Collaborating Remotely

I was playing music in the Caribbean when the Covid situation took a turn for the worse in the USA.  I had planned on heading back to Chicago in late March to begin a new music project with a friend of mine.  My plans were de-railed when just two days before my scheduled flight back to the states, the borders in the Dominican Republic, where I was staying at the time, were abruptly closed, with no flights allowed in or out, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After a few weeks of uncertainty and several cancelled flights back to the states, I realized this wasn’t a situation that was going to quickly resolve itself.  I was essentially trapped in the Caribbean for the time being and would likely be stuck for several months.  So, instead of flying to Chicago to begin working on our project together, my friend MJ and I did the next best thing, we started collaborating remotely. 

The last few months have been, ironically, some of the most productive months for me musically in years.  In part due to being stuck indoors for much of the last few months due to the pandemic, and also in part due to the fact that in many ways the pandemic was a huge wake up call and reminder, that you never know just how quickly life can change and throw you a giant curveball. For me, the pandemic and lockdown has been a reminder to pursue the things important to me while I still have time.  Things like music.

In this post I thought I’d break down my process for collaborating remotely over the last few months.  Even in “normal” times, there are situations where you’re simply not able to be in the same space, at the same time, with people you’re collaborating with.  I’ve collaborated remotely for years with my producer Gary Gray, as well as a variety of different vocalists, and we’ve had a lot of success finishing songs this way.

This time the collaboration was different, in that I was collaborating with a musician friend of mine, during the beginning stages of writing and arranging, all the way through to the final production.  After a month or so of collaborating this way, we refined our system of collaboration down to a pretty tightly run machine and we’re now averaging creating a new song every week to ten days.

Our goal has been to get songs up to professional level demos which we can release on Youtube to grow my Youtube Channel, which I’ve recently monetized, and also potentially go on to create full blown, licensing ready mixes of the songs that get the best feedback and that we feel have the most licensing potential.

Here’s my remote collaboration routine:

1. Step 1 – Demo The Song -  I usually start the collaboration process by creating a fairly simple guitar/vocal demo.  I’ll sometimes add a couple different guitar parts, maybe a lead, lead vocals and sometimes harmony parts if I have any in mind.  I’ll send this demo, along with chords and lyrics to my friend MJ, who plays keys and also sings.  MJ has sung both lead and background vocals on many of the tracks I’ve licensed the last few years.
   
   
2. Step 2 – Feedback And Refine Arrangement – At this point, MJ will email me back his thoughts, often accompanied with a demo where he adds his ideas and suggestions to my mix.  Based on this feedback and usually a few emails back and forth, I’ll finish the song and tweak anything that needs tweaked.
   
   
3. Step 3- Begin Multi-tracking – At this point I’ll begin multitracking the song by adding my parts to a click track, followed by a bass player and drummer’s parts, who are both here locally.
   
   
4. Step 4 – Send Stems To MJ – At this point I’ll send the basic stems of the track to MJ to begin laying his piano, keys and vocal parts, depending on the song.  It will usually take MJ a few days to track everything and get his parts back to me.  While I’m waiting on his parts I continue working on the mix, adding any additional tracks I need to add, sometimes working with additional musicians locally, etc.
   
   
5. Step 5- Get Stems and Finish Mix – Finally, once I get MJs stems back, I’ll finish the mixing and mastering, usually doing five or six different mixes over a period of a couple days, until I get a mix I’m happy with.  I like to mix for a couple hours in the morning, then take a break for a few hours and work on different things, and then come back with fresh ears in the afternoon.  I find these breaks to be very helpful in allowing me to come back and listen with a fresh perspective, often hearing things in the mix that need to be addressed that I didn’t hear before. 
   
   
6. Optional Step 6 – Send To Gary Gray For Additional Mixing & Mastering -  This particular recording project that I started during quarantine is a little different in that I’m doing all the production and the mainf focus for this project is to build my youtube channel, so I’m not as concerned with making sure every song meets the criteria necessary for licensing.  I of course want each song to sound as good as possible, but I’m also taking a lot more chances songwriting wise and production wise, because the focus is a little different this time.  

Since the music is primarily for my own Youtube channel, the only gatekeeper I have is myself.  However, for songs that my producer Gary and I feel have strong licensing potential, I’ll be sending Gary the stems to finish up and do a final mix.  This adds an additional week or so to the above process.
 
For me, one of the biggest take-aways from the last few months, is that there are simply no excuses.  If you want to make music, regardless of where you are in the world, you can find a way to make it happen.  When the lockdown and airport closings happened, my friend MJ was really bummed because collaborating remotely isn’t the same as collaborating in person.  He kept saying it would be so much cooler if I was there.  Of course, collaborating remotely isn’t the same as being in the same room, but it’s still a completely viable way to collaborate.  The last few months have been as productive as any period we’ve had collaborating before, in person.  In fact, in many ways the last few months has been more productive.  I’ve definitely been more prolific than usual.

With the technology and tools we have at our disposal in 2020, you can be almost anywhere in the world and be collaborating with musicians almost anywhere in the world.  Just because you don’t live in a major music city, doesn’t mean you don’t have access to the same pool of talent.  Use the tools you have at your disposal and make the most of whatever your situation is.

Here’s the most recent track I collaborated on with my friend MJ, as well as a few musicians I met during my time in the Caribbean.  This one is called “Lost In A Dream”.  I also did the video editing for the video.  We’ll be sending this one to producer Gary Gray for the final mixing and mastering, as we feel this one has strong licensing potential.

Check it out and let me know what you think!  Subscribe to my Youtube Channel here.