Danny Shaffer

Having been a musician most of my life, I was fortunate to have grown up right in the heart of Los Angeles in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Music like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Motown were fresh and new and had a huge impact on everybody musically. My best buddy Hein Hoven gave me my first guitar when I was 11 and from that moment on I was hooked!I moved to Chicago when I was 13 and started playing guitar professionally at 15. I played every kind of gig you can imagine…from blues to disco, with Elvis impersonators, transvestite country punk singers, as well as pick-up gigs with such Chicago legends as Tyrone Davis and the Shadows of Night. Not old enough to drive, I took the bus home from gigs at 4AM, only to wake up two hours later and go to high school!After spending most of my early 20’s as a sideman and studio guitarist and arranger, I landed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. I spent my entire advance on recording equipment and turned my 2 bedroom apartment into my own version of Abbey Road (well…sort of). Having paltry demo budgets mixed with very high expectations from my publishing company, I learned how to make great sounding recordings quickly and for very little money. Outgrowing my apartment, I ended up renting a small space within the legendary Chicago Trax studio. Great artists such as R. Kelley and Ministry, as well as world class producers like Steve Lillywhite (U2) and Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith and Black Crowes) were all making records there at that time…a great learning experience! My engineering and mixing capabilities, combined with my background as a composer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist, led to a staff producer/engineer position that lasted for almost two years. I eventually went on to design and build my own recording studio—velvetshirt. At velvetshirt, I produced albums for such cutting edge artists as Frisbie, Julie Frost, and Falling Wallendas, as well as hosting such great artists as Liz Phair during her recording of “whitechocolatespaceegg.”As a composer, I scored music for the Emmy-award winning PBS special "Fables from the New School" (1997) and the Golden Apple Awards (1996-2000) to name a few. In addition, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with numerous ad agencies including: BBDO Worldwide Cramer-Krasselt DDB Needham JWT and Leo Burnett on a number of national commercial ad campaigns including Burger King, Coca Cola, Coors, McDonalds and many others.At the end of 2008, after 14 years, I made the decision to close my commercial recording studio, velvetshirt, so I could concentrate all of my energy on producing/composing/pitching music for TV and film.I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4