I have collaborated with both producer/songwriters, and lyricists in helping them complete their songs.

In the case of lyricists, I will discuss the type of song they are wanting and then using their lyrics, I will compose the music and create the melody, using their lyrics. We then become co-writers of the song, sharing a 50/50 songwriter royalty split. Lastly, I can create a quality recording of the piece, resulting in a professional track.

In the case of writers of music, I can compose lyrics to match their melody, and I can either provide a fully produced track of the results, or I can simply provide the vocal track they will then add to their music. I work whatever way the artist prefers.

If I take on a collaboration project with someone, I don't charge for creating my portion of the song, as the royalty split is sufficienet. However, if I am creating a produced song, using many tracks of instruments and voices, I must charge for my production costs. These are two different things.

On a number of occasions, I've been able to add a single instrument to an existing recording. Ideally, the artist sends me a high-quality copy of the song and I create the new instrument track. I can either send the instrument track to them to mix in with their song, or I can do the mixing here and send the track back to them.

In some cases, I will add an entire string orchestral arrangement, or choirs, or other instruments to an existing song. As in the previous example, the artist may send me a high-quality copy of the song and I create the new tracks. I can either send the new tracks to them to mix in with their song, or I can do the mixing here and send the track back to them.

A much better way to do this, would be if the artist can send me 'stems', which are their individual tracks. I can then re-mix everything with the new parts and send the full production back to them, OR I can just send the stems for each of the tracks I create, and they can mix it at their end.

It all depends on what the artist requests.

Sometimes an artist may only sing and play one instrument. Whenever possible, I will have them send an isolated track of the instrument and one of their vocals. Then, I can add whatever other instruments would suit the song and mix it all here for a fully produced song.

In some cases, they may sing their own backing vocals, or I might provide them, depending on their abilities or on the song.

Occasionally an artist will provide a very rough instrumental and vocal for me. I will then learn and play the instruments that will bring their song to life, and replace their rough vocal with professional voices, resulting in a much higher quality sound to their song.

Depending on the level of involvement I am given, I might change minor strutcural aspects of a song, perhaps adding a couple of instrumental bars between verses, or creating an ending.

This is always done with the artist's involvement, so it is always to their liking. This is often part of what a music producer will do.