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