Collaborative recording project, how to?

I do this all the time. I'd suggest not using Soundcloud though because you're quality is limited. What you guys should do is all get drop box. Create an account (all of you) and share a folder where you can drop in the wave files for the project. This way everyone gets the waves and they can get the best quality. When they are done, they upload the new waves and they appear on your pc as well as the drop box folder shares with you and all others in the group.

The problem fix for all the DAWS: You have two ways you can take care of this.

1. Make sure everyone uses the same bit and sample rate in their daw.

a. Make sure each person has the correct beats per minute set up in the song before they import or record any audio as well as the same count-in.

b. From there, anything that needs to be exported from their daw, needs to be exported as an entire wave from 0:00 to the end of the wave created. This will put some dead space in the intro of the wave. It can be removed once you import it into your DAW. But having it there allows you to drop the wave in at 0:00 and it will automatically be in sync with your project.

For example, here is the improper way to do it. Say one of your partners here plays a lead guitar solo at 3:12 in the file. When he exports it, it just exports that part of his solo and doesn't include any dead space in the beginning. When you bring that file in, it will be up to you to sync it up properly with the song...and sometimes, this can be a pain in the butt. If he would have exported the wave with dead space in the beginning, you wouldn't have to sync it up. But because he didn't, you have to figure it out now.

Way 2:

Repeat section 1 and a. The difference here is, when you export, you can export as a BW which is a Broadcast Wave. A BW is time stamped at the exact spot it was recorded. When you bring this into another DAW, it lines up perfectly to time. It also saves on space because it's just that section...it doesn't need all the dead space in the beginning. So that guy that played the lead guitar solo...if he exports out as a BW, when you import it into Sonar, it will line right up to the song where it needs to be.

Now, sometimes this method fails. For example, Pro Tools has a tough time with exporting BW's. When you bring in a BW that was created and exported out of PT, 9 times out of 10 when you import that file, it will place it somewhere near the 1 hour mark inside your song. You import it in and wonder why you don't see it. It's there...it's just way out there ----------------------------------------------------------> LOL!

Zipping utilities: Sharing wave files can be pretty big in size. If you use the latest version of WinZip and make sure all your partners use it, you can use a format they have called .zipx. This format will make a wave file so small, you won't believe there is a wave file zipped up. I use this method religiously with my clients and nothing else out there comes remotely close to what zipx can do. Special thanks to bapu for turning me onto it. :)

Anyway, I hope some of this helps. Best of luck with your project.

-Danny

Can't add much to Danny's excellent post, except that; ensure that no-one prints effects to their individual WAV's when they export them. If you're mixing, you need dry tracks, with no panning.

I've been using Box.net for some years now, very easy for collabs.

What a fantastic response, thank you all soooo much! I can see we're on a steep learning curve. Haven't had time yet to absorb all this info but, just a quick question; are you saying that there should be no panning or effects on the original recording of the song? ie the 'guide' tracks

+1 +1 +1 +1
To Danny's post.
I as well use drop box and it is pretty simple.
But it works.

Clifford

I've heard/read somewhere that MP3's don't timealign as well as waves. Don't know any more than that.
Anyone else have any wisdom on this?

Ah, it's a 1000mB free account at FileSwap

Well, I have a post a few down from here called "What would you do with this?" I have a very small project that is only a live piano that I recorded in some guys house.

I use ftp, I know it is old technology but it works and there is no size limit at all.

I do not know why, but my post has been pretty much completely ignored, but it is very similar to your. If you would like to hear the piano I tracked and a shot at mixing it your way simply do this...

Open your Windows Explorer (or just double-click your My Computer icon)

In the path at the top, just type ftp.battlefrost.com
A box will appear asking for user name and password
The user name I created for this account is: sonar@battlefrost.com
The password is: !sonar!

When you accress the project, just copy it to your computer and have at it. Have a look at that text file that is included.

Thats it, pretty simple.

+1 to all, esp Danny's post.  I've collab'd with faithful artists more than anyone here perhaps.
 
Much more importantly, IMHO, your collab-artists need to be faithful and diligent (which, as you probably know, is an extreme rarity here and everywhere). 
 
Unfortunately: So many collab artists here bite off way more than they can chew for vain-glory. 
 
Fortunately: Great collab artists exist here: Danny (Danziland) and Clifford (TruckerMusic), above, for example, I repeatedly discovered I could fully count on these ... as faithful and diligent collab artists.  (I'm sorry if I missed someone else)
 
I certainly hope any of you could count on me when I make a collab promise ... please forgive me (all) if/when I fail or forget. :):):)
 
In Sum,
 
Most of us prefer to dribble more than co-produce.  You'll come to find out who your true collab workers REALLY are!  Like true friends, they rarely exist!  Hahahaha!  Good luck on that!  Hope this helps.

Thanks again for all that useful info. I've got as far as putting the bare bones into dropbox (vox, k/bds, drums) If you have a minute please give it a listen and feel free to collab! I've got someone working on replacing the drum track but nothing else so far. Its at:  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/67033463/Movin'%20To%20The%20Country.wav