Songwriter Forum > The Writing Process

Collaberations

<< < (2/2)

Sterix:
Thanks for the respones.

Good experiences so far or bad I wouldn't go back and change them at any rate. Both have taught me things about both the collaberative and writing process.

With the former I now have a much better idea on how to start things off on the right foot at least. With Band B I'm liasing with the lead singer via Whatsapp (it means he has to play piggy-in-the-middle with the rest of the band but I think that's better from my perspective than dealing with everyone at once). Before we did any actuall collaberating he intruded himself and told me a little bit about both himself and the band, offered up some links to their sites so I could get to know what they were like a little bit. I reciprocated so we got to know one another at least a little before doing any work.

We also touched briefly upon finances and both agreed it was something to look at down the road. For me, it's not about money (at least not yet!) it's about dipping my toes in the water and, I'm not ashamed to admit, not a little amount of ego (the thought of seeing my name as lyricist on a published album just gives me the shivers!).

With those things nicely out of the way we went to work.

And I can't remember the last time I spent so much time on one lyric! I've found that, where I can usually knock up a song lyric I'm quite happy with in 10-30 minutes, now I'm having to up my game. I'm really picking them apart. Even changing one word because it sounds just a tiny fraction better. I'm turning into a dreaded "perfectionist"! I'm even going back to "completed" songs and thinking, you know, if I changed that line a little to  "this" it would make them better!

Part of it is, I think, that I want to really give it my best effort. And I'm no longer writing for myself but for someone else. It's their songs to my mind and I'm just "helping out" - but I don't want to mess them up. If that makes sense.

I think the worst part of it is waiting on a response when I've handed in my latest attempt. It's very nervous not knowing if they're going to like it or not. I find myself constantly checking Whatsapp to see if there's a voice message yet. And then when there is one it's like "oh boy, deep breath, here goes nothing!".
Still, I'm enjoying myself so far. I feel I've written some really kick-ass lyrics for them and just hope I can keep that up for the rest of the album. Fingers crossed!

mikek:
Band B sounds like a much easier collab...that would be my preference.

Band A sounds like they need you to also be the arranger... Which only works if they are willing to take direction.

How did you build these 2 relationships? Strictly from acquaintance on this forum?

Sterix:
@mikek . Yes. Amusingly, Band A actually messaged me after reading some of my stuff here and that went from there. Communication was mostly one-way and the only feedback I got was from the first lyrics I wrote when they couldn't follow them (I'd time-stamped them to help). They re-hashed them (terribly!) to fit as they saw it  but then *I* couldn't make out what they were doing with it. I'd written lyrics for 5 songs at that point so I added my vocals to their tracks and sent them off. And that was the last I heard from them (except a message to say they'd received them the first time - I sent the e-mail twice because I thought the first time hadn't gone through - and would look at them).

I occasionally stalk their Facebook page just in case they decide to use some or all of my lyrics at any stage. I'm not bothered if my time was wasted - it was a good learning curve - but I'll be royally peeved if they try to pass them off as their own...

 With Band B I think I PMd them after reading their intro thread (I think) when they mentioned looking for a lyricist. They then read some of my stuff, liked what they saw, and asked if they could use one of them they thought would fit one of their songs. Had to rewrite it a little to make it fit more snugly but the communication is tonnes better (e-mail and Whatsapp). I get actual feedback (both verbal and in the form of a rough track so I can hear how it sounds) and we toss things back and forth a few times until we both like what we've got.

I'm enjoying the experience with Band B (am utterly terrified at the same time!) and would love to collaborate with other musicians. To hear lyrics I've written sung by someone who knows what they're doing is the best feeling in the world!

Martinswede:
Personally I find it almost impossible to write lyrics to 'complete' backing tracks. The idea that words and vocal melody is so unimportant that it can be modeled to fit a backing track is up stream to my work flow.

The style @Binladeda writes abou seems like a good alternative.

At times I've tried joining as a singer in a band without a singer. My impression is that these guys(it's always guys) have been sitting in a basement with their loopers, delays and reverbs trying to make a song, intended in the very beginning to have vocals, maybe just coz that's the norm in rock music, but then just kept trying to make the song interesting while they rehearsed it.

Guys who like to jam...
The 'I play a band' shit...

Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra:
I know it's picky but I can't stand looking at that any more.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page