The basic tracks for In The Dark were recorded in an as-live situation in Marin County Veterans Auditorium in January 1987. Garcia spoke about the recording in an interview: “Marin Vets turns out to be an incredibly nice room to record in. There’s something about the formal atmosphere in there that makes us work. When we set up at Front Street to work, a lot of times we just sort of dissolve into hanging out. Going in [Marin Vets] without an audience and playing just to ourselves was in the nature of an experiment…”

Additional material was added, and mixing completed during February and March 1987.

The ‘extra’ pair of eyes on the cover belong to Bill Graham.