Collabs are hard things to do so i'm here to give my tips and what I personally learnt. I MIGHT add things later on, so feel free to bookmark this page and come back later whenever you need guidance. and feel free to share your tips.

Misconceptions:

You need to collab with people with the same genre as you --- False: Actually collabs turn out more interesting if you collab with people in genre's you have never touched. I feel it has the same chance as working than with a genre you are comfortable in. If not better, because you are open to new ideas and methods from your friend.

My tips:

Get to know the collaborator: I always assume the collaborators are close-minded and goal-driven at the very start, unless they tell me otherwise. Even if they say they don't mind making anything, sometimes they truly want to go in a direction, but they don't want to tell you.

Understand what the other collaborators goals are/Try to figure out what they are trying to make: If you want to finish your collaboration, make sure you understand what the collaborator wants to accomplish. Every artist has their own vision for how a song will end up being finished. You don't even need to ask, you can tell by what they make, or delete. If they do not get what they want, they will give up. that is as simple as it is. Same is given for you, do not bully each other.

Personally, during the first steps of collaboration, I never set a goal on what i wish to create. Only until there is some foundation, I set a goal, and I communicate, or I follow the other collaborator's goals. If you really *really* want to take a draft in your direction. Save a bookmark, and continue working on your own version. And then your mind is free to take on a different direction with your collaborator.

Be open minded, set low expectations: During the collaboration, you will hear synths that sound incomplete, that may be because someone is working on a synth and they aren't done yet. Give them time to polish, and don't touch anything until they are done. Also allow things that you wouldn't normally add in your music, that's the whole point in collaboration.

I would also recommend allowing some stuff that sounds bad and try to polish it to a point where it's acceptable. People don't like it when you delete their work, so it's just a method to keep things rolling.

Polish Polish Polish 🇵🇱 If you are working on something, never leave it unfinished. Always close the draft in a listenable state. Nobody wants to hear unfinished synth work. When I open a draft and this is what I see, I assume this is what your vision will be, and you have considered it finished in this state. For example: loud synths, unfitting synths, unfinished lead patterns... PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD communicate when something is NOT FINISHED!!!! Either by muting it, putting a note on something or just say in the chat! I will say this again. I WILL ASSUME THIS IS FINISHED and if it sounds bad i will delete it or change it myself.

Sometimes things are not meant to be There will always be a chance where someone will give up for some reason. It could be that the draft is lagging too much, or that they create music in a very different method to you, and they are not comfortable with your methods or it's simply just artist block. It does not matter what you have in common with the artist, sometimes it does not go right and it might be better to try again another time.