The band stayed at Peter Buck's house while in Athens, Georgia, to record the album. Buck offered to host the band for free, so that the $13,500 budget (about $29,000 in 2023) allotted by Rockville could be spent to pay the fees of the recording studio and audio engineers David Barbe and John Keane. Buck encouraged the band to arrange a certain amount of material each night to keep the band on pace. Guitarist Brian Henneman also contributed and learned how to play mandolin—the same one that Buck used in R.E.M.'s hit "Losing My Religion"—and bouzouki for the album. The five-day span that the band spent in the recording studio was ultimately used as the title of the album.
