This was the first recording studio experience for McCready and Vedder. Regarding McCready, Cornell said, "You almost kind of had to yell at him to get him to realize that in the five-and-a-half-minute solo of 'Reach Down', that was his time and that he wasn't going to be stepping on anybody else." The song "Hunger Strike" became a duet between Cornell and Vedder. Cornell was having trouble with the vocals at practice when Vedder stepped in. Cornell later said, "he sang half of that song not even knowing that I'd wanted the part to be there and he sang it exactly the way I was thinking about doing it, just instinctively".