“The album tracks were supposed to be song demos,” says Pajo. “I had just bought an Apple laptop, and GarageBand was included, so I used the software to sketch out the songs. I was recording at night, and I had to sing real quietly to avoid waking my roommate. But when it came time to do the ‘real’ tracks at a proper studio, I wasn’t using that hushed vocal tone anymore, and I couldn’t recreate the feel of the apartment tracks. In fact, the more I tried to make a finished product, the further I moved away from what I liked.”

The most surprising aspect about the home-grown Pajo sessions is that two songs—“Oh No No” and “Mary of the Wild Moor”—were tracked as live vocal and guitar takes using only his laptop’s onboard microphone.

“That was a pain in the ass,” remembers Pajo, “because the sound of the hard drive revving up was almost as loud as the guitar and vocal. Ultimately, I had to record those songs in 20-second intervals to avoid the noise.”

Pajo’s more upscale tools included a Metric Halo preamp, a Manley Massive Passive EQ, an Empirical Labs Distressor, a Crane Song A/D converter, and an old Ampex ¼" recorder that was used as a mix deck. He played two acoustics—a Martin and a Gibson Hummingbird—with an AEA ribbon used to mic the Gibson, and a Neumann U87 tracking the Martin.

“I wasn’t thinking about mic placement, I was just trying to record everything before I forgot the song,” says Pajo. “I’d usually put the mic about a foot away from the guitar, positioned at the 12th fret and pointing toward the soundhole. I’d play open chords on the Martin, because its somewhat dull sound works great for chords. Then I’d capo the Gibson—which is a really bright-sounding guitar—and double track the parts. The blend of the two tones was really nice—especially on fingerpicked parts. Everything about the recording was raw, which I liked, because I’m a big fan of bootlegs and demos. I just made it. I didn’t expect anyone to hear it!”