how do you collaborate on a tune?

nomis

nomis

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I was wondering, there must be a 1000 ways working together on a tune and it would be interesting to hear your experience.

At the moment the way i work with people is in the same room but with 2 computers hooked up on lan, i do most of the track structuring and big building blocks and my friend does most of the strange sounds and effects on his labtop. We are not synching the computers, just transfer files through the lan.
It works fine and solves some problems since hes on mac and im on pc.

We usually start out talking about an idea or mood and then make a quick mind map of it. This is good as a reminder, especially after a couple of spliffs :blink:

How do you do, and have you tried working from distance via internet?

Please share your experience....

Nomis
 
Always a difficult one, and it varies a lot depending who you're working with. I've come to think that there simply is no perfect solution to this when doing computer music. Have tried working over a distance, but it generally means that you end up taking the same track in different directions, this can lead to confusion as one losed track of the original idea as you try to blend both ideas into one...
The perfect solution would be two computers which are synched and networked, which you each work on with your headphones, and then you can listen to any amount of mix together in the monitors whenever you want. My only prob with this is studio computer #2 is always being packed up to take to gigs and rehearsal and so rarely sits there ready to be used in such a way...
Despite the many frustrations collaborations are always worthwhile though. Two people are much better at deciding what sounds good and what doesn't.
Good lUck!
 
I've colaborated wich some people...

Throught the internet were mostly we swap frutty or cubase projects and each has a go at the project until the track is finished.

Or by goingo to each other house and playing in their studio!


If files are supposed to be traveling you should make shure you're using the same sequencer, vsts, etc... hardware usually has to be bounced to wavs...


It's great to work woth someone when you'e stuck in something... also helps to have someone to say whats good and whats bad...


:)



joao
 
I've had some really fruitful collabs with people using reason. So long as you self-contain all the samples and make sure you've got the same refills, its a doddle.
I really enjoy working this way, so if anyone's up for doing a reason collab I'm always up for it ...
 
current setup > 2 people and 1 computer so we do it in shifts, sometimes the whole session is just one of us or t'other and sometimes its a 30 min switch type of affair, i like it this way as knowing you only have 1/2 hour to get something in there puts the pressure on to get something down.

Or over the interweb by ensuring that both parties are using the same sequencer and have the same pluggins and Instruments installed then sending the track (in my case *.LSO as its Logic) and any folders of audio and sample banks etc over msn usually
 
AlternateContinuum said:
if anyone's up for doing a reason collab I'm always up for it ...
Click to expand...

Sounds cool. Im no reason user but if we could collab in some other way im up to it :D
Downloaded 3 tunes from you today and heard them, i must say i like it very much, so if you would like to hear some of mine then let me know and ill send you a link.
What i use is logic so maybe bounced tracks would be the preferreable way to exchange?

Please let me know...

Nomis
 
nomis said:
if you would like to hear some of mine then let me know and ill send you a link.
Click to expand...


Yeah definitely, post a link in the media production forum and let everyone have a listen :)
(or PM me if you're not sure about going public)

The problem with working on tracks like you suggest is that once there's more than a couple of audio tracks then the email attachements start getting huuuuge....
With reason the filesize never gets larger than 6mb or so.
 
Johnny Digital said:
BIG TIP for those colaborationg and in need to send files privately: www.yousendit.com


;)


joao
Click to expand...

yep, much apreciated boy, fanx a million:)

With my mate we did a few chiled things together. He is more of a percussions guy while Im more of a melody and armony one. Plus I play keyboards and he doesn't, he plays drums and percussions thou which I don't.
Basicly we complement each others nicely.

Good thing is he is an ace on programming sinths and I have a Virus, so he start tweaking sounds on it while I play my keyboard in accordance to what his sounds inspire me, when we got something we think it's cool we just start recording the whole thing then we he's got a midi to work with and starts adding delays, revs, compressions etc, I must say I can do that sort of things just a bit but he is better then me soooo each of us his own.

We will start our first full on tune together nxt week. I assume he will prapare some bas and kick patterns where I will do some sinths and pads lines and then we will add all the funny sounds together.
U right, there must be 1000s ways to collaborate, all depends by the persons involved how to get each other's skills together, innit.
 
no prob, glad to share :D
i haven't found any max file size limit on it, wich means it's huge because i've used it to transfer very large stuff

the rules are: the file stays for 5 days or 25 downloads!


To download you only need the link provided by the site after uploading :)


[[[[]]]]


joão
 
HUVA Network's Distances was written by Aes Dana and Solar Fields entirely throu the internet, wonder if they are around this board to give us some tips. That album is damn genius btw:wub:
 
AlternateContinuum said:
Yeah definitely, post a link in the media production forum and let everyone have a listen :)
Click to expand...

Yeah sure.. thanks for the encouragement... it's in here:
http://www.psy-forum.co.uk/psyforum_vb/showthread.php?t=28416

AlternateContinuum said:
The problem with working on tracks like you suggest is that once there's more than a couple of audio tracks then the email attachements start getting huuuuge....
With reason the filesize never gets larger than 6mb or so.
Click to expand...

I see your point... maybe it's best to send it on cd/dvd or use some sort of ftp server program... I am from Denmark and i suppose your from UK so there is a distance... But i think it could be done...
 
Again, you can use google mail accounts for colaboration (2Gbs is usually more than enough) or www.yousendit.com

FTP is cool but some ppl have problems with using it (i can't use it at work because it's blocked as unsafe).


Sending a CD/DVD by the mail is an option but a rather slow one... depends on much time you're willing to spend waiting in line at the post office or to get a CD from mail (in Portugal about 1-2 days, without getting too expensive)


joao
 
I prefer working with people who are in the room with me, but collaborating through the internet works too. My first "internet" collaboration took place about five years ago, but in the pre-DSL days, sending CD's around was really the only option. It worked quite well though. They guy I was collaborating with sent me some of his drafts and I finished them.
They never got released though.

I recently managed to set up an FTP server, which makes things a lot easier. :)
 
i've definitely learned a few things by collaborating with people
firstly, i can only work with people who are passionate, commited and speak out about what they feel. it only works for me if both people are constantly saying, i like this, or i dont like this, or i think it would be better like that etc.... i found i can't work with people if they just sit back and let me take the helm, as it ends up being mostly my tune, with me asking them every now and then what they think, or encouraging them to contribute. its gotta be 50-50 all the way.
i like working together on the same computer at the same time, when i work with my friend Joe (G-Nome) we'll kinda take 5 minutes or more each doing stuff with the other person watching, thats eductaional and really duet-based. if he's talking to his girlfriend on the phone it gives me an oppurtunity to work solo on the track, likewise for him when i go raid his kitchen at 2am :P also, we usually have a mix for half an hour or so, gets the inpiration runnin again.
when working with others, tempers can start running high when a tracks going well and you've both got a lot of ideas and only one mouse to work with. in my experiernce thats one of the best parts of collaboration, as long as it doesnt end in tears :P:D
i do really like the idea of 30 minute shifts, not only giving you a chance to put your own groove on the track as opposed to everything being second-opinioned, and the time pressure thing would really work well, gonna try that for sure!
welp, thats my two cents and experience...
...full flight...
alex
 
Fromem_Ory said:
i've definitely learned a few things by collaborating with people
firstly, i can only work with people who are passionate, commited and speak out about what they feel. it only works for me if both people are constantly saying, i like this, or i dont like this, or i think it would be better like that etc.... i found i can't work with people if they just sit back and let me take the helm, as it ends up being mostly my tune, with me asking them every now and then what they think, or encouraging them to contribute. its gotta be 50-50 all the way.
i like working together on the same computer at the same time, when i work with my friend Joe (G-Nome) we'll kinda take 5 minutes or more each doing stuff with the other person watching, thats eductaional and really duet-based. if he's talking to his girlfriend on the phone it gives me an oppurtunity to work solo on the track, likewise for him when i go raid his kitchen at 2am :P also, we usually have a mix for half an hour or so, gets the inpiration runnin again.
when working with others, tempers can start running high when a tracks going well and you've both got a lot of ideas and only one mouse to work with. in my experiernce thats one of the best parts of collaboration, as long as it doesnt end in tears :P:D
i do really like the idea of 30 minute shifts, not only giving you a chance to put your own groove on the track as opposed to everything being second-opinioned, and the time pressure thing would really work well, gonna try that for sure!
welp, thats my two cents and experience...
...full flight...
alex
Click to expand...

Alex that sounds brilliant - If only it could be like this but my experience is totally bad, which is why I work alone, or via internet collabs :sad:

People I've collaborated with have had all kinds of intellectual deficiences and character flaws which made the experiences just ball-achingly awful.

The first guy was a dominant control-freak who was quite happy to work with me. So long as I kept quiet and didn't interrupt him. We made three albums that way :) but for some reason I didn't feel fulfilled...
Another had an attention span of around 5 mins. Almost before I'd set up a synth and a patch to play on it, he'd moved into "yeah whatever" mode and gone all sulky.
Another would hog the keyboard, and then, realising he had no idea what to play would bash out "the entertainer" whilst winking at me in an "I'm so clever and funny" way.

I still live in hope that one day I'll meet a writing partner who shares my passion, but so far its just been a load of timewasters....
 
well collaborating is not always obvious .... it all depends on your own personnality, on the other peron's one , how much you know about production etc ....
i never had web based collabs but i think it's not that easy as you're working on your own without having the partner near sounds a bit weird to me as i can't think of making something without having an instant comment on what i'm doing ... so sharing bounced waves is kind of dictating for me as yo don't have full conrol of the sound ( like you would with a preset of a soft synth)
i think face2face :drinking: collabs are better, because you can learn a lot from what the other's doing, new tricks, new tips etc .... as you can teach him something as well :unsure:
there are so much ways and means to do a simple thing that it's just impossible to know everything :grandad:...

anyway, it's important to be open minded :runsmile: for collabs, as diefferent people have different tastes, different point of views on what's psy, what's not , blablabla ...

btw, for sharing files, you can also use :
http://www.mytempdir.com/
http://rapidshare.de/ :cool:
 
Okay - so Colin and I work similarly to how you guys have said when writing as <a href="http://www.voiceofcod.com" target="new">Voice Of Cod</a>. We've done 10 tunes like this now so something must be working , almost got the album in the bag... :-)

Colin is a great engineer and cubase head, so he sits at the main pc and does most of the engineering and control of cubase. I am a logic audio head, so while he's eqing something i'll either watch and learn, make my suggestions, or write a riff on my laptop in logic. To do this I'll snap my headfones on and use a recent bounce of the tune on one track and a softsynth on another.. I also make the effects we use like this. When I'm happy with the new riff or sound I'll poke him, get him to switch the monitors to my soundcard so we can both hear what I've done. He might make suggestions or tell me it's utter rubbish. Once we're happy with it I'll pass either the 24bit wav or the midi and synth patch I've created to him over the network. This works really well for us! We tried midi syncing logic to cubase many times and couldn't quite get it to work - logic just behaves strangely.

When I really want to get a sense of how the track is going I'll stand at the back of the room and have a bit of a boogie, shouting suggestions to Colin(usually abt arranement or something). Colin is also very musical so if there i something out of key he will fix it. I tend to go downstairs and get myself a coffee fairly often, I'm not sure what he does when I'm out but it always sounds good when i come back!

Every now and then I'll kick him off the main computer and do some arranging in cubase and and he will sit and look at the internet on my machine and humour me :-) We also work on tracks remotely, but not new ones, just making changes to ones that are almost finished

We both do too much surfing on msn and would probably have finished 2 albums by now if IM did not exist...

That's pretty comprehensive, hope someone finds it useful... the main thing u need is patience in a collaboration. I make a lot of notes as we listen to the tune, if either of us has an idea we jot it down as our minds work faster than we can implement all of our ideas. We also like to listen to what we have all of the way thru and note any changes we'd like to make instead of stopping and starting all the time.

Other things I've found : you can't have things your way all the time.. and just because you don't like something doesn't mean that noone else will... just trust your heart and when something pops into your head and it's right you feel it and say it and do it and BAMMO.. that's how it comes together

Andrew
 
Nice 1 andrew! cant wait for mr 23 to get a new pooter for some dual pootling action!

2 men & 1 pc can be frustrating!!
 
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