Silvercrow Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Hi Everybody! Hope you all had a great Labor Day (those who celebrate it / fortunate enough to have off work)! I spent the afternoon with my co-bandmate working on two originals! Things are going wonderfully- very excited about it. BUT, he's my senior and retired; leaving for Florida beginning of October and wont be back until April . Question is- how can we collaborate / send music back and forth more efficiently than burning a CD / MP3 and sending via mail? I should mention that I'm not the most (ahem) astute person when it comes to things computer. I'm willing to invest some money on equipment or an interface, but I don't have very much to spend. If someone can point me in the right direction or make suggestions I'd be appreciattive! Basically I'd like to be able to send, say a chord progression along with rudimentary vocals, just something to give him and idea to put a bass line / tweak, and him the same to me. Thanks everybody! Brian
Guest Farnsbarns Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Hi Everybody! Hope you all had a great Labor Day (those who celebrate it / fortunate enough to have off work)! I spent the afternoon with my co-bandmate working on two originals! Things are going wonderfully- very excited about it. BUT, he's my senior and retired; leaving for Florida beginning of October and wont be back until April . Question is- how can we collaborate / send music back and forth more efficiently than burning a CD / MP3 and sending via mail? I should mention that I'm not the most (ahem) astute person when it comes to things computer. I'm willing to invest some money on equipment or an interface, but I don't have very much to spend. If someone can point me in the right direction or make suggestions I'd be appreciattive! Basically I'd like to be able to send, say a chord progression along with rudimentary vocals, just something to give him and idea to put a bass line / tweak, and him the same to me. Thanks everybody! Brian You should be able to do this via email. If the files are very large and you find you're unable to email them due to restriction imposed by your email provider then a simple 2-3$ a month shared web hosting service will give you both ftp access to up/down load files at will. Even dropbox or a similar cloud service of your preference would do it.
kidblast Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Hi Brian THE way to do this, is both (or all) parties would have Pro-tools Installations and the appropriate environment(s) on the PCs, then you transfer the project files using dropbox and import the pro-tools files, do your tracks, (if that's your aim) and then, put the new updated project in Dropbox and everyone pulls your changes. I did this with my son a few times, he'd send me the project tracks, I'd add what ever I needed, and send it back (using drop box) That does work really well. But,, this is probably a bit more than you're looking for, seems you just want to share ideas start out with Dropbox and see how that incorporates. but, honestly email for a single MP3 file is probably just as easy for where you're going at the moment.
Searcy Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 The last big collab I worked on had members in Tennessee, Florida, UK, Germany, Canada, India and Australia. We used DropBox for recording with Reaper and YouTube to show ideas or problems.
the dog Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Like the posting above I also use Dropbox....very good for long distance collaboration.. Myself and my collaborators all use the same DAW,..
'Scales Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Hi Brian, I send ideas for songs to bandmates a fair bit and I'll tell you what I do because its stupidly simple but effective for rudinetary sharing... Get your phone (I have an Apple one) and use the Voice Memo app (like a dictophone in the old days "message to self, get milk on the way home...") that just comes with it loaded standard. you can literally just put the phone on or in front of you amp, hit the start button on the app, play your stuff, hit the button again when your done, then hit send icon, choose email, put in their email address and send. A song is usually only 1-2 mb so completely doable via normal email. a better version of the above if you have a looper pedal is to play your stuff normally onto looper then when you've nailed it and the family is quiet for a few minutes (no TV blaring etc) just play the loop back through the amp and record as above - no red light fever that way, just take your time till you are happy with your playing. You can sing along as you record onto the phone if necessary. hope that helps - its not great, but its quick, easy, gets the job done and all you need is a standard smartphone. if on acoustic you need nothing but phone - even recording an un-plugged electric works fine for just sharing ideas.
Rabs Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 How about Soundcloud.. you can upload mp3s and stuff and download them as well as just stream it.. wont cost you anything. Do the rest via email or instant messenger app...
zigzag Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 I recently received the rhythm part of a song from a friend via e-mail in MP3 format. I imported it into Audacity, expanded it, recorded a lead track over the top, converted it to an MP3, and sent it back to him. I converted it to a wav. file, but it was too large to e-mail. This was really easy to do, and I imagine that it could be done with any DAW software. Audacity is so easy and it's free.
surfpup Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 You can definitely do this. ShredAstaire and I collaborated on a tune of his. I won't post it here since it's his baby, but he sent me the track and I added vocals. It was a blast. I recommend this type of collaboration highly. Even if the finished product isn't stellar (due to file size limits, etc) the collaboration is priceless!
Silvercrow Posted September 9, 2015 Author Posted September 9, 2015 GOOD STUFF folks! I'll be checking these ideas out as soon as things calm a bit (short week- started out "behind"). I did not know what a DAW was- heard of Soundcloud- see previous statement. I swear I'm so blasted backward on this stuff. Scales- love that idea! I am embarrassed to say it but the truth; the wife and I do not have smart phones! However- we are due for upgrades and have decided to leap into this century...I hope we don't hurt anything when we do!? I'm surprised at the stuff out there that is free! Free is always good (mostly always). @ Kidblast Hi Brian THE way to do this, is both (or all) parties would have Pro-tools Installations and the appropriate environment(s) on the PCs, then you transfer the project files using dropbox and import the pro-tools files, do your tracks, (if that's your aim) and then, put the new updated project in Dropbox and everyone pulls your changes. I did this with my son a few times, he'd send me the project tracks, I'd add what ever I needed, and send it back (using drop box) That does work really well. But,, this is probably a bit more than you're looking for, seems you just want to share ideas start out with Dropbox and see how that incorporates. but, honestly email for a single MP3 file is probably just as easy for where you're going at the moment. I saw a free/introductory version of ProTools- ProTools/First? Could you tell me of an inexpensive version that will allow some manipulation? If we can do it- it would be cool to be able to add tracks and shuffle things around. The first CD my originals band recorded on a combo of ADAT tape and ProTools- the second exclusively with ProTools. I could go $100.00 or so but not $500. The ProTools is amazing and seems like I could learn rudimentary function quickly. Kidblast or anyone- is CakeWalk any good? A guy at work mentioned it today- have not had a chance to check it out yet... THANKS! Brian
kidblast Posted September 9, 2015 Posted September 9, 2015 H Brian My version of pro tools came with my USB interface, so I'm not sure which license I wound up with. what would u use for your interface? /ray
Silvercrow Posted September 9, 2015 Author Posted September 9, 2015 H Brian My version of pro tools came with my USB interface, so I'm not sure which license I wound up with. what would u use for your interface? /ray Hi Ray- Now there's a darn good question! I don't know... In a perfect world something with one 1/4" input and one XLR. I could use the XLR for a mic or my acoustic... Is there a possibility of interface between my Mustang III amp and ProTools? Sorry- I am FAAAR behind the curve on this stuff. No time like the present... THANKS- Brian
kidblast Posted September 9, 2015 Posted September 9, 2015 I have a few M-Boxes (from Presonis) it's a USB connection into the PC, and a few XLR and 1/4 inputs from guitars/keys or a mic. I think the Stangs come with Ableton but I'm not sue myself how that works. I'm way behind on this too, I default to my Son who knows more about this than I could ever learn in the time I have left on earth.
valtyr Posted September 9, 2015 Posted September 9, 2015 My brother lives in Ohio, I live in Alabama, and we sometimes work on music projects together. What works for us is to send our mp3 or wav files via email. We don't use the same recording software, so the trick here is to decide on a tempo up front, that way we can just drop the parts into our software.
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