Sound file exchanging

[broke okie]

I have a friend that wants to record something and send it to me to add and send back and on and on. I have recording gear as well as Qbase le and Sonar le for computer but he doesn't have anything but his pc.

Can anyone recommend a program that will let us send files back and forth and still keep the tracks separate? Of course the cheaper the better and free is the best. File size is also an issue attaching in e-mails. I've tried "Audacity" but haven't figured how to do it without converting to mp3.

Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

[Soulmann]

I have a friend that wants to record something and send it to me to add and send back and on and on. I have recording gear as well as Qbase le and Sonar le for computer but he doesn't have anything but his pc.

Can anyone recommend a program that will let us send files back and forth and still keep the tracks separate? Of course the cheaper the better and free is the best. File size is also an issue attaching in e-mails. I've tried "Audacity" but haven't figured how to do it without converting to mp3.

Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

My buddies n I all use Audacity, and we zip the .data folder and the .aup file and use Jumbo files . com to swap, as it will take up to 1gb per upload...free!

[t_ross33]

box.net (www.box.net) gives you up to 5 GB free as long as individual files are under 25MB

As far as keeping tracks separated I suspect you would need to move the complete "project" file(s) and your buddy will have to be using the same software to open and save to them. It would be easier than trying to import and sync multiple individual track files.

Audacity is pretty slick (and free) for this purpose. Not too fancy, but I've gravitated to it because of it's simplicity.

EDIT: oops, just re-read Soulman's post and looks like he has it all covered for ya - good luck :dude

[broke okie]

Thanks guys, I'll try fooling with Audacity some more this weekend and see if I can send the files through the sites that you listed.
Cheers

[Soulmann]

Thanks guys, I'll try fooling with Audacity some more this weekend and see if I can send the files through the sites that you listed.
Cheers

Good Luck, and you may find the upload speeds to these sites can be fast or painfully slow, but for free, ya get what ya pay for :thwap

I too like Audacity, I was using Sony Acid Pro, but no one else had it, so went to Audacity and we can all have fun adding tracks to each other's tunes.

I am using Winrar to zip my files, and of course make sure that both of you are using the same version or you may have conversion issues.

Ditto goes with Audacity, make sure you are both using the same version, or there may be conversion issues.

@ t_ross33 ... Go Riders! The old family farm is just down from Vibank, prolly just a mound a broken boards now.

[deeaa]

I've done this for YEARS with various bands, like we do with Rockermann here. Here's by far the best solution we've found:

1. hire an FTP site where you can send and d/l files from. I have a 50 gigabyte site which costs me a fiver a month. If running win 7 you can easily just use it like a harddrive, only real slow, but which everyone with password can see. In Xp or others, use any FTP program like WS_FTP_LE or whatever. There is NO other good way for this, and it'll serve as a great help for putting up song mixes and maybe a www site or whatever later on, well worth it.

2. When you're working it doesn't matter what programs everyone has. Just export whatever tracks needed to send making sure you always export the entire length, even if there's only a solo at 2 minutes or whatever. This way all the files start at the same spot and everyone can just import them to their daws and they're perfectly aligned.

3. You can use MP3 files for quick exchange of demos and backing tracks, but DO NOT use mp3's as final files; whenever you can, work with 24bit 44.1KHz wav files. DO NOT use higher freq rate if you're gonna export to MP3 or CD at some point anyway, but using 24bit ensures there's not much dithering/conversion loss between mixes and, what's more, most if not all FX plugins and such work WAY better in 24bits, stuff like reverbs just are way better working in 24 until the very end - when you will have to dither to 16bit, do it only once.

4. When you move these wav files back and forth, always RAR pack them; especially files with just the solo and lots of empty space compress VERY much and much quicker to upload/load on ftp. It doesn't even matter much if you have a slow connection, with your own FTP site you can just let it download or send overnight etc.

5. IF you're using MIDI drums etc. it may make sense to have the same drum program on everyone's machine, because then you need not send drum wav files but instead only send MIDI tracks and drum machine saved settings files, which are just a few kilos.

6. Final tip: always make sure you use a clear system for naming files, like SongNameDateYear.rar or something.

[deeaa]

As far as keeping tracks separated I suspect you would need to move the complete "project" file(s) and your buddy will have to be using the same software to open and save to them. It would be easier than trying to import and sync multiple individual track files.

I've found the opposite...file sync is a no-brainer, all you need to do is always use a track exported from zero to event end and it's always perfectly synced. And you can work with temporary MP3 files to start with, if you like, to speed it up. Working with entire projects is a helluva task; the only way it might work well is that the program's entire settings fie is kept on a network drive and every user's program always starts up with that same file. Still there will be problems with simultaneous writes etc. Just not worth it.

Also, most often there isn't that much to send, if one makes the backing for instance, and the other makes a solo for it, all that is needed is to send one MP3 to the soloist, and he can just record along with it, and send back a wav file to me dropped in the original mix. Very easy.

The only downside I can think of is, that way one person has to do the mixing.

[t_ross33]

I've found the opposite...file sync is a no-brainer, all you need to do is always use a track exported from zero to event end and it's always perfectly synced. And you can work with temporary MP3 files to start with, if you like, to speed it up. Working with entire projects is a helluva task; the only way it might work well is that the program's entire settings fie is kept on a network drive and every user's program always starts up with that same file. Still there will be problems with simultaneous writes etc. Just not worth it.

Also, most often there isn't that much to send, if one makes the backing for instance, and the other makes a solo for it, all that is needed is to send one MP3 to the soloist, and he can just record along with it, and send back a wav file to me dropped in the original mix. Very easy.

The only downside I can think of is, that way one person has to do the mixing.

good tips deeaa, thanks!:thumbsup

[t_ross33]

@ t_ross33 ... Go Riders! The old family farm is just down from Vibank, prolly just a mound a broken boards now.

cool! we'll get 'em next year, eh? Nice to meet another Saskie on board. :wave: Vibank looks about the same size as or slightly larger than my ol' hometown, Sonningdale - not much there since the bar burned down :(

[Soulmann]

cool! we'll get 'em next year, eh? Nice to meet another Saskie on board. :wave: Vibank looks about the same size as or slightly larger than my ol' hometown, Sonningdale - not much there since the bar burned down :(

I have been in BC for a long time, so am a definate wet coaster LOL

But I still like my Riders :dude

I haven't been back there since the 70's LOL but yup, Vibank is pretty much a Bar, Bank and a General Store LOL Our Family settled there in the 1800's, silly buggers LOL

[Soulmann]

ya... without paying for an upload site, you can be running some pretty slow uploads compared to an FTP upload ya pay for, but like I say, ya get what ya pay for... and 500 GB of storage for free IMO is worth some patience LOL ... and since we send the whole working folder and file in our WinRar Zips, I guess synch has never been an issue.

BUT! Naming the files properly is a definate must, as was mentioned... it can get rather confusing if you have swapped a file a few times if you don't keep tight watch of the naming procedures.

Ours have always been @ 28 bit 41.1 KHz as well... Audacity was very helpful in establishing that.. as a beginer in digital recording, it has been very helpful to keep it as simple as possible...
I have not been doin this for YEARS, well I guess 3 is considered years LOL but not in my books... but have had success as a simple way for us less experienced (ie. different computer skills amongst the members, etc...), and below poverty level people (suchas myself, and yes 5$ means I eat for 2 days so is a big deal to some of us) to get it done, and have control of the mixes from all ends, so we can have all the adjustments and not just a set backing track...

A backing track like a MP3 or a WAV is great for practicing to, or saying, " K how's this sound? ", in a real fast file swap for confirmation from another member, but for our group, we have found we like to have the full track layout to adjust to our own ear when we are doin our own track.

Some of my observations as someone relatively new to digital recording. :dance