Once again, I am inspired by DIY greatness. Scott Andrew is both creator and coder, rocker and designer, lyricist and melodist. (I think that’s a word, right?)
Seriously, the guy’s got skills. Musicians and music fans will dig his beautifully written and played songs, web designers will appreciate his website’s elegant design, and new media junkies will apprciate his creative use of viral marketing to promote his stuff.
With several mini-CDs under his belt, 100s of fans subscribed to his blog, a video contest currently under way, a newly opened music store with multiple file formats available, several articles in different media, and an active demo club where fans get access to locked SA content and goodies, Scott’s got it goin on.
I had a chance to throw some questions his way the other day. Check it:
GARAGESPIN: Since posting your music online, you’ve amassed quite a following. What was the first song you ever posted online?
SCOTT ANDREW: That would probably be the Walkingbirds stuff. I had a CDR of the original ADAT tapes, and I ripped them to MP3 somehow — I don’t remember the program I used, I was a newbie — and put them up sometime in 2001 or 2002. I’m pretty sure it was shortly after September 11th — as with lot of people, existential dread forced my hand
GARAGESPIN: When you start a new song, what hits you first? A lyric, a melody, a chord progression, a solo lick?
SCOTT ANDREW: Probably a little of each, although I would say interesting chord progressions. It’s different every time. Recently I’ve been messing around with different guitar tunings; that seems to spark new ideas.
For me, lyrics are the worst. I usually write the chorus first, then everything else is a struggle. I know people who can fill notebook after notebook with lyrics — I secretly hate them. It can take me months to finish the lyrics of a song.
GARAGESPIN: Your tagline, "scruffy, lo-fi DIY pop" is wrong, wrong, wrong — your music just sounds too darn good. What software and hardware do you use? Do you record/mix/master everything yourself?
SCOTT ANDREW: Most of my stuff is self-recorded, although I’ve got Jim Santanella working with me on the next record. He’s got a home ProTools studio, a Mac-based setup, excellent, expensive mics, and the patience of a saint. We have a blast and IMO it sounds WAY better than most of my own recordings.
At home, I use Cakewalk Home Studio with Windows, with Shure and AKG mics running into a Behringer mixer. I have some nice multiband compressor and EQ plugins for mastering, but I don’t spend a lot of time on it. I’m into doing songs fast and cheap.