Co-writing on Skype: Does it work?

[maryshaw]

Hello all,

I'm curious about whether or not co-writing on Skype works. Have you done it? What was good? What was bad? I study piano with a teacher in L.A. over Skype and absolutely love it, so I figured it might also work for songwriting. Obviously the writers would need to have a relationship established up front prior to working together. The only reference I could find in the forum on the topic was here http://forums.taxi.com/post225988.html? ... pe#p225988, which was helpful.

Please share your thoughts, and let me know if you'd like to try a session via Skype. My focus is mostly acoustic singer-songwriter stuff with female vocals. Thanks for your help!

Best,
Mary

[riHDer]

Hi, Mary.
I don't see why there would be any problem. I have used it before with a friend and it works fine as long as you have a fast enough connection so that you don't get frustrated with hic-ups.
John

[mojobone]

Haven't tried it, yet, but I recently 'equipped' for it. I don't have a Skype account, but Google Mail offers free video chat.

[ideascapes]

Mary, I have used Skype, e-mail, and telephone for co-writing and find it very valuable. With e-mail, there's a lot of back-and-forth, which can get frustrating. Where Skype really comes in handy is when I'm producing a recording session remotely. I can listen in to what's being recording, hear the playback real-time with the musician/singer, and give feedback/inputs right away.

Vince

[maryshaw]

Hi Vince,

Yeah the immediate audio/visual feedback from Skype is what I love most about my piano lessons. I can definitely see the value of that in both a recording and writing session. I think I would get impatient and/or frustrated co-writing via email. For me it would be too hard to establish the vibe. Thanks for the tip!

[davewalton]

I've co-written tracks just through email, websites and ftp. Skype would only serve to enhance that experience I'm sure!

[AndrewCavanagh]

I've done a lot of co-writing on Skype and many pros are now doing it too when they co-write with artists because it's a more practical way to take advantage of any spare time an artist might have while touring or at home.

I live in Australia and write with songwriters and artists in the US and Australia. At present I have 6 songs on hold that were written on Skype.

The advantages are the time and opportunity...there's no travel time and you can do it wherever you can get a reasonable internet connection.

The disadvantages are the limitations...you can't have one person playing an instrument at one end and one singing at the other due to the time delay.

I suggest you use a Google doc to write with then both of you can have the Google doc open and edit in real time and see what the other person has written.

I covered in detail my insights into co-writing on Skype here...
http://songwritersneeded.com/co-writing-songs-on-skype/

I'm happy to answer any questions you have on my own process using Skype.

[mojobone]

'K, then; SINCE 2010, I've used Skype for collabs, and it works great, so long as realtime jamming is not required.

[Kolstad]

Sure it works, but I would say it's better if you've actually met the people you're working with. It's hard to get to know people by skype, their vibe ect, and how you should approach them. On skype you take turns and some of those real life details gets lost.

[Paulie]

Skype is cool, but using it means I have to get dressed, do my hair and makeup... and then make sure the room is somewhat organized.