How It Was Recorded

The Doors · Album, 1967

Strange Days

This is an album-level record: the sources describe how the album as a whole was recorded, not one song. Where a detail belongs to a single song, the row says so.

Songs this record stands for: Love Me Two Times, Moonlight Drive, People Are Strange. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalGuitarPiano bassDrum kitElectric organConsole, tape and echoVerified3Reported8

What the sources do and do not say

One Sound On Sound Classic Tracks article with Bruce Botnick on the making of Strange Days. It does not name People Are Strange, so every row is album-level, and the microphone rows are the journalist's narrative (reported). Other Mix pieces found cover The End and Riders on the Storm, different albums, and were not used.

Lead vocal

Jim Morrison

Microphone

Telefunken U47

Reported

Microphone used to record Morrison's vocals during the Strange Days sessions.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Input chain

EMT Plate reverb (model not stated)

Verified

Botnick used a good EMT plate on Morrison's vocals, with the echo recorded live onto the vocal rather than added later.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Universal Audio EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator

reverb

The 140 is the EMT plate most studios have; the source does not name the model.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates (Models the EMT 140 plates at Abbey Road).

Guitar

Robby Krieger

Microphone

Telefunken U47

Reported

Microphone used to record Krieger's guitar during the Strange Days sessions.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Piano bass

Amplifier

Recorded direct (DI), no amplifier

Reported

The piano-bass part was recorded direct rather than through a microphone.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Recorded direct, so there is no amp to model. Leave the amp simulator off.

Drum kit

John Densmore

Microphone

Sony C-37

Reported

Overhead microphone for the drum kit.

Position
Centre of the kit, at the height of Densmore's forehead

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Sony C-37

Reported

A second C37-type microphone under the snare, flipped out of phase.

Position
Underneath the snare

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Altec-Lansing 'Salt Shaker'

Reported

Kick drum microphone.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Electric organ

Ray Manzarek

Microphone

Telefunken U47

Reported

Microphone used to record Manzarek's electric organ during the Strange Days sessions.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Console, tape and echo

Input chain

Unidentified Sunset Sound custom console

Reported

Custom console designed by Allan Emig that the band used at Sunset Sound for the first time on eight-track.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. The source does not name the model, so no specific plugin can be suggested.

3M Eight-track recorder (model not stated)

Verified

Eight-track machine that was rented from Wally Heider for the Doors at Sunset Sound.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines

tape

Models two Studer machines, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Ampex 200

Verified

Converted three-track machine used as the delay for the echo, recording with AME equalisation and playing back with NAB.

Settings
15ips, giving about 167 ms delay; record side AME, playback NAB

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines

tape

Models two Studer machines, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: The Doors 'Strange Days', Sound On Sound, 2003-12. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.