Team up with another Patron!
I'm so excited to see what happens with this one! There are a couple of tricky things about something like this, so I'll have to throw down some suggestions:
1. THOSE OF YOU WITH DAW CAPABILITIES: If you'd like to participate in this challenge, I'd love for you to type something like "I'm a DAW person" in the comments here or on the community forum.
2. THOSE OF YOU WITHOUT DAW CAPABILITIES: If you'd like to participate, please comment below or in the community forum saying something like "I am NOT a DAW person."
3. For ease of use, each track you share with another patron will require an accurate count-in or either one or two measures. This can be spoken (eg. "1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4" then music) OR you and your partner can establish a count in that you both agree to (eg. two measures of drum beat or two measures of muted strums) THIS IS CRUCIAL
You're more than welcome to work with more than one person AND you're more than welcome to work DAW-DAW or non-DAW to non-DAW, but let me lay out a few scenarios:
IN GENERAL, STICK WITH WRITING SIMPLE THINGS SO YOU CAN FOCUS ON WRITING "TOGETHER"
IN GENERAL, IT IS EASIEST TO USE A DAW FOR THIS PROCESS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'D LIKE TO PASS TRACKS BACK AND FORTH TOGETHER A FEW TIMES, BUT OTHER METHODS ARE POSSIBLE.
I'll try to lay out options for every situation here:
1. Two non-DAW patrons writing together: If you and your writing partner do NOT have a DAW, you gotta at least have a phone to record with PLUS a separate device for playing your partner's tracks through speakers. The idea here is important: Pick one person to start the writing process with something like a chord progression. Record your progression (making sure to count yourself in in some obvious way) and send it to your partner. Your partner can then open the file, listen to it on speakers, and then (with their phone) record themselves playing along with the track on speakers. This is important so you can capture both YOUR idea AND your partners recording on one track. This is less than ideal, and you likely won't be able to add many layers due to lack of mixing abilities and whatnot, but if you don't have a DAW it's worth a try.
2. One non-DAW Patron and one DAW Patron: This situation is a little better, but also more one-sided. Probably the best idea in this situation is to have the NON-DAW Patron record something first, making sure to count in AND play something simple enough that it's EASY to keep good time. Then send that to the DAW person, who can import it into their computer and record over the top of it. The downside here is that it can still be hard to play in time so the initial person needs to really play something simple enough that they can really play nicely in time.
3. Two DAW people: You've got the easiest time. STEP 1: pick a tempo and make sure your project's BPM is always set to that tempo when you're adding layers. STEP 2, pick someone to write first. Maybe one person starts with a drum beat and the other person adds the first guitar, then sends it back. The coolest thing about this setup is that you can send the track back and forth to each other without ANY degradation of tone or mix. One person could be the "Master mixer" - meaning the person who has the main project file (like the Logic Pro or GarageBand project file.) This person has the job of compiling each separate audio track and mixing as you go.
4. Oldschool aka "In person:" Remember that thing we all used to do so often before March of 2020? That thing where you knock on someone's door and hang out inside? If you feel safe from Covid AND you know someone you could collaborate with in person, this is such a fun option.
To be clear: I don't necessarily condone meeting strangers you meet on the internet! You could collaborate with a friend and ask your friend if you can post audio to our community. Or you can try it out and just report back on the community forum about how it went.
If you've got a rapport with someone in the community forum AND you somehow happen to live close to each other, that might be a fun conversation to have with that person.
POST YOUR CREATIONS, THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PROCESS, AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE COMMUNITY FORUM.
Reach out to me via private message here or on the community forum if you can't find someone to work with and I'll try to link you up with someone. Or just post in the comments. We'll get it figured out.