Recording - Army of One or Collaborator?

[KuruPrionz]

I've done both but recently I am more of an Army of One. I feel like I need to define my songs to an extent so a band could play them more like I hear them. I'm not a perfectionist by any means and am pretty flexible about how things turn out but there have been grooves missing in the versions that I've played with bands so far. 

I do want to feel those grooves, they define the song in a way that a different groove does not. 

Thoughts on your own experiences?

[Bill Heins]

I do everything myself...it helps that I play guitar, keys, and drums   I write, record, mix, and master plus I dabble in 2d and 3d art so I do my album covers as well. There's no better feeling than being able to DIY!

 

Bill

[KuruPrionz]

18 hours ago, Bill Heins said:

I do everything myself...it helps that I play guitar, keys, and drums   I write, record, mix, and master plus I dabble in 2d and 3d art so I do my album covers as well. There's no better feeling than being able to DIY!

 

Bill

I enjoy working with other people but the reality is that I need to keep moving forward and I can't wait for other people's schedules to coincide. 

I can always open up a session when somebody arrives and track something if they have something to add. Once in a while, it happens. 

I write songs and create compositions on the fly. Primarily a guitarist, also bass and vocals. I can get drums/percussion recorded, I have a variety of options for doing that. Not great on keys but guitars don't have to sound like guitars so a reasonable facsimile is right here within reach. 

[GovernorSilver]

I've enjoyed being in a band, but the pandemic seems to have put that on permanent hold.  The rest of the band is in another city and so I drove back and forth to share ideas, rehearse, etc.  I am aware that options for online collaboration exist, but I won't get into why we haven't done that.

 

I've realized for some time that I need to build my own portfolio of music.   After that's established, I can then reach out to potential collaborators.  I won't have to struggle to describe the music - I can just send links to the content and let them listen and decide for themselves whether or not they want to get involved.

 

The process has been slow going but at least I'm learning something.  Better to crawl forward than just spend time on the couch watching TV/surfing the Internet.

[KuruPrionz]

9 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

I've enjoyed being in a band, but the pandemic seems to have put that on permanent hold.  The rest of the band is in another city and so I drove back and forth to share ideas, rehearse, etc.  I am aware that options for online collaboration exist, but I won't get into why we haven't done that.

 

I've realized for some time that I need to build my own portfolio of music.   After that's established, I can then reach out to potential collaborators.  I won't have to struggle to describe the music - I can just send links to the content and let them listen and decide for themselves whether or not they want to get involved.

 

The process has been slow going but at least I'm learning something.  Better to crawl forward than just spend time on the couch watching TV/surfing the Internet.

That is my primary motivation, I've never had other musicians instinctively as if by magic know what I wanted them to play. It's difficult to explain it to more than one person at once and I am not the only musician I know that does not read music. 

I've got quite a backlog of material that I want to have recorded as a definitive version. At this point it doesn't matter as much if I play gigs with other players, I've spent many years doing that and it's fun but I want to hear my songs the way I want to hear them. So I have to do it myself, at least that seems like the only certain way to get it done.