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À La Carte Music Collaboration

Recording Musicians Remotely Can Save Money and Add Quality to Your Album

One of the ways you can leverage today’s technology into your music production is à la carte collaboration. It’s never been easier to find and work with other artists on your music. And connecting via the Internet means you can do so without even leaving your studio.

With the combination of affordable professional recording gear and platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud, Pandora and Spotify, a whole world of extremely talented musicians and producers is always just a click away. Whereas in the past, you might be constrained to record your project live with a local band (which can be costly) or travel to different studio, today you’d be hard pressed to find a sought-after musician who didn’t live within close proximity of a professional studio–if they don’t already have one in their home.

Rather than renting a whole band and a recording space to cut your next album, why not hire a drummer in LA to lay down some tracks in his studio and send it to you? Don’t know any violin players in your community? Why not send your mix to one at a conservatory in New York and have her track with it and send it back?

À la carte collaboration means you can hire musicians to record different parts. Having the world at your fingertips also means you can find artists to record for any budget.

Here are three tips for à la carte collaboration:

Stay Connected

If you’re not on SoundCloud, YouTube, Spotify and iTunes there’s a good chance you’re missing out on discovering and interacting with talented new artists. Likewise, Twitter and Facebook are essential for connecting with other artists. You should spend a little time everyday trying to build up a strong contact list of collaborators. Reach out regularly to musicians online and you will never be limited by a lack of great talent to work with.

Get ProTools and Logic

Pro Tools is by far the most popular DAW for professional musicians, however Logic has a strong usership as well thanks to its lower price. Between these two programs, you should be able to easily share project sessions with most collaborators. Having Pro Tools also makes you seem more professional to other musicians, as it’s still the industry standard.

Have a Contract

Be professional and fair about working with other musicians. Make it clear what you need up front, how much you will pay and have them sign an agreement. Even if you do a trade of services, make a contract. And, don’t pay until you get back the recording you wanted!

It can seem strict to some, but it will keep things clear up front and allow you to maintain a professional respect from better artists.

It may be sooner than later that paying musicians to track their parts remotely is the most cost-effective way to create an album. But the technology is already available today for anyone who wants to take advantage. And, as always, you can have your project mastered online.


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