Unlocking Creativity: How Separate Spaces Can Enhance Collaboration
A magical week. A magical device.
I wrote three new songs. All in the past week.
I should be more specific, because it matters.
I wrote three new songs I actually like in the past week.
If you’re a songwriter, you know how rare it can be to tap into such a fortuitous flow. Some days, inspiration lurks within, like a captive bird fluttering within its cage, unable to break free. Other days, on rare occasions, there’s no other way to describe the songwriting process other than magical.
And last week? It was pure magic.
I should be clear: I typically don’t write songs alone. I do have my band I trust. Even more, I have my songwriting partner, bandmate and keyboardist extraordinaire, Tal. We’ve been jamming and collaborating, off and on, for about 20 years now. We first teamed up way back when “The Evolution of Dance” blew up the internet on a new digital platform called “YouTube.” Ah, the internet in its infancy. In the famous words of Van the Man Morrison: “My, how you have grown.”
Back to YouTube: At that time, I remember hearing people say, “You’re telling me you can watch videos without it getting all laggy? Yeah. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Fast-forward to today. Now when I tell someone about the Lutefish Stream Device — that it lets you jam live, in real time, online, with low latency, I hear people say: “You’re telling me you can jam with someone else over the internet without the timing being all out of sync? Yeah. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Nonbelievers, behold: You can see it. And hear it.
I’ll type it again, because it’s worth repeating: Thanks to Lutefish Stream, now you can jam live, in real time, online, with low latency. Technically, the latency levels are below 30 milliseconds. So, like, not-even-there minimal.
Obviously, this is pretty revolutionary for a music collaboration device. Now you can play with other musicians — take your band, for example — without ever leaving the house. Of course, this can be really nice — especially when the weather’s bad or it’s rush hour, or you just don’t have the time in your day but you still need to rehearse.
It’s a time-saver, that’s for sure. But this is what really gets me excited about the Lutefish Stream:
I wrote three new songs I actually like in the past week.
You need to know this would have never happened without this awesome new device. With the Lutefish Stream, whenever I feel a creative spark (or explosion, depending on the day), I’m just a few clicks away from connecting with Tal, my writing partner. The next thing you know, boom: We’re working through a song together, in real time, with our instruments, over the internet.
More songwriting time together equals more songwriting time.
Case in point: Last week, I was in my home studio noodling around with a riff on guitar, but it was missing something. The lick was hooky and interesting, but it needed more punch. It needed Tal. Enter Lutefish Stream. Within minutes, the two of us are bouncing ideas back and forth — he’s on his piano, I’ve got my guitar, and we’re co-writing like we’re in the same room together. Before I knew it, we had ourselves a song — a song I am still proud of a week later. Now, I can tell you from experience, this lightning-in-a-bottle songwriting moment would never have happened if, the second I felt inspired, I had to break away from my guitar, pack up my gear and drive a full 20 minutes to Tal’s house, set up my gear ... you get the idea.
Instant collaboration. That’s the real beauty of the Lutefish Stream. I now have the freedom to connect with my band almost immediately to write, to create, to problem solve, to work through ideas — all in real time, online. These have been the biggest benefits for me: I’m more creative, more collaborative, more prolific. It has unlocked a creative drive inside, and I’m more collaborative than ever before. As a band, we are writing a lot more because we’re getting together a lot more. And that’s simply because we need to travel a lot less. Best of all, we’ve never been closer as a band. We’re bonding through all the collaboration and sharing of ideas.
Welcome to music collaboration in the modern era.
The Lutefish Stream is a powerful tool, truly the unsung hero behind three new songs — and perhaps many more to come.
In fact, if one of these songs ever makes it on our next album (and I’m thinking at least one will — because I still love them that much), I should really give the device songwriting credits: “This song made possible by my Lutefish Stream. Thanks for making my band magically appear in my house whenever inspiration strikes.”
The Lutefish Stream. This is collaboration 3.0. The same internet that brought you the “Evolution of Dance” now brings you the “Evolution of Songwriting.” It’s musicians collaborating. From different addresses. In real time. Making beautiful music together.
You’ve come a long way, internet.