Creative collaboration has heightened the success of many musical scores. In fact, Web Dam reports that creative collaboration has become more important, allowing composers, musicians, singers, and even test audiences to participate in stages of the song process more than ever before. Video conferencing has had a role to play in this development, particularly as the overall quality of live video streaming has improved. There are however a couple of things that you will want to bear in mind as you attempt creative collaboration over the Internet.
Sound Will Be Different
Unlike collaborating with art or writing, music requires accuracy in tone and sound. When sharing a performance on YouTube or another similar site, all of the instruments and vocals involved in the act would have been performed simultaneously or unified in some way. So while there may be some distortion between the actual sound in the performance and the sound that the listener hears, it will at least be consistent.
When you have a creative team working together at different locations, the distortion will be more problematic. Even with quality services like Blue Jeans, the sound quality will vary. You should test each device to determine the cause of the distortion. This way, if you do practice together online and off sounds arise, you will know whether there are because of an error or just part of the distortion. Send samples of the distortion back and forth. Each device you use will have a slightly different change to the music. You will need to account for these to create true tones.
Spend Some Time Socializing
The success of a band also partly depends on the chemistry between its members. Being friends, or at the very least understanding each other, can make such collaborations significantly easier. Harvard’s Cyber Law Clinic recommends that video conferencing be used for socializing as well as purposeful tasks. Intentionally take time to build community with one another. Chat about life. Watch a movie together. Do things other than talk about music and play together. The camaraderie that you have developed will surely help the group to be able to have a better understanding of each other to help you work better together when it counts.
Have Alternative Plans
Another issue that you must also take into account is the Internet quality. The Blue Jeans network, for instance, does provide a solid quality for video streaming, but will be strongly influenced by your Internet provider. The weather condition and battery life likewise can impact the quality of a video conferencing session.
Quality is vital when participating in musical collaboration. One of the benefits of video conferencing is that you have more flexibility. Use this to your advantage by scheduling alternative plans. Strategic Business Insights proposed that conferencing systems themselves may be able to further bolster the quality of the signal in the future when developers have arrived at that stage of developing the technology.
Use Collaborative Tools
From Whiteboard to Dropbox, there are numerous free and paid tools available that you can use to share documents, music files, and more. Some of these tools may allow you to be able to edit documents simultaneously. So if you’re really struggling over a lyric, you can get help from your team, or you can all be working at the same time on brainstorming, on the same document that was shared via the tool. Google Docs, for example, helps to keep track of your ideas so that you don’t lose anything when doing efficient mind dumps.
Practice in Person if You Can
Video conferencing offers a great deal of advantages for bands, composers, and musicians of all kinds. It is an effective way to ensure that everyone on your creative team is on the same page, working together on projects, and making great strides towards your collective goals. If you are planning to playing live or record, you should also try to practice at least once in person if you can. Little things like getting feedback or hearing distortion can throw you off your game. It is advised that you set it up so that you can practice for a couple hours together before the event or even sooner. This way, you can make the necessary adjustments while still having time to rest up.
Musicians, composers, and everyone else in the music community can play a greater role in the development of music through video conferencing. Online collaboration prevents distance from separating similar minds and creative ideas. You can get your friends or colleagues together from any part of the world and work on your dreams. Do bear in mind that some issues with the quality of sound may arise. The collaborative tools available can however allow you to address them and make your music have a better sound quality. The more accurately you can identify these and their effect on your music the better. Additionally, you should spend some time just socializing and having fun. It doesn’t have to be all work.
