Single Producers vs Collaborative Efforts

I'm wondering why there isn't more long term collaborative efforts in techno. Yes.. I know there are some.. (and I can already see people coming out of the woodwork here mentioning random names).. but overall there very few dj/producer teams. As I'm mentioned in previous posts, of late I'm getting deeper into the breaks scene and 'over in that camp' well over half of the successful producers/dj's are teams of 2.... And not just for a single release.. I'm taking life long associations. Releasing tracks together, playing dj or live sets together.. etc.. . Techno is far more of an individualistic group (with the odd random collaboration here and there)

I think a lot of original ideas can come out of a group effort. I really think that techno suffers from not having more.

Thoughts?

I think it's hard, because when you find people that you really click with musically, they more than likely live in different countries.
Or just not right down the street.

True, but its easy enough to zip up self contained 'live sets' for example and send or upload them somewhere.

Not ideal, but i've worked that way before

surely there would be many often used engineers who would build almost a co working relationship with artists ?

drummer has done lots of engineering for peeps (i think) and Liebing was with Andre Wooden is it ? not sire of his name now.. few beers, but ya get ny drift ?

Yeah I think collaborative efforts often push people to try harder. And you're right, perhaps more group efforts would benefit the techno scene - it might also spur on more 'live' techno sets too.

I don't think ive ever met anyone who writes techno who i click with well enough to work with

The few times ive tried though you almost always end up with something quirky and original...a meld of two styles

Its often better to work with someone who has a different outlook on the music, who is adept at different skills.

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Originally Posted by dodgyedgy

Its often better to work with someone who has a different outlook on the music, who is adept at different skills.

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agreed.

which 2 producers who have never produced together before would you like to see do a track?

Surgeon/Speedy J for me.

Totally not gonna happen but it'd be great to hear what they'd put out between them

yeah, i love working with other people, my very first release ended up being a collab with Pete, he does some great loops and parts and always inspires me to do something good with them, got a few things on the go now that im hoping to release by next year, but sometimes you just want your own headspace and emotions in your tracks, but collabing can be great stuff.

Like it or not, there is a great and very healthy collab ethos in minimal at the moment, alot of artists are constantly getting together and jamming out live sets and working on records, and not long ago there were a couple of events were the likes of Luciano, Villalobos, akufen, twerk (i think) and a few others all did a 7 man live show where they hooked up their laptops and played everything out on the fly, and the reports ive heard where pretty special indeed. Although i couldnt see that working with the regular techno bods to that extent really, but it's always nice to see 2 or more people actually playing some music live.

Underground Resistance cannot be beaten for this, last November the Galaxy to Galaxy live show and Los Hermanos was easily, and i mean EASILY, the best truely live gig ive ever witnessed. It was beyond special

Think collabs are ace

And often the best ways to start out. Mates in D&B could never have gone it alone, and all too often do technasia style dj & engineer partnerships.

Works best that way. If you produce you need to cash in on your success with some sort of live performance or dj set. But if you are a cracking dj you probably have limited time in the studio, and vice versa. Only so much time to spend on various things.

Plus other people can push you, keep you on track and stop noodly self indulgent "journeys of discovery" that people can lapse into if they start believing their own hype and get a bit carried away with solo projects.

Techno is a mature dance scene. People who started out collaborating have enough individual reputation and clout to go it alone. Some partnerships are necessary, others are just expedient.

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Originally Posted by force

True, but its easy enough to zip up self contained 'live sets' for example and send or upload them somewhere.

Not ideal, but i've worked that way before

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nah thats a complete pain in the arse. I'm sure that at any one time, most techno guys have at least 10 tracks they would be happy to collaborate on. It would take a shitload of time to organise, export, compress and send all files back and forth... there just isn't enough time in the day for that sort of ****ing about when all you wanna do is jam some awesome music.

...and people use different gear and plugins and thats only 1/4 of the problem.

Disagree totally, i've done it before and i'll do it again.

it takes f*ck all time to self contain a live set, zip it up and upload.

I agree its preferable to be in the studio at the same time, and the 'plug in' thing can be awkward but not disasterous,
but at the end of the day, its just another way of working and can be very inspiring.
Its a buzz hearing what someone else has done with a tune, without interference from me, or vice verca

yeah, it's ****ing easy to work that way, i do it all the time. And if there are any software issues such as the plug in thing, then send wav's, or aifs or whatever you work with. Easy peasy, takes no time at all, and can allow people in totally different countries to work together on a daily basis

i remember a great interview with Luke Slater when he spoke about a file transfer system he set up to allow him and Alan Sage to work on various sections of various releases at any one time, where they networked and sent wav's over the network for each other to edit and work on etc etc, people have been doing this sort of thing for years with no problems

i send most of my finished material for release via the internet now, it would take days to send a CD to america yet i sent my finished tracks for my last release to Xavier in Brooklyn in about half an hour, whats a pain in the arse or time consuming about that? that was a track, parts and various other files. Job's a good un

I've done it too and it was a hassle more than anything (compared to doing it solo or collaborating directly in the studio)....

maybe its just me :(

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maybe its just me

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Just try and keep things as simple as poss ;)

Lovin the tunes on your 'myspace' page BTW

Apocalypse is f*ckin great

thanx mate :)

yeah I've streamlined my workflow lately in order to keep things simpler... I'll give the online collabs another shot.

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Originally Posted by Komplex

I've done it too and it was a hassle more than anything

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I guess that's the point. We seem to be a bunch of degenerate individuals and want to keep it that way for the most part. Nothing lost.. but nothing gained either.

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Originally Posted by eyeswithoutaface

yeah, i love working with other people, my very first release ended up being a collab with Pete, he does some great loops and parts and always inspires me to do something good with them, got a few things on the go now that im hoping to release by next year, but sometimes you just want your own headspace and emotions in your tracks, but collabing can be great stuff.

Like it or not, there is a great and very healthy collab ethos in minimal at the moment, alot of artists are constantly getting together and jamming out live sets and working on records, and not long ago there were a couple of events were the likes of Luciano, Villalobos, akufen, twerk (i think) and a few others all did a 7 man live show where they hooked up their laptops and played everything out on the fly, and the reports ive heard where pretty special indeed. Although i couldnt see that working with the regular techno bods to that extent really, but it's always nice to see 2 or more people actually playing some music live.

Underground Resistance cannot be beaten for this, last November the Galaxy to Galaxy live show and Los Hermanos was easily, and i mean EASILY, the best truely live gig ive ever witnessed. It was beyond special

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Eyes without a face.............what is your production name? Where can i find your releases?

Im a bit of a slag with co ops and try to work with as many people as I can(alltho of course most of my time is focused on my own sound)

Its easy to swap wavs and ideas over the net and I allways find that I work double as hard at trying to do somthing that the other guy can be proud to have his name on too.
Also it allways makes me try new things to fit in with their ideas and sound.

Working with someone sat beside you I find pretty hard, somtimes you can do somthing that you realy want to be in the track but the other guy wont be feeling what so ever and visa versa, plus its hard to share the time at the helm(for instance sat watching with an idea bursting to get out but the other dude is half way thru getting his idea down)
But its great to have sombody whos stronger at somthing your not so hot at your self.

On my own my music can convay how im feeling with someone else we usualy come out with somthing realy good that none of us were expecting.

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Originally Posted by benjames

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Originally Posted by eyeswithoutaface

yeah, i love working with other people, my very first release ended up being a collab with Pete, he does some great loops and parts and always inspires me to do something good with them, got a few things on the go now that im hoping to release by next year, but sometimes you just want your own headspace and emotions in your tracks, but collabing can be great stuff.

Like it or not, there is a great and very healthy collab ethos in minimal at the moment, alot of artists are constantly getting together and jamming out live sets and working on records, and not long ago there were a couple of events were the likes of Luciano, Villalobos, akufen, twerk (i think) and a few others all did a 7 man live show where they hooked up their laptops and played everything out on the fly, and the reports ive heard where pretty special indeed. Although i couldnt see that working with the regular techno bods to that extent really, but it's always nice to see 2 or more people actually playing some music live.

Underground Resistance cannot be beaten for this, last November the Galaxy to Galaxy live show and Los Hermanos was easily, and i mean EASILY, the best truely live gig ive ever witnessed. It was beyond special

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Eyes without a face.............what is your production name? Where can i find your releases?

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my name is Scott Gray, i release the more regular techno i do under my normal name and i use the guise "Texture" for the more minimal and electronic/deeper stuff i produce

my stuff is usually always on Juno and they should have my last release back in now, Texture - Registry Check - on Tim Xavier's new imprint Klickhaus, but released so far on various labels including Template, Native Diffusion, Advanced (digital) , Klickhaus and have numerous ep's forthcoming on Emetic, Infecta and some others when they are finalised.

check www.beatport.com for the Advanced too and all the other usual places like Banging Tunes etc etc

hope that helps :)