my name is shoe.

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “IN YOUR DAYDREAMS (NITE MUSIC)”

I spent the weekend putting together some music for http://inyourdaydreams.com by night. I encourage you guys to check out the site after 6:00 PM, or, if you want to do it now, just change your computer’s clock from AM to PM, or vice versa. The site encourages you to go do something else instead of daydream, like get your groove on to this danceable track. Galen said from Ann Arbor yesterday: “I’m dancing like it’s a John Hughes movie up in this here hotel room.” Quite. 

An old friend of mine from Chapel Hill put together a video accompaniment to his song “Dogon Cosmogony.” The track is emblematic of his style, a unique freeform rhythmic collage of often tribal beats and avant garde sounds. His sound is singular and difficult to categorize, and it gets better everyday. Check it out.

triplefacevortex:

Dogon Cosmogony—WO8(Other)

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “DAYDREAMS SITE MUSIC (song version)”

As I mentioned last week, I have been commissioned to produce some music for a website that my girlfriend Heather Apple and Tofer Moran (of In the Circuit of the Sun) are building. The site isn’t live yet, so I can’t really go into detail on what it is or why the music was designed this way. As soon as the site is up, I will be sure to link to it and discuss it in more detail.

This version is not the one that you will hear on the site, at least, not quite. It is an earlier version that I was very happy with but which Heather and Tofer had some minor problems with. I made the changes they requested, but I want to go ahead and share this version as it is. 

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “DAYDREAMS”

Heather and Tofer are working on a website project and asked me to compose some music for the site. Their request was fairly specific and clear, so naturally I sat down to work and wrote something completely different than what they wanted. I don’t know if all musicians and composers have this experience, but sometimes you start to write something that seems to have popped into existence fully-formed in your brain. I played the two chords here that mostly comprise “Daydreams” and heard everything I needed to hear. I recorded this in about three takes, did some brief editing of the MIDI data, and bounced the track. It can’t have taken more than a couple hours. It’s more cinematic than my work usually is. I could hear it in a film score perhaps. I may continue to work with this song more to build it out a little, but something tells me that maybe I should just leave it alone. It was a daydream, alive for a moment, and then gone, half-forgotten.

UPDATE: I went back into this song and fixed a few notes that were bothering me. I also added some little bits of embellishment to fill some spaces that were a little too big. Maybe the imperfections of the original were what made it special, but I like this version too.

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “SLUMLORD”

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since my last post. I went back to work part-time at a coffee shop in Kensington. It’s been a fairly pleasant, zen-like experience. I work evenings, alone most of the time, and I’m starting to build a rapport with the regulars. I don’t intend to do this forever, but it is a fine way to earn a wage while I’m pursuing a career in commercial music production.

I’m working on a new song right now. It’s already undergone several major revisions, but today I got it into a shape that I’m reasonably satisfied with. I’m having a hard time identifying the strands of influence in it. Definitely the clickhouse kit was inspired by Telefon Tel Aviv, though I haven’t come near to mastering it. That record is one of my all-time favorites. Melodically speaking, the song shares a lot in common with traditional IDM, particularly Aphex Twin or Squarepusher and the core Warp Records roster. It’s a new style for me, a new set of colors on my pallette, and I look forward to further experimentation with it. 

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “FAR FROM HOME”

The holidays are nearly upon us, and all the shopping I’ve been putting off is now weighing heavily on my shoulders. So, naturally, I’ve been ignoring it and instead working ceaselessly in the studio. The last couple days have been productive, and I’ve managed to crank out another new song. Galen and Heather both independently used the word “lovely” to describe this new song, “Far From Home.” I find it interesting because I don’t think it’s a word that should be applied to really any of my previous work in Garageband. What’s with the change? Well, for starters I now have access to some very high quality MIDI samples, and voices that I would have shied away from in the past are now exciting new colors added to my palette. The strings on this song for instance have a breathtaking quality about them. There is one audio recording here though: the acoustic guitar track under the climax.

The title here has some significance, I suppose. This is my first year living in another state from my family, and as Christmas approaches, I am eagerly anticipating returning to them in North Carolina next week. You can hear that yearning in every note of this song. Home is so close, but so far away.

UPDATE 12/19: Galen was in town this weekend and helped me adjust the snare sounds a little bit here. He also experimented with some light, airy vocal takes, and we layered them over the climax of the song here for a nice effect. I’m even happier with the song than I was before. Thanks, Galen!

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. 

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “ROBOSAN THEME REMIX”

Hey guys. I’m in New Haven for the weekend visiting Galen, and I spent a little of my free time working on a remix of the Robosan theme using the individual track stripes from the recording session. Beyond the obvious chopping up of vocal parts and riffs, I applied a liberal amount of echo and reverb to the drum tracks to get a cacophonous clatter of beats, and it really changed the whole mood of the track. Check it out!

This week, the iAd for Citibank’s Holiday Sweepstakes debuted for iPhone and iPad. The ad appears as a banner on certain sites (I think it can be found through the New York Times currently) which, when clicked, opens up an interactive page featuring the Robosan 4000 standing on a city sidewalk outside of various stores. In the window of a toy store, you can find the Robosan cartoon show opening and the theme song I composed. The ad is beautiful, and it’s a lot of fun to play around with.

Citi has also started ramping up a viral web presence for their holiday sweepstakes campaign. The Robosan 4000 is starting to pop up all over the place. Over at Twitter, it has it’s own account: @robosan4000. Promoting several related hashtags, Robosan is retweeting and communicating with his fans directly on twitter and getting folks to reminisce about the must-have Christmas toys of years past. Over at Yahoo! Answers, user “$traight L”gushed: “I want a Robosan 4000 where can I buy one????” I’m not sure if $traight L is having a laugh, is confused, or is just a Citi intern, but regardless it got people to respond. Even Steve Rubel, SVP/Director of Insights for Edelman Digital and an AdAge columnist has been tweeting about his love for Robosan. Hopefully all of this commotion will get people to google the name, find the Citi spots on Youtube, and help make the campaign a success.

ROBOSAN 4000 SHOW INTRO

During the Thanksgiving weekend, Citi posted my contribution for their current holiday campaign to Youtube. Robosan 4000, the fictitious ungettable toy from the spots, is an international phenomenon with his own cartoon show. Heather asked me to compose a theme song for the show that had an old school hip-hop and electro sound. I worked up a rough demo that everyone really seemed to enjoy, and Publicis NY then decided to commission the song. I saw this as a really useful learning experience, so I begged Shout It Out Loud Music, the studio where I am intern, to help me produce the track. I worked very closely with Daniel Dzula and David Steinberg to record and edit the Robosan theme song, and I absolutely could not have done this work without their patience, guidance, and expertise. I also owe a huge thanks to Shout’s Creative Director Francis Garcia and producer Leigh Hurwitz for working with me and Publicis to create this fun little song. I’m so proud of this work and unbelievably pleased with the finished product.