Thoughts on working methods when collaborating?

O

odinnshred

Wireless Wizard!
I've tried a couple of failed collabs with other producers. The thing is that we both worked as composers/producers in the same genre (house/electro both times) and only collaborated over the internet. This resulted in some ideas being shared, then being taken in a completely different direction which ended up meaning the track might as well only belong to one of the producers. It was like a battle of who's ideas would be the most prominent and in the end it caused more grief than good music.

I could guess what it would be like to work with a vocalist/lyricist. We'd both have our own skills that work parallel to one another, and I guess the workflow would be pretty natural and easy (at least compared to working with another producer).

What I'm mainly wondering is how you'd go about collaborating with people who do similar work to you, when a lot of the time it just spirals into a competition. Do you lay down ground rules first off (i.e. 'producer a' does the drums and intro, 'producer b' does the buildup, then they both bring an idea for the drop and pick the best)? And do you think it's always helpful to meet in person to collaborate if you're doing a similar job, as you can discuss at an immediate level what your thoughts are on each other's ideas?

Discuss!
 
you have to be willing to shape your original idea to match the other guy... its not easy at all
 
I work along side a partner and at first it was tough, the ideas were there but the organization was really off...We learned writing things down, planning, and sketching ideas is the best way to go. It took us a few month to manage a good workflow. We share ideas and try to come up with one and keep at it by adding bit by bit. Both of us have different aspects more developed and tackle our tasks easier when each works on different parts. For instant, my partner has a great ear and pitch, he can manage chords, bass lines, and harmonies faster and more efficient than me while I have a stronger sense of making the elements blend, structuring and technical producing aspects...we take turns doing our part and fixing the other's while going forward...

As for ideas, be sure to develop strong ones and for both to understand which is the desired aspects... definitely better doing this personally. Good luck and hope my insight helped.
 
Take the competition in a better light. Maybe you can grow and learn something from the other guy. Make one trakk that is your idea and then make another version of it that is the other person's and then maybe mash it up in .
 
odinnshred said:
I've tried a couple of failed collabs with other producers. The thing is that we both worked as composers/producers in the same genre (house/electro both times) and only collaborated over the internet. This resulted in some ideas being shared, then being taken in a completely different direction which ended up meaning the track might as well only belong to one of the producers. It was like a battle of who's ideas would be the most prominent and in the end it caused more grief than good music.

I could guess what it would be like to work with a vocalist/lyricist. We'd both have our own skills that work parallel to one another, and I guess the workflow would be pretty natural and easy (at least compared to working with another producer).

What I'm mainly wondering is how you'd go about collaborating with people who do similar work to you, when a lot of the time it just spirals into a competition. Do you lay down ground rules first off (i.e. 'producer a' does the drums and intro, 'producer b' does the buildup, then they both bring an idea for the drop and pick the best)? And do you think it's always helpful to meet in person to collaborate if you're doing a similar job, as you can discuss at an immediate level what your thoughts are on each other's ideas?

Discuss!
Click to expand...

What I've done in the past....

I only work with artist who know music theory, so what I do is say what do you want to create first? Usually it's the chord progression, so say I make it and they tweak it or vice versa. It's all about working on one thing at a time, and making that one thing perfect. I don't mind my melodies being modified, BUT I sure as hell do mind if you completely throw it out. That's not working together, and if you're not working together than why the hell are you collabing?

Find people who don't have an ego, so basically good luck.

Brian
 
From my experience... Pick your collaborations carefully.
If you aren't on the same page to begin with, it's bound to fail

Work with like-minded, hard-working people.
I've written with some lazy people who after a couple sessions, either watch me finish a track, or just run out of creativity and don't make an effort.

CHOOSE WISELY!
 
I think that being honest and straight forward is the best way. If you ain't digging something you should let them know. It does get tough if the person you are working with's ego is huge. I find that collab face to face is much easier.
 
nigga just do a synth and he can add rums dats what i do when i collab wit people dont be lazy to type out shit
 
DamonApollo said:
nigga just do a synth and he can add rums dats what i do when i collab wit people dont be lazy to type out shit
Click to expand...

That's a lazy collab though. I'd only wanna collab with someone so we could combine our ideas come up with something unique. Sure your way would work, but I know how to do synths, drums and everything. I'd rather do it all by myself than do it that way.
 
kraed said:
I work along side a partner and at first it was tough, the ideas were there but the organization was really off...We learned writing things down, planning, and sketching ideas is the best way to go. It took us a few month to manage a good workflow. We share ideas and try to come up with one and keep at it by adding bit by bit. Both of us have different aspects more developed and tackle our tasks easier when each works on different parts. For instant, my partner has a great ear and pitch, he can manage chords, bass lines, and harmonies faster and more efficient than me while I have a stronger sense of making the elements blend, structuring and technical producing aspects...we take turns doing our part and fixing the other's while going forward...

As for ideas, be sure to develop strong ones and for both to understand which is the desired aspects... definitely better doing this personally. Good luck and hope my insight helped.
Click to expand...

^this...

i have a friend that is relatively newish to edm producing and he has trouble getting past the melody creation stage... so he makes some cool melodic structures but never manages to build them into songs... but guess what.. he has been studying sound synthesis and to be honest he has gotten *very* good at it... so much so that im a bit jealous of how good he is... anyway he always wants to collab with me and the other day i mentioned that perhaps the best way to do it would be for me to handle the track arrangement and have him do the sound design... e.g. the idea is while we would both do lots of stuff he would specialize where he was really good and i would too...

thats really how you should approach collaborations... otherwise you end up in one of those situations where you keep undoing what the other guy does (because you hate what he did but you dont want to come right out and say it cause ya know its supposed to be a collaboration, lol...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top