the band who once performed Rush cover songs in his own group.
The album opened with "Test for Echo" features lyrical contributions from Pye Dubois who had also written lyrics for three Rush songs prior. Lee said the words reflect the group's current situation at the time. Lifeson plays a Les Paul Custom guitar and described the song as "pure Rush". "Driven" was written entirely on Lee's bass guitar and features three separate bass tracks. Lifeson said that Peart played "a little bit back on the beat" which gave the song a "heavier character" and caused Lee and himself to adjust their parts to fit his drums. "Half the World" features Lifeson playing a 10-string mandola which he had played to get a feel for the instrument, but found it changed the song's personality completely. He presented it to Lee who expressed initial doubts as it displayed an unusual texture, but grew to like it.
"Time and Motion" originated from a set of lyrics that Peart had written, after which Lee and Lifeson worked on music for it which developed quickly. They wanted to dramatise the first lyrical phrase by incorporating major chords, but Lee said a first version of the track was put together some years prior, but never used. Lee described "Dog Years" as "a bit punky". "Limbo" is an instrumental track that was pieced together from different bits of ideas that the group had sketched out but remained unused. Lifeson picked "Resist" as one of his favourite tracks, and among the best Rush had ever recorded.
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