my name is shoe.

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “WINTER CHILL”

Well I finally did it. I took the plunge, made the investment, and now I’m in my bedroom working with a Pro Tools Mbox system. After getting everything set up on Tuesday, I spent today experimenting, and I wanted to share my results. I’m thrilled with the quality of both the MIDI sounds I’m able to create with Reason and Pro Tools and the recording quality of my AT2020 mic.

For this song, I recorded a few ukulele tracks and applied some thick delay to create a densely textured wash of percussive sound. I also created a bed of cool, minimal synth pads. The goal was to give the listener the sensation of an icy, desolate landscape. It’s been cold here in the city lately, and it’s only going to get worse. I’ll be sure to keep working with this track, and I’ll share pictures soon. 

I don’t like people who gloat. I think it’s something that was ground into my subconsciousness after years of being picked on by smug bullies in the public school system. I tend to define arrogance or egotism as a character flaw. Call me crazy. 

So it is not without a tremendous amount of internal conflict that I discuss the unbelievable success I have had in my fantasy football league this season. I play every year with a group of my best friends, including Matt Hardigree, Galen, and Dan, all of whom I’ve discussed in this blog at one time or another. I won the league in my first year (the 2008-09 season) despite a terrible draft in which I really still didn’t understand how the game worked. But a good GM knows how to manage a team, and I made necessary cuts, worked the waiver wire, and got lucky enough to scoot into the playoffs. My luck extended further when my opponent in the first round (who dominated the season) failed to set his team. I then won a close final against the league commissioner (the perpetually dangerous Dan), and claimed the crown. Beginner’s luck.

My second season was not so successful. We switched to a PPR scoring system, and I hadn’t really adjusted from the previous season in which the RB ranks were much deeper. My scoring suffered, and the lack of depth at a number of positions (besides TE) made it difficult to catch up. Needless to say, I did not make the playoffs.

This season has been an entirely different story. I managed to win a ridiculously low scoring first game (71-63), but then lost the second in a close game despite scoring over 50 more points. Since that week 2 loss, however, I have gone on an improbable and astounding 8 win streak. I say improbable not only because I haven’t seen it before, but also because my draft was so terrible I expected to be at the low end of the rankings.

Allow me to explain. I got the 7th pick in the draft which I used to claim Andre Johnson, who has missed a game and failed to show up for a couple more, but has had enough monster performances thus far to justify himself as the only solid pick I made this season. My second pick? Packers RB Ryan Grants. Yes, that guy. The one who went on the IR in week 1. But here’s where it gets interesting. I was forced to find a quality back-up immediately, so I jumped when I saw Darren McFadden had a 20 pt first game. The guy who went undrafted in my 10 team league has gone on to be one of the most valuable players of the season. But the bad draft luck didn’t end with Grant; I also picked Kevin Kolb as my starting QB. And when he went down in week 1, I snatched Michael Vick off the wire. You know, AS A HANDCUFF (no pun intended). If you pay attention to football at all, I don’t need to tell you how fortuitous this pick-up was. My third round pick was spent on Dallas Clark who suffered a rare and season-ending arm injury a few weeks ago. To be honest, I haven’t been as lucky with the TE position this year. I did draft Chris Cooley who has had great value as a backup, but as a starter he’s been somewhat lacking. Other wire pick-ups this year have included Ben Roethlisberger (who filled in well during Vick’s rib injury), Oakland’s kicker Sebastian Janikowski (the leader at his position), Peyton Hillis, and, for a few weeks, the Tennessee Titans defense. I had a few draft bright spots, too, like Mike Wallace, who literally won the game for me in dramatic Monday night fashion in week 9. 

This weekend is a huge game for me against Dan, who has lost a couple close games and deserves to be higher in the rankings than he is. Despite his 6-4 record, he is right on my heels in terms of total points. He’s also the only person to beat me this season. So, Dan, while I may have sung at your wedding, I will dance on your fantasy football grave. Game on!

At Dan’s bachelor party :: Austin, TX :: October 4, 2010

Photo by Galen.

Earlier this fall, I managed to sell a composition for an upcoming ad campaign. I can’t really go into specifics about that song yet, but be assured that once the ads go live I will be bringing them to your attention. I decided to take a portion of the earnings from that sale to invest in home studio equipment. My goal is to start working exclusively in Pro Tools in order to become versed enough to list it on my resume and to be able to produce professional quality recordings on my own, should the opportunity arise again.

The good news is that because Avid is currently rolling out the new Mbox 3 and Pro Tools 9, I’m in a great position to acquire an Mbox 2 for a great price and get it bundled with the new Pro Tools for a little bit extra. The other needs I have are for mics and a MIDI controller. Which ones you ask? Well that’s what I’m trying to decide.

One mic I’m seriously considering is the Apex 460, a tube condenser microphone that manages to provide a very high level of quality for a very affordable price. It is essentially a clone of the much more expensive Telefunken M16 for about $1200 less, but I have heard that the cut-rate parts might not be worth the savings. Another idea is to get Audio Technica’s AT2020, a high-quality/low-cost condenser mic that can be used on a variety of sources. The AT2020 is affordable enough for me to consider getting two off the bat for stereo recording. I expect that this is the mic I will go with.

As for MIDI controllers, I’m less certain about where to go. My work up until now has been produced in Apple’s Garageband which includes a keyboard “musical typing” interface, so I haven’t had to think about MIDI controllers. Since I will be doing most of my MIDI composition with Reason now, I will need to get a controller. M-Audio is essentially the standard for this type of equipment, and I expect that I will start my search with their Axiom line. If you are reading this and you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.

One of the biggest obstacles towards setting up a home studio was unexpected: space! My apartment is 425 square feet, and there isn’t an extra inch anywhere in the floor plan. We’re going to have to rearrange furniture to allow space for a desktop, and it will probably end up in the bedroom. I do most of my live recording in there anyway because it’s much quieter than in the living room with the buzzing refrigerator and mewing cat.

So that’s the plan for now. As soon as the check arrives, I’ll pull the trigger. Expect lots of updates when the time comes.

In the Circuit of the Sun

When I lived in North Carolina, Heather worked with this guy Tofer, and occasionally she would come home from work and say, “You should really get together with him sometime and play music.” My response was always something dismissive and self-deprecating. I knew how hard it was to find someone with whom you really connect aesthetically from many past failed attempts. But one day Heather came home and said that Tofer and some other guys were going to head out into downtown Durham, NC and busk. I found the offer too tempting to resist, and after an evening of being hassled by Segway rent-a-cops, we walked with nearly $100 and a lot of encouragement to start a proper band. We called the band Proud Valletta (after an absurdly long name search), and played a few shows around Durham and Chapel Hill last fall. Unfortunately, as it often does, life changed our plans for us, and Tofer moved to San Francisco and we moved to New York. We still communicate and provide each other feedback. He’s a great person and a tremendously talented musician (and graphic designer). He currently writes under the monicker In the Circuit of the Sun. 2009 work comprises the material he wrote for Proud Valletta.

Heather caught the actual wedding performance of The Magnetic Fields’ “The Book of Love” from the Lance-Laugharn wedding in Austin, October 9, 2010. I am playing guitar, and Galen is singing lead. My guitar skills are passable, but not great. I’m under no delusions, here. We’re just all great friends, and we were definitely honored to be asked to perform for this ceremony. 

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - ‘THE BOOK OF LOVE’ (The Magnetic Fields cover)

One of my best and oldest friends is getting married in a week or so, and he asked me and our other mutual friend to sing The Magnetic Fields’ ‘The Book of Love’ during the ceremony. Since the friend I’ll be singing with doesn’t live nearby, I decided to make a recording of the song for him to use for practice. After building the karaoke version with my back-up vocals, I went a little nuts and built a complete cover of my own in which I sang all the parts. This is not what the wedding performance will sound like, but it was a fun project. It’s my first cover, and it’s decidedly different from most of my other work.