Old 03-26-2019, 05:26 PM   #1
AudioWonderland
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Default Remote Collaboration tools / processes

Some old bandmates want to do a record. We are know geographically separated and have scheduled that minimize the amount of travel we could realistically do. We are looking into find ways to effectively collaborate remotely. How do you guys handle working with remote musicians?
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Old 03-26-2019, 05:33 PM   #2
Glennbo
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Some old bandmates want to do a record. We are know geographically separated and have scheduled that minimize the amount of travel we could realistically do. We are looking into find ways to effectively collaborate remotely. How do you guys handle working with remote musicians?
I collaborate with a guy remotely on a fairly regular basis. The way we do it is I'll compose some stuff and come up with an arrangement that has at least enough core instruments to guide through the song. Then I make an MP3 of it and send it to him in an email.

He imports the MP3 into REAPER, sets the BPM to whatever the song is and adds his tracks. He then puts the wave file versions of his tracks up on dropbox where I can pick them up and import them into the project on my end where I'll mix and master it.

My friend was originally running Sonar and I was running REAPER, so the DAW doesn't have to be the same on both ends. He switched to REAPER though so we both run it now.
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Old 03-26-2019, 06:08 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Glennbo View Post
I collaborate with a guy remotely on a fairly regular basis. The way we do it is I'll compose some stuff and come up with an arrangement that has at least enough core instruments to guide through the song. Then I make an MP3 of it and send it to him in an email.

He imports the MP3 into REAPER, sets the BPM to whatever the song is and adds his tracks. He then puts the wave file versions of his tracks up on dropbox where I can pick them up and import them into the project on my end where I'll mix and master it.

My friend was originally running Sonar and I was running REAPER, so the DAW doesn't have to be the same on both ends. He switched to REAPER though so we both run it now.
Yep, that's pretty much the way I do it too. Works great if the best thing is not available: having all musicians together.
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Old 03-26-2019, 08:13 PM   #4
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https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/
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Old 03-27-2019, 01:42 AM   #5
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There should be a remote/cloud-shared Project kind of thing,
where each person connects to a Server, and basically can Share and Live Edit the same Reaper Project as if it was his own..

The users will have to have the same plugins/fx/sounds installed to avoid incompatibilities and speed up things..

(either that, or the Server should have all the plugins/sounds installed, and just live-stream the Playback to all the users..
ofc the problem here is bandwidth)

And well I think.. it's pretty much self explanatory!

This doesn't exist.. but you just gave me the idea,
and Reaper should by all means be the first one to implement it!


PS:
Ninjam could also be part of it, to help synchronize real-time capture/recording..
But well this could be a feature.. just live-sharing the actual Project would be the bomb!

Last edited by ernzo; 03-27-2019 at 03:12 AM.
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Old 03-27-2019, 03:02 AM   #6
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There should be a remote/cloud-shared Project kind of thing,
where each person connects to a Server, and basically can Share and Live Edit the same Project as if it was his own..
...
Ninjam could also be part of it, to help synchronize real-time capture/recording..
But well this could be a feature.. just live-sharing the actual Project would be the bomb!
+1
Also, ReaNINJAM can be set in "Session Mode" which is kinda what we want. Main problem is, that when any participant disconnects (for any reason) his audio is immediatelly gone - the audio is not saved at server side, so you cannot come back tomorrow and continue with all audio already present, nor can you collaborate off-time (e.g. you in the morning and your partner in the evening). If server-side saving of project/audio was added to current ReaNINJAM, it would be usable almost perfectly.
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Old 03-27-2019, 07:16 AM   #7
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as suggested with other thoughts:

get your other guys to all use reaper...

if they don't all have the third party plugins that you have, then before you send them a project, freeze your tracks that use vsti synths and then to avoid hassles, copy that track to a new track, unlock it and remove the original frozen track.

Do a new Save as of this project, like, "Our Song Work for Sending"

Then, assuming you have done the Save as to it's own project folder...
zip that folder and send it to them.
If it won't fit in email, use Wetransfer.com
you can send them up to 2gb for free that way...

They can do the same and send it back to you with something added to the name so you all can keep it sorted.
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Old 03-27-2019, 07:28 AM   #8
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Each participant does not need the whole project unless they are going to be actively participating in the mixing of it.

IOW, if someone is only going to be adding say two guitar tracks, but doing nothing with the mixing of the project, then all they need is a simple stereo reference track to play along with as they add their parts, and that stereo reference track could easily be an MP3 that was emailed to them. They don't all need to be running REAPER either if everyone isn't mixing the project.

For a couple of years I collaborated with an online friend who was using Cakewalk Sonar while I was using REAPER. I'd mail him a stereo MP3 of my song, he'd import that into Sonar, add some parts, and then export his individual tracks as .wav files, and put them on dropbox where I could pick them up and import them back into the project on my end.
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Old 03-27-2019, 10:47 AM   #9
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In my experience, one person, certainly in a "band" situation, ends up with the task at the end to mix, add effects and output the end result. The band I was in, quite a while ago now, the drummer didn't have any software whatsoever and I used to go round to his house with my Fostex HD recorder, the guitarist would record snippets of ideas in something like Audacity and only me and the bass player had Cakewalk. And even then, we didn't have the exact same effects.

Sure, if all parties concerned want to splash out on the same setup then, yeah, you could do something across the cloud. Google Drive would certainly work for that kind of thing, although I'm not sure how well REAPER would cope with playing audio... I might give it a go, just out of curiosity.

Not sure if you would be ever to work in the same project live, but, using Google Drive as an example, two people can be in the same spreadsheet at the same time, so, who knows, perhaps it could be possible with DAW software...


Outside of the "band" environment, that is, collaborating with just one or two artists, my preferred method is throwing WAV files back and forth over FTP or whatever.

I've done this quite a few times over the last couple of years and not one of the peeps I am collaborating with have the same effects or even DAW. WAV is the lowest common denominator for me...

Coming to the end of the collaboration we will decide between us who takes on the task of doing the final mix. And the collaboration I am currently working on, we have decided that we will get the track almost there, then we will both do a mix, compare, and take the best from each mix.


Okay, just my two pence... I'll get me coat
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Old 04-24-2019, 02:20 AM   #10
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Some old bandmates want to do a record. We are know geographically separated and have scheduled that minimize the amount of travel we could realistically do. We are looking into find ways to effectively collaborate remotely. How do you guys handle working with remote musicians?
Details pls refer to https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=219539
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