Metheny stated that while he has no negativity toward the ECM Records label nor the way the Group's ECM albums were recorded, the label had a very stringent policy: "You recorded for two days, you mixed for a day, that was your record.
Since the recording of their album As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, one of Metheny and Mays's primary musical goals was to make the recording studio itself an additional ensemble instrument.