The original recording was made on an Ampex 954 2-track recorder at 7.5 ips with 2 microphones and a feed from the P.A. The 954 had a built in "mixer" to the extent that it had separate controls for the mic inputs and the line inputs. I don't remember for sure, but from listening to the tape my guess is that I didn't have headphones or any other monitoring equipment, so when I started recording I brought up the mic inputs and the line inputs separately to see where they read on the VU meters, then I made a guess as to where to leave them for the rest of the tape, and that's why the mix is all over the place for the first few bars until Cooker sings a few lines.

Power was from a portable generator provided by Standel, who also provided the amps and other equipment at most outdoor events in the L.A. area at the time. The generator would slow down slightly from the load of the amps when the bands were playing, then it would speed up as the music ended, along with my tape recorder, which was also getting its power from the generator. When the original tape was played back on a deck running at the correct speed, the songs were sped up slightly, then the guitars would seem to go flat on the last note. I corrected the overall pitch error by dubbing the original tape to another recorder running with a capstan wrap, but the guitars still go flat at the tails of the songs.

The vocals are distorted because that's how they came out of the P.A.'s preamp. A lot of the odd thumping you hear was caused by wind in the microphones. And keep in mind that this came from a cassette that's probably about 10 years old or so. The master tapes sound better, and Bob Irwin at Sundazed will be able to clean them up to an amazing extent if he decides there's a market for a CD (or possibly a vinyl LP) by the Groupies.