Creatively Collaborating...

The more time I spend in studios - in recording spaces, with consoles, amongst musical minds and musicians - the more I am reminded of why I chose ‘music’ to study in the first place.

Throughout my course we’ve learned the practices of various areas within audio (including Electronic Music Production, editing sound, acoustics, Post-production work and all about the technology involved in sound), but it’s always in the making itself that I refer back to in my aspirations. Working with artists is what made me enter a course in Audio. It’s within the music, that I gain the greatest pleasure.

There’s really nothing like being around musicians, around artists, around like-minded people, creatively working together to make something. What I love about this activity is its evolving nature, that you begin not knowing exactly where it will go! Someone suggests something, someone adds something, parts are added, edited, mixed, changed… It’s a process. The nature of it is ever-developing and unpredictable… It’s organic.

Hearing a song come together over time, and being a part of its creation, is so satisfying. There really is no feeling like it! The composition of music, the way phrases and sounds come together and intertwine, with the inexhaustible possibilities of music as a craft - is truly stirring.

This has also made me think about what it would be like to be more a part of the creative side of music making, like producing or performing, rather than the technical, engineering side alone. I’d also be keen for the more inter-personal aspect of this; working with musicians creatively, and helping artists express their music, to propel it into a public sphere, where it can be heard and appreciated (and affect people’s lives)!

The great thing about the music industry is that it is possible to be all of those things - it’s a diverse industry, and it’s possible to be adaptable, and move around! The more people I speak to, the more I realise how few practitioners only ever partake in one area, or have only pursued the area they decided from the beginning that they would.
There are so many avenues to be involved in, all working within the same network of music.
It’s a variable trade. Which is what’s so exciting about it!

Every time I am in the studio however, I am reminded how difficult it is to work on a single product with several people. The more minds, the more complex. Sometimes many brains cannot cohesively create a product that pleases them all! (Actually, ‘mostly’ would be more fitting). At the same time though, more minds = more ideas - more variation, more imagination, more possibilities...

That is why it’s very special to find persons that one can work intuitively and naturally with; you’re on each other’s wavelength… I think any good music that has ever been released, and any successful band or duo, has relied to some extent on a positive relationship between minds. Even if the relationship is quite volatile, or divergent, it can still bear something positive, something beneficial - in mutual objectives, in respect between peers - that even if there are disagreements, these can collaboratively cultivate a better, more interesting creative product.

Thinking of creative partnerships, here are some of my favourites...

Image Source: http-//tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/92682960001

Image Source: https-//au.pinterest.com/vilsonsa9/m%C3%BAsicos-the-beatles/

Lennon & McCartney, and The Beatles with George Martin...

Image Source: http-//nightflight.com/r-i-p-george-martin-night-flight-remembers-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-celebrated-beatles-record-producer/

Image Source: http-//www.vintag.es/2016/03/17-beatles-great-hits-produced-by

​Tony Visconti with Marc Bolan (T.Rex)...

Embed from Getty Images

​Jagger & Richards...

Image Source: http-//www.soniceditions.com/image/mick-and-keith-in-the-studio

Image Source: https-//bobbonis.com/tag/keith-richards/

The Velvet Underground & Nico with Andy Warhol...

Image Source: http-//www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-velvet-underground-heroin

Simon & Garfunkel...

Image Source: http-//societyofrock.com/simon-garfunkels-bridge-over-troubled-water-demo-is-a-masterpiece/

Mercury & May (and all of Queen, really)...

Image Source: http-//supportbrianmay.tumblr.com/

​Strummer & Jones...

Image Source: https://au.pinterest.com/foogirl/1/

Image Source: https-//historiadeunacancion.lamula.pe/2015/07/16/the-clash-tiene-frio-por-los-ojos/israelzarate/

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I’ve heard from many people, and agree myself, that music is very much reliant on who you know - the people you work with. So I hope I continue to meet people that inspire me, surprise me, believe in me, respect me, interest me, and mentally stimulate and challenge me… and I them.