Building an Internet Music Troupe
I recently began work on the writing of my next song, which I hope to record in a few weeks time. Having been thinking a lot recently about the joy of connecting with other creative people through collaboration, I decided to see if the internet could connect me with some musicians who would be willing to contribute parts to the final recording. My first instinct, knowing how powerful the platform is at connecting people through shared interests, was to create a post on Threads and see who would show up…
Within a few hours I had plenty of respondents, all suggesting which instruments they could play and expressing an interest in getting involved in the song. Once again I have found Threads really is an amazing place for connecting with like-minded creatives.
How to collaborate remotely with musicians
This won’t be my first time collaborating with musicians on songs remotely. My second album features guitar solos from collaborators around the world, with BeigeMusic playing on the track Nowhere and Purposeful Porpoise playing on the song Lifestory.
In the case of that production, once the basic rhythm track was complete I sent it across to them, and asked them to play their guitar parts. In the case of Nowhere, which is a purely instrumental track, I did write a basic melody for Beige to follow, but asked that he throw in some of his own flourishes to the playing of that melody, to make it his own. In the case of Lifestory I asked for Purposeful Porpoise to come up with a short guitar solo that would compliment the vibe of the backing track, which had a very spaced out, dreamlike feeling and what he created blew me away.
This time, pulling together multiple dispirate elements seems like a fun challenge. My plan is to create a basic rhythm track, with a lead vocal, and then send this across to each player. I’ll be asking each of them to add various elements to the track, based on the instrument and function they are playing in the production. A countermelody here, a rhythm track there, etc. Some of them will likely work to parts I write out as part of the arrangment, others will have a little more room to flex, it just depends on the way the song comes together.
I’m excited to see how this all comes togehter. Watch this space. :)