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Teaming Up
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
981
Posted : Jun 9, 2008 18:59:29
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Can anyone tell me about their experiences of working with other people, how you work together in the same room at the same computer, how you decide what you both want in the track and how much give-and-take there is?
Most importantly I'd like to know how you found your collaborators!!
I'm extremely driven to improve all the musical areas which need improvement, I think I'm getting pretty good after 5 years in a lonely studio. However, I have come to realise that I am the sort of person that would greatly benefit from kicking ideas around with other people.
I went on a production course with the intention of meeting people (and to prove my worth with a certificate).
I didn't meet anyone, and instead ended up taking on and teaching 2 of the students that dropped out!
Does anyone know a good forum or have an idea of where to search for people in my local area. I've tried advertising, put up notices in a few shops and joined groups on facebook and myspace. It's not like I live in the middle of nowhere either.. about half an hour out of London.
So, this is quite an open ended topic, feel free to chat about anything with regard to collaboration, I'd love to hear peoples experiences.. good or bad! And if you can help me out with any suggestions, that would be great. |
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Medea
Aedem/Medea
Started Topics :
127
Posts :
1132
Posted : Jun 9, 2008 19:19
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I have few experiences in such real-time collaborating, but they were bad. Good spend of time, but no good result in output, I meen.
I think that it is due to limitation in time. Maybe if we had more time to spend in one room together, it would have happened another way.
When u work on music with someone else at the same pc, you can't afford to work on individual parts as long as u would alone, thats a psychological issue.
For me, the best way to collaborate would be step-by-step, no realtime. I make something, give it to you, you make something, give it to me etc.. internet is quite ok for that, btw:)
 http://soundcloud.com/aedem |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
981
Posted : Jun 9, 2008 19:56
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At the very least I would settle for internet collaboration, but I have found the other person gets bored, doesn't keep a schedule and it drifts into nothingness.. which is really annoying as I am willing to put in the effort.
I am really looking for someone to work with in the same room, as I play piano and have other instruments here, so a jam would be great for ideas I think. |
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Spycht
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
194
Posted : Jun 9, 2008 21:02
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666 posts you evil tomos.
I collab with a local DJ on a regular basis but regardless I've found time to be a major issue as well. Usually we start something together and one finishes it or one starts and we both finish together.
Beyond that we both worked with Facehead when he came for a show and decided to stay an extra week. I've heard of many people meeting with collab partners due to events. I believe it's been referred to as kidnapping on more than one occasion.
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acidkills
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
431
Posted : Jun 9, 2008 21:23
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Quote:
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On 2008-06-09 19:56, Tomos wrote:
At the very least I would settle for internet collaboration, but I have found the other person gets bored, doesn't keep a schedule and it drifts into nothingness.. which is really annoying as I am willing to put in the effort.
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Yeap.. nothingness.. But it can be great if u find a person with similar taste..
http://www.myspace.com/djacidkills
http://soundcloud.com/acidkills/dropbox |
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yveusss
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
125
Posted : Jun 10, 2008 14:43
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I've collaborated with 2 different persons and I think it's great, it can stimulate ideas, it creates emulation, but ...it depends on each other willingness to collaborate.
Your partner sensibility is different from yours, so it pushes you into creating something different that you would have done alone.
I think regularity and commitment to finishing the track is important otherwise as Spycht said : it drifts into nothingness. With a friend we used to spend 4-6 hours every week end during 3 months. The outcome was 3 tracks.
Behaviour and respect of the other's idea are important : at times, I've been tempted to censor my partner's input but i kept my mouth closed most of the time, it's part of the game. I suppose he did the same too. This aspect is easier when you come to know each other pretty well.
Also style and coherence are not easy to focus on as many ideas are being throwned in.
Speed of work is important : sometimes you can build quick sequences, sometimes you have to spend some time on tiny details : we tried to be as efficient as we could while doing some micro editing.
Way of working together : sitting together in a studio is different from internet collab as more communication is going on. I used my hardware Virus Synth and a midi keyboard to create sequences, and my partner used Logic and softSynth. Sometimes we switched.
I've found it to be a very stimulating experience and I'd like to do it again.
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klippel
Stereofeld
Started Topics :
91
Posts :
1153
Posted : Jun 10, 2008 16:12
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sweet tpic tomos!!
i am also looking for a collaborator.. i am living near mainz/frankfurt (exactly: bingen am rhein)
(letīs make it an official search for collab thread as well?!)
my intention is to learn from each other, both in technical aspects and approaches to compose tracks..
but i know from other collabs i tried:there are some limitations i know of:
- your chemistry has to fit, i would not want to collaborate with somebody whom i donīt really like to spend time with
- musical focus, should be same directions, otherwise itīs very hard to bend yourself away from your wishes (at least for me), tried it with a techno guy, but itīs just boring for me this veeery minimal stuff, so i donīt get pushed to work on something..
- the working principle should be the same:working together, on one pc, taking turns. thats what makes most sense for me, but means you both use same software (synths and sequencer), and one should aim for progress not (only)for playing around.. thats what we can do best alone ... i also tried working with somebody who mangled single sounds for hours, but did not progress with the track.. thats leading nowwhere for me..
- time, big thing. becauses we do not have the time to meet every day.. you need to trust your production buddy to finish or prepare songs for you/with you/without you..
itīs like finding a girl friend i guess.. just has to "fit".. and itīs not easy to find the right person i guess....
so good luck to all searchers ;-) |
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acidkills
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
431
Posted : Jun 10, 2008 16:58
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mubali
Mubali
Started Topics :
71
Posts :
2219
Posted : Jun 10, 2008 19:35
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All the collaborations I've done have been direct in person, I come to your house wherever you're at type of thing. I can't do the internet collab thing. I lose the feeling of where things are supposed to go. I like to feed off of the parts that other people make or to veto the part alltogether before the person spent forever and a day making it. Not to mention is just as easy to when you're not making a part, roll a joint for the other guy or even bring your computer and make a part in your headphones that you might want to use in the track. One of the more successful recent collabs that I started on, one guy had Logic running on his computer and we recorded out of his sound card directly into the main computer running Cubase, while I was on my computer making a few special parts in Live. One computer can "drive" and people can take turns driving.
It also can be hard to write music with some people that have a very strong set of how they write music. I tend to try to be flexible in a collaborative setting, but some artists will make their collaborations sound just like their solo tracks, so that makes things difficult to try to take the track in a new direction.
I also agree that if you start something, it should get finished for sure. I still have some half finished collabs that I'm waiting on to get done.... And I have a couple on my end that I took with me to work on and never did.
One of my main reasons for collaboration is to learn and trade ideas, cause your brain works one way, the other peoples a different, but when you combine efforts, you learn and teach at the same time.
An Eagle may soar, but Weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. |
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bandarlog
Bandarlog
Started Topics :
44
Posts :
809
Posted : Jun 10, 2008 22:46
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What has proven its values in the past for me:
- Two computers
- You start of on one and make something for a few hours
- you render/bounce the whole and in parts, in audio and midi. copy to other pc
- both use headphones to continue in their own directions.
- you feed eachother with new parts untill you get sleepy
- you sleep
- you wake up
- you work on structure and mixing (sober)
- if you got the time: all over again
http://www.soundcloud.com/bandarlog
http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/bandarlog-memoirs-of-the-moment |
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Elad
Tsabeat/Sattel Battle
Started Topics :
158
Posts :
5306
Posted : Jun 11, 2008 02:06
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1 rule
get along with the other person , or its not worth anything.
also make sure you both like the outcome.
or work throu internet work good for me too....
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Terrafractyl
Terrafractyl
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
85
Posted : Jun 11, 2008 05:31
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In my experience, sometimes it works brilliantly, and sometimes I find its quite a dissapointing experience.
It all depends on the people involved, their methods of working, and their ego hehe
One of the best vs I've done, we hooked up two computers with midi cables so that cubase was synced. That way when you press play on the master sequencer, the slave plays along in time.
This allowed us(if we wanted) to both work on different elements of the track on our own computers at the same time. Ended up as easily the best collab track I've done.
I've never really given the internet collaborationss much of a go though, That could work really well.
all the dude ever wanted... was his rug back...
www.facebook.com/pages/Terrafractyl/29678094222
www.facebook.com/pages/Hypnagog/326916895160 |
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LS.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
25
Posts :
130
Posted : Jun 11, 2008 12:41
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Quote:
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On 2008-06-11 05:31, Terrafractyl wrote:
One of the best vs I've done, we hooked up two computers with midi cables so that cubase was synced. That way when you press play on the master sequencer, the slave plays along in time.
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Can u explain in easy terms how you managed this? Got a buddy coming over this weekend for a bit of a session and would love to give this a go?
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Terrafractyl
Terrafractyl
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
85
Posted : Jun 11, 2008 16:07
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Quote:
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On 2008-06-11 12:41, LS. wrote:
Quote:
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On 2008-06-11 05:31, Terrafractyl wrote:
One of the best vs I've done, we hooked up two computers with midi cables so that cubase was synced. That way when you press play on the master sequencer, the slave plays along in time.
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Can u explain in easy terms how you managed this? Got a buddy coming over this weekend for a bit of a session and would love to give this a go?
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Well it was some time ago, but hopefully I can point you in the right direction.
1st up you run a midi cable from the midi output on the soundcard of the master computer into the midi input on the soundcard of the second computer.
Then you need to go into cubase on the master computer and go to the sync setup option (in the transport menu)
set it so it sends midi timecode out the appropriate midi out port.
also tick the 'timecode follows project time' box.
Then you go into cubase and the same menu(sync setup) on the slave computer and make sure its set to receive midi timecode on the appropriate midi input.
Thats pretty much it as far as i can remember, make sure the sync is turned on and
press play on the master computer. it should follow on the slave.
of course you have to set up the bpm's to be the same on both computers too
Hope that works for ya!
all the dude ever wanted... was his rug back...
www.facebook.com/pages/Terrafractyl/29678094222
www.facebook.com/pages/Hypnagog/326916895160 |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
162
Posts :
8087
Posted : Jun 11, 2008 16:30
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i find it s great to collabore,you dont get stuck and lost in the arrangement easily and you learn new tricks you ll never think before . ( and it s making music and having a good stone with a friend at the same time) |
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