 If you work with other people on your music, one of the most dangerous fields is how to deal with someone who isn't doing something you like. I've talked in previous videos about how to keep an open environment in the studio to get the best out of your songs, but there's sometimes you just have to tell someone you don't enjoy what they're doing. In this video, I'm gonna discuss a handful of ways to give criticism to get the best out of the performers you work with in your music. Hi, I'm Jesse Cannon, and this is Muse Formation. In a creative environment, if everyone is willing to hear comments on their work, you're on to way bigger and better things. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves. On my podcast where I interview producers, there's a common trait that angers them. When a musician says, can you turn the compressor off that snare? When a compressor isn't even on the snare, it elicits an angry reaction from the producer as a musician is overstepping their boundaries. Most people can tell from a mile away when someone is swimming out of their lane of expertise and into theirs. It's basic human nature to be a bit annoyed when that happens. While it's a bit silly, these producers are angered by this, especially since the musician is trying to just be happy with an album they may promote for the rest of their life. The producer is angered that you're not talking to them in a way that's helpful to achieve your goal. A better way for the musician to phrase this could be something like, can we work on the snare a bit? It's feeling a bit compressed maybe. I want it to be a bit more gentle. That questioning deference shows that you want the other person's input and opens a conversation. There are a few details to this technique to pay attention to. First, it's also polite without offering a direct action that must be done. Secondly, it offers some solutions but it doesn't give it an imperative. It's also helpful to describe the emotional response you'd like it to be closer to. It can occasionally be hard to get on the same page using words like gentle. But if there's an example of a record with the sound you'd like the snare to be closer to, you can usually get an engineer to get it closer to what you want by talking this way. The same criticism skills go for your band members. Being super specific about what you want them to do could suck the creativity right out of them. While you may know you want your basis to play their part an octave higher for the last part of the chorus, it can often be helpful to ask them for some other ideas on what they could do for that bar. Allowing them to come up with solutions makes them not only feel valued but also helps them maintain their interest in the project. It could also lead them to come up with an idea that's better than what you thought of or it can be combined with yours for an even better result. Even some of the least proficient musicians I've worked with will surprise me when I exercise this technique. If the musician is great at their instrument, they probably have a more advanced way of getting what you want. If you communicate with them in a way that opens up possibilities instead of shutting them down with overbearing suggestiveness, if they don't come up with a better idea, you always have yours. When working with outside collaborators or studio musicians, there's a few techniques I use to maximize their contributions with a similar technique. I make them two mixes before a session. One contains the part the songwriter and I have composed for them to play on a MIDI instrument. Then we'll have another mix that doesn't include our example. I tell them to listen to the song without the part we wrote to come up with their own ideas. I'll get a few takes of their own idea to see if they come up with anything better than what we already have. After that, I get them to play the part we wrote, sometimes with some ideas they came up with added in. After they record the part we both wrote and comp together our ideas, I then ask, is there anything you can think of to improve this part? That single question is usually where the magic of collaboration happens. The session player is often creatively stifled by following orders from those who don't understand their instrument as well as they do, feeling both frustration and resentment. But given the chance to improve upon an already finished idea, it boldens their expertise to find small inflections we overlook that a proficient player often understands. Allowing collaborators to develop their own ideas while letting them feel like the expert opens up creative potential. Even if you know exactly what you want, allow your ideas to be approved upon since there's little cost compared to the reward. Let's also remember constructive criticism is often about keeping a conversation going. Camille Paglia says, rule of art can't kill creativity. In acting improvisation classes, there's a technique called yes, but that allows conversation to keep going for your collaborators to work off of. With suggesting or criticizing a part of a song, this is helpful when you introduce no, but. Adding an alternative or a more descriptive part to your criticism allows conversations to start, whereas only saying you don't like something leaves conversations in an uncomfortable place. It's inspiring for collaborators to hear what you like or dislike since it offers a place to build from. Criticism is only labeled constructive when you can build from it. Try to make sure all your criticism or affirmations have a description that inspires the next step helps keep the momentum going. David Lidge says, negativity is the enemy of creativity. Leaving an open-ended solution to the problem that includes the person being criticized, involved, will always get a better reaction. After stating what you find wrong, offering a solution, but not strictly stating that it's the only way to do it, leaves the door open. Simple statements like what if we try or since you're good at this stuff, what do you think we could do to fix this can get an amazing reaction from collaborators. If you do have to criticize someone, find anything nice to say first and your criticism will be met with much more open years. I try to find anything. No matter how hard I have to try, I can compliment before giving a seriously harsh criticism when working with musicians. This tactic often leads to them accepting the criticism and openly evaluating it. If I like one part of the song, I will always lead with that and then I may have to tell them to throw out the entire rest of the song. But there's a time to be detailed about what you want. We just talked a lot about leaving things open for collaborators, yet there are times that being overly descriptive can be extremely helpful. Just as you should leave your collaborator some wiggle room to be creative, there are times to give a lot of direction. In short studio sessions, it can be hard for a collaborator to know what you want when you're not familiar with one another unless you're able to express what you're looking for in great detail. As a mixer, I'm doing a process the musicians I work with have little knowledge about. When I receive mixed notes from the musicians I work with, I tell them and explain their thoughts in as many words as possible. And sure, sometimes I'm annoyed having to sort through paragraphs, but it often helps me get what they want better and give more thought to the process. Usually these musicians don't have the lexicon to easily describe what they want so encouraging them to go overboard can give me clues to what they're looking for. Detailed input on what you like, whether it's tone, inflection, composition, et cetera, can be extremely helpful in getting your vision across, especially if there's a communication barrier. One last rule that really helps is to wait for an idea to be realized until you criticize it. One of the most common disputes in collaboration is when someone critiques an idea before it's ready to be judged. Many ideas aren't able to be judged unless they've been developed for a few minutes or the proper context is presented. The fastest way to a fight during a song's drafting is to judge a person's idea before it's even been realized. Not only does this cripple the chance of the idea improving the song, but it also stifles the person whose idea it was. Just as we discussed with brainstorming sessions and musical environments going wrong, we must remember one of the only ways collaborative environments work properly is by not criticizing others until an idea is fully developed. While this can seem like a waste of time, the momentum drained when collaborators feel hushed along with the bad environment it creates isn't worth the time saved. That's it, am I missing anything? Is there any way you would have done this? I need to know your questions and what no one else is telling you since I want to answer them, so leave them in the comments. I hope you liked this video and if you did, please like and subscribe and get notified for my future videos since I'm going to be breaking down the concepts in this video along with tons of others on promoting your music and how to make music you're more happy with. As well, I have a Facebook group that's linked below that has only helpful information. No one tried to sell you anything, playlist or con artists, only helpful information for musicians looking to be better themselves. If you want to learn more about me, make a record with me or check out any of my books, podcasts or anything else I do, head to jessecanon.com or at jessecanon.com on any of the socials. Thanks for watching. One last thing, if you liked this video, there's two playlists here with tons more videos that you'll probably enjoy. One's about how you promote your music and the other's about how you make songs you're happy with. Otherwise, you can hit the subscribe button here to see the rest of my videos. Thanks so much for watching.