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February 06, 2015 08:32 PM
I'm not a musician but this definitely applies in many fields. I've been trying to do more of this myself (professionally) out of necessity, and so far things are working out well.
I think what is important is to not try this once or twice and then give up after a failure or mediocre result. Once you get that person who fits in well, you start to see the benefits, but it may not happen with the first attempt.
February 07, 2015 05:22 PM
I was actually set for the same thing lately, trying to do a bit of collaboration on a verge of burn-out or to help some people "break in". However I must say most of the time it more or less backfired.
As we all know it's usually "one man department" and that's what my regular clients are used to, and that's why they were very sceptical from day one when I mentioned to bring someone else in. I had to put my own fragile reputation and their trust in my judgement to help some of my friends "from the industry" who where having a hard time to find anything stable enough lately.
I'm not super experienced myself but I've quickly learned that it's all down to business in the end, so as rough as it sounds too many people I've met had too much of an artist in them. I mean, I'm used to lowering my ego down and clients stripping down my tracks, but there was too much of a clash over little things from people I wanted to collaborate with, and too much of "I need to prove myself as a great full orchestra composer" ambitions, when client was simply asking for a track with battle drums only.
In one case communication was absurd and "more eerie and dissonant, less happy and melodic " resulted in exactly the opposite and ultimately led to person I got into the project contacting the Project's Manager calling to kick ME out of the project, because I don't know what it needs and I have no respect for his work. Let me just say that the communication was the Manager giving him instructions through me, which I pointed out multiple times to him. In the end, fixing all the mistakes went down to me, something that was supposed to speed things up led to delays and the deadlines had to be extended. All that made me more and more anxious to let others in.
With the market over-saturated with aspiring, pro, educated and ambitious musicians wanting the "Holy Grail" of making "music for games" I think every client and project counts and from my personal experiences risking own reputation, connections you carefully built and potential delays requires immense trust at this point... and feeling insecure can be justified.
It might have been my fault for matching less experienced people for more serious projects. I might not have found a person prepared for it, or with a mindset similar to me and my clients and I'm all in for sharing the cake, especially when deadlines are though. But at this point I'd rather pull and all-nighter, than need to pull two or three because I trusted too much the other person will be up to the task.
February 09, 2015 02:06 PM
Are you missing out on a better quality of work by refusing to collaborate with others more often?
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Great article :D, but the transition can be difficult. I've recently started working with two other people (first time I've ever collaborated), and while they're both amazing and pleasant, my stress levels have gone up considerably. Historically, when I'm stuck on a problem I have the luxury of solving it on my own timeline. Now, I feel this giant anxiety as people are waiting on me :P Also, failure now involves the rather scary scenario of disappointing other people (and wasting their time in the process). I like to think I'm dipping my toes in the collaborative process, as I've brought other hobbyists on board one of my projects, rather than try to join something professional, but that fear and anxiety is definitely still there. This may be less of an issue with music collaborations than full game collaborations though (when I've played music with other people, it's generally apparent rather quickly if things are not going to work out. Though, to be fair, things can still fall apart down the line, but it's usually due to personality-issues).
I'd look forward to a followup article considering the transition to collaborations a little more, as I think there are likely some large pitfalls and things to consider when working with others, and obstacles to overcome in the process.