Zozobra’s ‘Bird of Prey’ now on Bandcamp

“Bird of Prey,” the first record I ever recorded and mixed, is now on Bandcamp. I also played drums on this record. It’s fun to think back about making this record — and how much I’ve learned since.

I recorded “Bird of Prey” on my old Apple G4 laptop, which now sits lonely in my closet, needs to be plugged in at all times to run, and won’t even connect to the Internet anymore! The entire record was recorded in the ISIS rehearsal space in downtown Los Angeles. That room was about 10 feet wide, and 25 feet long. It didn’t matter to us though. Caleb Scofield (guitar, bass, vocals) and I had a vision and that was the most important part.

I had a handful of microphones, a Digi 002R, an API 3124+, Pro Tools 7 and an Apple G4 laptop. I even tracked drums for some of those songs on my own with nothing more than the guitar riffs in my head. (I didn’t have enough equipment and inputs at the time to track with Caleb.)

I mixed the record at Redroom studios in Seattle, which at the time was owned by my friends Matt Bayles and Chris Common. I was so nervous about mixing my first record in a studio that I overlooked one very basic mixing practice. I didn’t pan the rack and floor toms, and if you listen, you will hear that they’re both panned up the middle. It’s a small detail that most people probably never noticed, but looking back, I know it was such an amateur mistake.

Anyway, it’s fun to think back about making that record, and how primitive it was by today’s standards. Still, I’m proud of this record. It sounds corny, but it’s true that where there’s a will there’s a way. “Bird of Prey” is proof of that for me, and I think Caleb too. Sometimes the best thing you can do is say yes, and then figure it out as you go.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …

New FAQs page

Updated music reel

Palms debut out June 25, 2013