You working alone?

[C Heat]

Yes. Music 4hrs on average.

Day job.

Yes.


First!

[sardi]

Lol @ First! Has that muppet been banned yet?

I wish I put in more hours. I got A LOT of work to finish, but I ALWAYS get distracted by the internet!!

Getting DSL was the best AND worst thing I did a few years ago. :(

[ToneCre8]

Interesting topic. I've been wondering how many people, like myself, work alone. Sometimes I feel a little less inspired when I see groups in studios or 2 man teams and stuff. I feel it definitely adds to the creative process. I just never found anyone I could vibe with or trust like that. Sure I have close friends but they are only interested in hearing good music, not really creating it. Then again I suppose I could just have them around but the thing is, I'm most creative when I work alone. I'm more inclined to try radical things when I'm alone than with friends or a partner I think. Hell I don't even feel totally comfortable when my girl is around! She's like "How long you gonna keep playing that same damn loop!". Or "Is something wrong with that expensive keyboard? Why does it sound like that?"

It's said that creativity starts to decline after around 28. Well I'm 38 and I say you can only do you! It's funny, I wish I could have afforded to be as committed to the art at 18 as I am able to now. I would be the ish, but it didn't work out that way. Am I aspiring to be the next great hit maker? Not at this point. Am I loving where I am? Immensely! My biggest distraction is gearslutz and wondering what the hell all yall talking about now!

[illynoise]

Right now I'm in the Basement. I have a setup here and at the studio, here I get distracted but it's cool, the kids actually inspire me sometimes.

I try to do music on Cubase and Logic so it keeps it interesting. I work for about 6-8 hours a day on music related stuff.

I too wish I had a partner to work on music......sometimes. Then I would probably be arguing with them all the time. BTW I work so much faster and better now that I'm older. I have more creativity at 36 than I did when I was 26.

Peace out,

[HEADROOM]

I work alone most of the time, writing , arranging. Sometimes recording someone else but mostly in the context of projects I m involved in myselfas a producer or studiomusician.

Seldom booked studio time . Never with people in don t know. Bin through that.

Outside gigs as a hired hand every now and then . (engineer, keys, gtrs, arranger)

Apart from that breaks in the form of touring as a sideman.(keys,gtr,voc)

Creativity comes and goes. Sometimes you struggle with somthing from 10 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon and then suddenly it all starts to float ....

Age has nothing to do with it really, state of mind, distractions yes... (internet is dangerous)

www.nickoosterhuis.com

[Umlaaat]

my feeling is that most of us work alone.
I think working as a team of either fellow producers or with writers is the most healthy, satifying and you get the most shit done. Especially if your writers can ref the song, then you have a complete song as opposed to just an idear.
(dont you hate it when people say idear?)

Having said that, yo ucan come up with some killer shit on your own, too.

Writing is all about the vibe, the headspace you're in when you're creating. If you're hyped bc you have a potential placement or the song du jour has you amped or you have a dope sample, etc. then thats where your best music will come from.

But if you have to create the vibe as well as the music, its like pulling 2x the weight.

When working as a team you can feed off one another and iron out the direction and you get outside of your head bc of: "what are you hearing, well.. ok, what are YOU hearing? ok.... lets try this...".

I've found inspiration in doing 'homework': basically recreating a song verbatim, or watching youtube videos of b. cox or underdogs or other producer teams, seeing how they work and emulating that with other people.

THe hardest thing is finding the right personality mix...

[KevWest]

I work solo for the most part. Doing remixes and finding aspriring singers and rappers. I mainly produce but I do dj some as well. A friend and I decided we are going to go into doing a group effort but we haven't started writing yet. I work nights 11-7 sleep from 8-2 and generally make music for the rest of the day except when my girlfriend comes home and distracts me. Sometimes I even forget to eat lol. I'm 23 and ambitious I guess.

[Alex Niedt]

Alone for me. I'm normally not a fan of working with others.

Besides school, I spend all my other time on music.

[Antagonist]

I usually work alone, although I definately see the benefits of having an extra set of ears and ideas in a studio...the problem as I see it though, is after you work on your own equipment for a while, you will know it better than anybody else, so it's hard to let another set of hands, eyes, or ears into "your world", without wanting to be like "here do it like this, or touch this, or press that button"... It's all I guess the selfishness of having your own equipment and knowing how to use it.


As for time, when I was in audio school, I'd go to class from 9-2 then be in the studio from like 4 til 4 in the morning. My longest session was from 2 in the afternoon til 8 the following morning.

Lately though, workin in the real world, I'll come home at 3 do my stuff, then sit in the studio from like 7 til midnight.

This real world, real job stuff is a downer...I really think it hinders my creativity because it takes me much longer to get going in the studio now then it did before.

I'm 30, and I have made a pact for 2007 to work less hard on other things, and get the music back to where it was 3 or 4 years ago.

Just my thoughts.
Antagonist
www.myspace.com/leftcoastrider

[Dallas4lr]

Well,


Back in the late 80's when I was a staff writer for WB, I had what I could only explain as an almost magical experience looking back on it. I was under the gun to deliver 10 songs a month which was a daunting task. My boss did me one huge favor when he placed me with my writing partner, BJ Brown about three months into this gig; the two of us really benefited from this union.

BJ was one hell of a singer and should have had his own record deal at the time. He did this hoping that one day the knuckle heads would look past his writing talent and recognize that a lot of the magic on the demos we cut were attributed to his voice. He would basically work on lyrics, hooks, and he could peck out bass lines, and beats on a keyboard. In addition to singing all the vocals on most of the tracks. While my forte was the hardcore keyboard stuff, midi, sequencing, sampling, beats and writing (both music and lyrics).

My reasoning for calling it magical, was because the whole 10 song a month thing became so easy with BJ around. We were both in our mid 20's in California, and single. I would wake up no later then 7AM and be in the studio hard at work, BJ generally showed up between 9 and 11AM. There was always a constant rotation of women stopping by or calling, but it never seemed to interfer with our flow. In the mid afternoon we would always take a break to chase/setup some skirts for the evening. Get back in around 5PM and work till around 9 or 10 at night. Then it was time to get ready to hit the club scene. I don't know how it works now, but in the 80's a lot of business went down in the clubs, so if you weren't there you missed out. This is how we lived day in and out for over 3 years, from sun up till sun down. Never once did we have an argument or disagreement.

After 3 years BJ finally got dicouraged with WB and moved to Texas, and I left not to long after he did. I wrote more songs during that 3 year window in my life then all the other years combined, and I'm currently 43. I never came close to that experience again, and though I'm forced to, I don't enjoy working solo.

I would give almost anything to relive one week of my life back then.

I miss you Bro!!!
Dallas

[voicegenius]

Bump!


I got songs I need to be writing and demoing, but my dumb ass job keeps me here all damn day! I guess you can say I'm paying the bills, but dammit!

Also, I've said it before: Two slutz are ALWAYS better than one... To me when you have somebody else there to bounce ideas off of, you work that much faster and efficiently... Of course the other person has to have SOME level of talent...

[cynic one]

usually i work alone. had one of my boys come through the other day and lay some parts down on songs i was stuck on.

it was dope, he heard some basslines i wouldn't have thought of instantly and laid em down over 2 cuts i had on my drive. now those songs are pretty much done.

we even rocked an all new original joint in about the 8 hours he was here. 3 close-to finished tracks in that time frame aint bad at all.

[voicegenius]

Originally Posted by Dallas4lr

Well,


Back in the late 80's when I was a staff writer for WB, I had what I could only explain as an almost magical experience looking back on it. I was under the gun to deliver 10 songs a month which was a daunting task. My boss did me one huge favor when he placed me with my writing partner, BJ Brown about three months into this gig; the two of us really benefited from this union.

BJ was one hell of a singer and should have had his own record deal at the time. He did this hoping that one day the knuckle heads would look past his writing talent and recognize that a lot of the magic on the demos we cut were attributed to his voice. He would basically work on lyrics, hooks, and he could peck out bass lines, and beats on a keyboard. In addition to singing all the vocals on most of the tracks. While my forte was the hardcore keyboard stuff, midi, sequencing, sampling, beats and writing (both music and lyrics).

My reasoning for calling it magical, was because the whole 10 song a month thing became so easy with BJ around. We were both in our mid 20's in California, and single. I would wake up no later then 7AM and be in the studio hard at work, BJ generally showed up between 9 and 11AM. There was always a constant rotation of women stopping by or calling, but it never seemed to interfer with our flow. In the mid afternoon we would always take a break to chase/setup some skirts for the evening. Get back in around 5PM and work till around 9 or 10 at night. Then it was time to get ready to hit the club scene. I don't know how it works now, but in the 80's a lot of business went down in the clubs, so if you weren't there you missed out. This is how we lived day in and out for over 3 years, from sun up till sun down. Never once did we have an argument or disagreement.

After 3 years BJ finally got dicouraged with WB and moved to Texas, and I left not to long after he did. I wrote more songs during that 3 year window in my life then all the other years combined, and I'm currently 43. I never came close to that experience again, and though I'm forced to, I don't enjoy working solo.

I would give almost anything to relive one week of my life back then.

I miss you Bro!!!
Dallas

[ssprod19]

I usually start my tracks alone.. but once that's flushed out, I like to collaborate with another writer / artist on the melody and lyrics.

[Darwin James]

Alone is my middle, first and last name.

[beat you down]

i don't like to interact with others when making beats.
i'm not compatible with others when making beats.

[Nahuel]

I got the whole package; gurlfriend, day job, friends, home boys, associates, clients (for beats).

For beat making I work solo, with my associates (both rappers/beat makers), with my guitarist friend, with the eventual client.

Working solo is fast, "easy" and usually you end up with what you want.

Working with other ppl can be a lot mo complicated (especialy when there's no producer and it's more like a "democratic production" process) but the results are a lot more inpredictable. It can be well worth it.

[butterfly]

Lots of interesting perspectives here.

It's said that creativity starts to decline after around 28. Well I'm 38 and I say you can only do you!

I don't think there's any biological reason for that and indeed a lot of great work by great artist would refute that.....the list is endless, Miles Davis, woody Allen, Steve Martin, Bill Evans. Hell some composers wrote their greatest work in their 80's! No it aint hip hop but it's creativity. i think the brain begins to go into a small decline in your 40's but again, what you might lose in speed and dexterity you make up for in experience. With pop music a lot of groups do indeed write their best stuff in their 20's and by their 30's and 40's are simply re treading old ground, I suspect their are lots of reasons for that, too many drugs, too comfortable, too much money not enough to say. I think as you get older, things get in the way, kids, wives, Life etc. It gets harder to maintain that edge and literal "hunger". You are simply not open to or available to the experiences that came your way in your twenties.

I

wrote more songs during that 3 year window in my life then all the other years combined, and I'm currently 43. I never came close to that experience again, and though I'm forced to, I don't enjoy working solo.

I would give almost anything to relive one week of my life back then.

....That saddens me a little, get out there and take life by the balls, maybe you can't and you have other responsabilities but if don't then there is nothing stopping you. If you are a fat git get into the gym, get into shape. Throw out your old cd collection, get some pussy etc.........think young and you will be....think old and you will be.

There is to my mind nothing more important to the creative process than experience, pure and simple. Live!!!

[jimmydeluxe]

(Sung with Green Day nasal quality), "I work alone, I work alone..." On the music, that is--do occasionally do co-writes with vocalists.

Oh, yeah--probably 10 hrs/day average.

[Chaellus]

Alone here thats if you dont count sam adams and jack daniels or that green little fairy... and i put in about 12+ hrs.. during break a little meditation, some tea and some incense...turn the lights down dim and then keep mixing....

[Mr.Amokk]

I like cooperations as far as working with my mates over the internet etc...Maybe hang out with a friend in the studio for half a day, but besides that...

I WORK ALONE.

That's because I can't stand somebody watching me while working, that means less concentration wich leads into bad results...

When I see those Videos of 2Pac in the Studio with at least 30 People hanging on couches, tables, racks, floors, ceilings...smoking weed, chanting and partying....e...man that stuff would drive me crazy for real tutt

[Esdotroa]

for writing it's always been good for me
to sit with some other talent especially another lyricist and a singer

but making beats it seems like someone always wants to change a note or a layer and that time would just be better spent if both people made beats and then mixed um together.

I like to mix with someone else, record with someone else (obviously)

[JaeOne3345]

Originally Posted by Mr.Cheese

I'll take Ronnie Coleman's quote... "Everyone wanna be a bodybuilder but nobody wanna lift these heavy ass weights!" and transfer to music, so it becomes: Everyone wanna "do music" but nobody wants to learn how.

Someone should tell Ronnie to avoid his cycle and then lift the same "heavy ass weights." Mr. D-bol anabol. lol..

[Marogru]

Ok... I have a large piece to deal to...


I own a club thats open 6 days a week
I own a studio that works 7 days a week
I'm a mix engineer (sometimes recording) few days a week.
I'm a music producer, and this suffers the most last time and I wish it suffered the less, I'm investing in time to have for producion do develop my brand.
I have a very absorbing GF!!!! Fuking absorbing, but I love her.
I'm a sound director in theatre (2 plays under my supervision)
I'm a solution expert in one of the biggest distributon companies in Polnad (Apple (Logic AFC), Euphonix, studio designer)
and I'm also in band

So, as a sound engineer I mostly give my assistant the tracks, he prepares the sessions (editing, patching etc...) and then I work alone, or with executive producers.
As a producer I work alone, sometimes hire session musicians.

[deuc647]

Ok, ill bite. I work alone, i got out of music about a year ago after PTHD wouldnt get right on my comp, got frustruated and sold all my equipment, got into guns and damn they are expensive! Worse than music! Now, im back to music cuz i felt something missing, now i going in with a good friend, we both love 90s hip hop and he plays the drums guitar and bass, im mostly on keys and programming. But i work 11-7 nights, have a girl that is attached to the hip(hope she doesnt read this) so most of what i do is gonna be at night when im not working, but i do feel a partner is good for when you are stuck in a rut, feed off of each others ideas.

[protools21]

95% of the time i work solo i find that it helps get my creative juices flowing and im more prone to try new things and do some crazy ass editing along with fxs but every now and then i work with one of my close friends and thats the only guy i will have in my studio when im mixing cant do it with a bunch of people around...i usually do at least 4-6hrs a day wish i could do more but i got a job(blah!) and i got shcool as well so i gotta get my edumacation on!!!

[memphisindie]

I parked a BRC next to the drums so I can record lone, everything else, I can reach the buttons and the board.

I have 3 kids. One is home schooled, just got a guitar and he and his lil'bro are teaching each other guitar from a book, lil'bro plays violin. Sis plays viola. She wants to play drums, so distractions I love.

I could do it 48 hours a day, used to all the time, but in the process of building my new studio ALONE. The ceiling was a bugger. Lost the use of my shoulders for 6 months because of it. Feel the burn.
Somebody shoulda helped me lift those heavy as panels!
Nobody available.
Concrete is next.

I get in about 4 - 8 hours a day when I get a day to record.

Creativity is going waaaaaaayyyy UP!

[Griffin Avid]

If you do work by yourself, do you find your creative level going down as the years pass by.. uninspired?

Old topic returns huh...I'd like to hear from of the original posters and see what they are doing now...like an update...

I find the opposite is true. I think it's the combination of life (as stated previously) and actually achieving your goals. Married (settled down is an appropiate phrase...SETTLED DOWN). How exciting is that 5th championship?

I think living more means you've done more inspiring stuff as opposed to being young and being inspiredd by everyone and everything else. "Oh man, I love that song so I went home and wrote one just like it." As opposed to I wrote a song to mark my sons' birth.

They say celebrities spend their early years fighting for attention and their later years fighting for privacy.

Andre Agassi [sp] was doing ..almost nothing with a charmed life, he gets divorced/new chick and he roars back to life and sorta turns young again.
The fire and hunger returns.

Working by yourself is a blessing and curse. You don't have someone sitting over your shoulder shooting down ideas that they think won't work.
And also the point of creativity where no one understands the vision and no one is up at 3am to discuss it.

[riteup3]

Originally Posted by memphisindie

I could do it 48 hours a day, used to all the time, but in the process of building my new studio ALONE. The ceiling was a bugger. Lost the use of my shoulders for 6 months because of it. Feel the burn.
Somebody shoulda helped me lift those heavy as panels!
Nobody available.
Concrete is next.

I would never even begin to think about hanging drywall without one of those!