 For recording , the Doors hired Elvis Presley 's bassist Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno to round out their sound , with Scheff , in particular , contributing on every track except " L 'America " . Densmore characterized Scheff as " an in @-@ the @-@ pocket man " and praised how he " allowed me to communicate rhythmically with Morrison , and he slowed Ray down , when his right hand on the keyboards got too darn fast " . By all accounts , Morrison – a huge Presley fan – was excited by Scheff 's participation . In addition , Benno was asked to participate as a result of his recent notoriety from working with Leon Russell . The songs were completed in a few takes on a professional @-@ quality 8 @-@ channel recorder , and the album was finished in six days . Morrison was a blues enthusiast and proclaimed the final recording session as " blues day " , recording " Crawling King Snake " , " Cars Hiss By My Window " , and " L.A. Woman " . The album had a raw , live sound with overdubs mostly limited to additional keyboards . Botnick explained , " The overall concept for the recording session was to go back to our early roots and try to get everything live in the studio with as few overdubs as possible " . Mixing was completed at Poppy Studios between February and March 1971 , by which time Morrison had moved to Paris , France . 
