Losing momentum...? Gaining mental fortitude!

I never thought I'd say it, but I've actually been missing the computer! I've headed back towards the Ableton Live window, but have taken the ol' MPC with me to try and bring that 'hands on' approach into the computer-screen age. Not that I've written anything to speak of, but there you go...

All that said, I've had a pleasant few weeks just dossing around with music; hammering out pointless drum patterns and jamming out some derivative basslines on the step-synth. It's been quite refreshing just to get my hands a bit mucky, and make some 'no strings attached' music again. You could say it's like a series of properly meaningless one night stands; you know what comes at the end (sic) but the chase is wherein the fun lies!

Following on from this charade of musical through-put (hell, it wasn't even a passage to anywhere. We'll just call it 'put'!) I've started to get nerdy with my gear again and find out what it can really do. Learning the MPC has given me some new food for thought, and utilising those skills within Live is something that I really want to take advantage of. Just got to get ten minutes worth of loops, beats, samples, and atmosphere and then I'm good to go.

No tracks; just jammable, raw material. This is something, despite my side-step of the 'no computers' rule, that I really want to stick to. Yeah, I might end up with five, two-minute vignettes that work of their own accord, but that's far enough from a finished product for my liking! Hell, if BoC (lovely, lovely BoC) can make albums out of the shortest segments, surely it can work for me...

That's enough for now. Going to go scour the web for some fun voice samples that I can chop into something noisy. A jam by the end of the week I feel.

Adios.

PS* That whole 'My Cheap Speaker' monica is going for now... Cheap & Lo-Fi it will be.

Tonight's musical 'gifts'...

See, I say gifts, but you might think I'm a complete git! Ahaha... yeah.

Track 1

Track 2

Happy, er, Easter? No. 

Hanukah! No. 

Christmas? Nah. 

Tuesday! Yes! Happy Tuesday.

Slowing down... Must. Work. Harder.

I feel very guilty for a) posting on here with more regularity and more criminally b) not pulling my finger out and making some headway with this project. I've had a whole week off and achieved, well, nothing... nothing of any consequence anyway! 

Have been cruelly distracted by 'Fallout 3' on the PS3; I've suddenly become addicted to a game again, which spell badness for my musical endeavors. Bloody games! This is what happens when I've actually got time on my hands; slackness. It really is a fantastic game, though...

As it's a work week this week, there'll be no time for gaming; any 'free' time will be spent wisely. I've got a couple of band practices, but other than that, those precious few minutes that I will hold onto dearly will be spent chopping up breaks on the MPC, and (hopefully) learning a new piece of gear; a Korg Electribe EA-1 that I've picked up from eBay. It should augment the sampler/effects pedal setup nicely, and give me a bit more scope for melodic content past the cut up samples of guitar chords and electric piano licks.

Today, I bought some new CDs! I haven't been and bought any physical product for a very long time, so today was a refreshing experience. I picked up a copy of Amon Tobin's 'Bricolage', a Nightmares on Wax album, and the new one by Evil Nine called 'They Live!'. I'd not heard of them until today, but am glad that I did an impulse buy with their CD. It's belting! Quite driving, but still nicely melodious. Will get a proper in-depth listen over the next couple of days...

Well, I've got a couple of tasty breaks to chop - found a marvelous site for breakbeats - so I shall leave you in peace.

Adios, amigos! 

A musical find for Easter

I thought I'd share this, as it really made my evening! I love 'interesting' cover versions of songs that I really like (f**k you, Mark Ronson!) and this ticks all the boxes for me.

[re:jazz] – All I Need

Enjoy.

Happy Easter. Back from holiday...

Am back from a very brief sojourn to York; it was a well-deserved break. I was, however, going stir crazy by Sunday morning. I knew I should have taken my sampler with me... Oh well; back home now, and off work for a week. There's going to be some serious being made this week.

Oh, and I got a new toy... Thankyou, eBay!

More soon. Adios!

Day Two. The president came for tea...

So, I had a bit of a 'session' tonight. Mr Obama was hanging around, so I got him involved... he likes a nice cup of tea does that there Barrack! 

A few other things struck me tonight, too. Various things that will, eventually, change or potentially dictate the course that the 'My Cheap Speaker' project takes.

1) How can you compose without writing a track? It's all well and good have a bunch of samples and noises at your finger tips, but what good are they if they just come out as a bunch of samples and noises? Really going to have to put some thought into this one... I guess have a set of pre-defined sequences on the MPC isn't such a bad thing; at least it gives a safe point to return to if all hell breaks loose and the performance sounds like a crap!

2) Unrelated, but still potentially a good one. Cross-continental performance & collaboration. Working/jamming/creating with someone to build on the materials used for a performance, and then undertaking separate performances with the same material. See, this is one of those ideas that I was talking about! How would the outcome of the performance be affected by personality? Just because you're playing a C chord and I'm playing a C chord, doesn't mean we're going to be playing the same C chord...!

Food for thought at least. I should really get back to creating some noise; I want to have a half-hour set recorded, ready to gig within the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll have a shed-load of sample time tomorrow, and some more material to play with. Electric piano? Guitar? Hmm... I've got a thumb piano to start with.

Tonight's track is by 'Stromba'. Enjoy.

Adios, cabron!

Day One. My Cheap Speaker.

So, I've been thinking about the whole point of this blog, and the 'My Cheap Speaker' project in general. It's time to flow forth with a vast mass of words, music, and pictures in an effort to bring everyone up to speed.

Ok, so I lied. There'll be no music or pictures just yet.

'My Cheap Speaker' is about going 'back to basics' with performing music that I've written. It's not about making loads of music in the studio and posting it on SoundCloud, or trying to get MP3s through to the radio or on to iTunes. It's about performance.

Over the past few years, I've really struggled to find my own 'voice' in the musical market place. I've made countless hours of songs, demos, ideas, and tracks on the computer, under a wide contingent of monikers - most currently 'rooftopsonfire'. The problem that I have is that I'm too influenced by everything that I listen to, and it really shows in the music; nothing is ever 'finished'. I've only recently put the stopper on one track, and that's only because people actually went 'Wow! I really like this!' (it was the first time since I've started writing that people have actually sat up and listened).

While this was good, it also made me think. I'm not a fantastic producer, or song-writer for that matter; I'm an ideas man. A generator of thought processes that get thrown down on to paper and picked up by other people. No wonder it took me that long to get noticed! It's because of this realisation that the 'My Cheap Speaker' project came about. The fact that I am an 'ideas man' is reason enough not to lock myself away in a studio, slaving away over a screen - there's too much scope for distraction, and delving into deep cracks from where I might never return.

The 'ideas' state of mind is one that does, however, need to be given a few guidelines and direction. Here's what I've set out for myself:

• 'My Cheap Speaker' is about performance, not about perfecting 'the record'
  
• Collect ideas and bring them together, to make an interesting performance
  
• No laptop will be used on stage to perform; only the given tools - the Akai MPC.
  
• Ideas and sounds can be generated wherever. They must be edited on the MPC.
  
• There is no 'style' to the project. Whatever happens, happens!
• If you 'feel a song coming on', kill the urge and go back to writing 4-bar loops!

NB* These guidelines are all, obviously, subject to change bar point three. 

It's this 'no laptop' rule is the only real 'golden rule'. I've been using Ableton Live for about a year and a half now, and despite what people say about it - all of the forumites! - I find it completely daunting. The thought of taking a laptop on a stage to create music is really quite unnerving. This is why I've opted for my (now) trusty Akai MPC500 - it's only small, but I've found that it immediately does what I want.

So, that's about it; no 'making tracks'. No 'we're this kind of band' mentality. It's all about the show, the performance. What happens on the night, happens on the night. Let's just hope someone is there with a camera/iPhone to capture it...

More soon. Adios.

PS* a track for you

Cherries popped, and love shared...

For a first post, I couldn't decide if I wanted to share something to 'big myself up' or if something frivolous & 'fun' (for want of a better word) would be a better, safer bet... In all honesty, I am still undecided. Never mind.

I'll drop this for now; a band called Swayzak. Found them on a trawl through Spotify - and lord knows I love Spotify - and found their name to be amusing. Described as 'a bastardization of Patrick Swayze'. That's enough for me!

Have a track and listen to some more stuff while you're there; feel free to recommend stuff, too.

http://tiny.cc/5Q1qh

Adios, amigos. For now, at least...