It took six days to record The Doors’ album “L.A. Woman.” The remarkably short schedule reflected the band’s desire to capture a raw, live blues-rock sound rather than spend months refining elaborate studio arrangements.
The Doors recorded much of the album in their private rehearsal building, known as the Doors’ Workshop, at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Engineer Bruce Botnick helped convert the space into a makeshift studio, using an eight-track recorder and equipment borrowed or adapted from Elektra Records.
The band worked with bassist Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno, while Jim Morrison recorded vocals without a conventional isolation booth. He often sang from the bathroom doorway, using the tiled space for a distinctive natural echo. Most songs were completed in only a few takes, with relatively few overdubs.
The six-day figure refers to completing the album’s recording, not the entire production process. Mixing continued afterward at Poppi Studios, and the album was released by Elektra Records on April 19, 1971.