Energizing Collaborations - A window into an artist's collabs
Are you stagnating? Are you between projects? Are you needing a creative pick-me-up? It may be time for a collaboration. Why? If you've been fortunate enough to have a successful, fulfilling experience in working with others like this before, you don't need an explanation. You already understand that it gets you into a new mindset, helps you learn some new tricks, jump-starts your creativity, helps you interact with new artists, and increases exposure to new fans. If you haven't yet, or your recent collabs felt stale, you are missing out.
In a recent post, I discussed valuing yourself. You need to have this in mind for your collabs as well. If this is a free project, determine what amount of your time and energy you are willing to put forth while weighing the benefits. Personally, I find taking a few hours here and there to interact with fellow artists gives me some breathing room and a chance to explore new techniques and ideas which I will apply later to more lucrative projects. And you can certainly find or start collaborations where you monetize your work.
I've had some really wonderful collaborations, so I've included some personal examples with links to where you can listen to understand how different each of these projects was:
1. "Lull" with Isotherme - Piano improvisations were not a new thing to me when I provided this piece to Isotherme to mold into a beautiful children's lullaby. However, I was not doing these as often or with near as much confidence as I gained from this experience. I firmly believe that this was a turning point for me in my improvisations and eventually led to my "Because" album. Other reasons this was a successful collab: We agreed on the terms up front, Isotherme took my feedback on the mixing very well, and he is someone I knew I could trust with my work as far as quality is concerned. My fan base also grew as a result, and I gained some new contacts within his circle of musical artists. Isotherme provided me this quote on collaborations in general: "What each person adds to a collab serves to further the individual ideas and still retain the voices of the participants." I couldn't have said it better.
2. Solar Donut project, "We Shall Go the Way of Bees" - This one was a lot of fun. I was asked to participate in a large, open collaborative project over the space of several months. Anyone on the project could upload a track up for others to download and manipulate or add to. I was inspired by Roofhare's rhythmic piece, "Sand Dollar" and took it as an opportunity to try out my newest synthesizer (the ROLI Seaboard). I not only gained some exposure to other wonderful artists and pieces, but I was able to be bold and do something far more experimental than I could have done on my own. I have since used what I learned to apply the Seaboard more effectively to some of my more traditional work. We are also all hard at work on the Lunar Donut project as well, and Roofhare and I have already teamed up on another piece.
3. Acoustically Reimagined "Hey, Good Morning..." - Always one of my more popular pieces, "Hey, Good Morning..." lends itself to multiple versions. Its somewhat Broadway-ish melody, relatively catchy lyrics, and easy pace make it a lot of fun to sing. For my local music buddy (and go-to guitar expert), Brett, it was a piece he wanted to tackle with his own aesthetic. I already have monetized this piece on my first release and have played it out, so I was admittedly a bit hesitant to hand it over. We worked closely on the project while he provided the majority of the instrumentation and the counter vocal. I provided keys and vocal and we shared production choices. Despite any concern I may have had, this song done in a new way has now proven to be a gateway for more people to get into my music (this version is very accessible) and strengthened my ability to sing with others. While I did not monetize this version, the experience got me into using more instrumentation and influenced my vocal style on some of my solo work.
4. "The Kees Files" - I could probably write an entire post on "The Kees Files" EP, which, while a solo project recording/production wise, was actually part of a challenge to create and use presets with Roofhare using vst plugins by A.A.S. It was a different kind of collaboration that started as simply sharing and inspiring each other to try new things with the software we had in common. It almost felt like a dare, where one of us would create some really interesting and new presets and throw them to the other, saying, "see what you can do with this one!" Before we knew it, we were growing a collection of sounds and song ideas. His companion EP, "Sarahdipity" was his use of the presets while "The Kees Files" was mine. We not only each ended up with an EP we could independently monetize, but we also had the opportunity to reach out to each other's fan bases by releasing the EPs simultaneously and featuring our work together in a Fireside Chat on the Eclectrocasts Podcast (which is a podcast highly recommend to anyone who loves independent, eclectic music).
A benefit of collabs I feel as though I'm underselling is the building of your circle of trusted advisors and experts and growing your network in general. We all bring different strengths and knowledge. Many of my interviews and features and sales are a direct or indirect result of these collabs. And I would like to think that I have also helped increase exposure of the people I collaborate with as well. Collaborations can be energizing in so many ways: a boost to your creativity, growth of your professional network, and an infusion of new blood to your fan base. Not to mention that if you are working with friends that it's a lot of fun and can strengthen those relationships. Remember still to be picky about your collabs and agree to all terms up front. Be sure, project wise, of what you are trying to achieve.
Stay tuned, Loves!
Sarah - The Lyrical Physicist
In a recent post, I discussed valuing yourself. You need to have this in mind for your collabs as well. If this is a free project, determine what amount of your time and energy you are willing to put forth while weighing the benefits. Personally, I find taking a few hours here and there to interact with fellow artists gives me some breathing room and a chance to explore new techniques and ideas which I will apply later to more lucrative projects. And you can certainly find or start collaborations where you monetize your work.
I've had some really wonderful collaborations, so I've included some personal examples with links to where you can listen to understand how different each of these projects was:
1. "Lull" with Isotherme - Piano improvisations were not a new thing to me when I provided this piece to Isotherme to mold into a beautiful children's lullaby. However, I was not doing these as often or with near as much confidence as I gained from this experience. I firmly believe that this was a turning point for me in my improvisations and eventually led to my "Because" album. Other reasons this was a successful collab: We agreed on the terms up front, Isotherme took my feedback on the mixing very well, and he is someone I knew I could trust with my work as far as quality is concerned. My fan base also grew as a result, and I gained some new contacts within his circle of musical artists. Isotherme provided me this quote on collaborations in general: "What each person adds to a collab serves to further the individual ideas and still retain the voices of the participants." I couldn't have said it better.
2. Solar Donut project, "We Shall Go the Way of Bees" - This one was a lot of fun. I was asked to participate in a large, open collaborative project over the space of several months. Anyone on the project could upload a track up for others to download and manipulate or add to. I was inspired by Roofhare's rhythmic piece, "Sand Dollar" and took it as an opportunity to try out my newest synthesizer (the ROLI Seaboard). I not only gained some exposure to other wonderful artists and pieces, but I was able to be bold and do something far more experimental than I could have done on my own. I have since used what I learned to apply the Seaboard more effectively to some of my more traditional work. We are also all hard at work on the Lunar Donut project as well, and Roofhare and I have already teamed up on another piece.
3. Acoustically Reimagined "Hey, Good Morning..." - Always one of my more popular pieces, "Hey, Good Morning..." lends itself to multiple versions. Its somewhat Broadway-ish melody, relatively catchy lyrics, and easy pace make it a lot of fun to sing. For my local music buddy (and go-to guitar expert), Brett, it was a piece he wanted to tackle with his own aesthetic. I already have monetized this piece on my first release and have played it out, so I was admittedly a bit hesitant to hand it over. We worked closely on the project while he provided the majority of the instrumentation and the counter vocal. I provided keys and vocal and we shared production choices. Despite any concern I may have had, this song done in a new way has now proven to be a gateway for more people to get into my music (this version is very accessible) and strengthened my ability to sing with others. While I did not monetize this version, the experience got me into using more instrumentation and influenced my vocal style on some of my solo work.
4. "The Kees Files" - I could probably write an entire post on "The Kees Files" EP, which, while a solo project recording/production wise, was actually part of a challenge to create and use presets with Roofhare using vst plugins by A.A.S. It was a different kind of collaboration that started as simply sharing and inspiring each other to try new things with the software we had in common. It almost felt like a dare, where one of us would create some really interesting and new presets and throw them to the other, saying, "see what you can do with this one!" Before we knew it, we were growing a collection of sounds and song ideas. His companion EP, "Sarahdipity" was his use of the presets while "The Kees Files" was mine. We not only each ended up with an EP we could independently monetize, but we also had the opportunity to reach out to each other's fan bases by releasing the EPs simultaneously and featuring our work together in a Fireside Chat on the Eclectrocasts Podcast (which is a podcast highly recommend to anyone who loves independent, eclectic music).
A benefit of collabs I feel as though I'm underselling is the building of your circle of trusted advisors and experts and growing your network in general. We all bring different strengths and knowledge. Many of my interviews and features and sales are a direct or indirect result of these collabs. And I would like to think that I have also helped increase exposure of the people I collaborate with as well. Collaborations can be energizing in so many ways: a boost to your creativity, growth of your professional network, and an infusion of new blood to your fan base. Not to mention that if you are working with friends that it's a lot of fun and can strengthen those relationships. Remember still to be picky about your collabs and agree to all terms up front. Be sure, project wise, of what you are trying to achieve.
Stay tuned, Loves!
Sarah - The Lyrical Physicist
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