Productivity Software, But Just for Us

I’m not the most organised person, I’ll admit that. So I tend to outsource it. I don’t mean paying for a PA or studio assistant - I mean that I find ways for technology to fill in the gaps between my organisational abilities and the results I need. These days there are an awful lot of options if you’re looking for organisation and productivity software. Like, an awful lot. And I’ve tried loads of them. Here’s the problem though, with every app that I’ve tried I seem to spend as much time trying to organise the software as I do trying to organise my life and work. With Gantt charts, kanban boards, and inter-relational input fields which automatically go into some calendars, but not all calendars - sprinkle in some really ineffective AI as well - and the labyrinth of productivity software is a job in itself to manage. And none have them have ever done what I need.

As musicians, producers, and engineers we work on reasonably similar projects every time. There are a bunch of instruments that need to be recorded, and the music needs to be mixed then mastered. Being able to hear the latest version of each track keeps you up to date, and everyone working on the project should have access to this information. If the backing singer knows there are three more tracks that they haven’t sung on yet and is able to keep up with those tracks as other instruments are being added, he or she is in a great position to be ready when needed to do their parts. Inter-relational fields between calendars and Gantt charts don’t help with this at all.

So, after trying probably everything (apart from dedicating myself to a six-week course on how to use software that’s supposed to make me more productive) I decided the only solution was to come up with a really specific app that would be everything that musicians, producers, and engineers need – and nothing they don’t need.

And that’s how we ended up with Multiband. It did take a lot of tweaking and refining, but now we have a simple app designed just for us, where you can see at a glance where your project is, update it whenever you need to, and add collaborators – who get automatically emailed when the project is updated. It’s cheaper than a coffee a month, and (as much as I’m a big fan of caffeine) helps you get you work completed faster and more efficiently than one cup of coffee does.

Pop over to multiband.io and see why I went to all this effort!