Hey Y'all..
 
I could be interested in doing a songwriting/recording collaboration, but I'm a little in the dark in how to go about it.
 
How do you share the Project.... with Bundle Files?   What if my collaborator does not have same plugins as me, etc?
 
For example, if my collaborator wants to do drums and bass, I want to do guitars, keys, and loops, and a third collaborator wants to do vocals, how do we do it?

Easy enough, I and many others do it all the time. As long as one person is designated as the 'producer' (in other words, the one doing the mixing) you don't need to worry about plug-ins or anything else.

As long as everyone has their project set to the same BPM (or tempo map even), everything will fit together. Just make sure every track supplied starts at 00:00:00, then they'll all line up.

You can work with MP3's to start with until everyone knows what they're doing, then supply individual 24-bit tracks to the 'producer'. You do this via Yousendit, Adrive, Box.com, or many other file transfer sites.

When I collab with Bapu for example, he supplies a 'tracking shell': a .CWB file with markers for verse, chorus etc and a scratch track to work to. I record my parts against the scratch track, send him an MP3 for approval, then do it again..and again..until he's happy..then send him a WAV file.   

I've been collabing with Larry Hansen in SMB for about 6 years now, and it goes pretty smoothly. We rarely have problems even though we use different DAW software to each other.

It's not hard Tony.

The one that will be mixing needs to receive quality files...the ones adding their parts
don't really need quality files.

For instance if I were doing a guitar part that had effects I'd post a quality file that included
the effects and I could also send one that didn't, if needed. I won't need a quality file to listen to while I recorded my part though....it could be an MP3.

The cool thing with digital it's easy to do sections of the work. Like a backing guitar part that repeats numerous times may only need to be "X" number of bars and the producer can
incorporate it as the tune is constructed.

I'm at work...gotta go...I'll try to answer any questions as I can and I'm sure others will contribute.

jamesg1213


When I collab with Bapu for example, he supplies a 'tracking shell': a .CWB file with markers for verse, chorus etc and a scratch track to work to. I record my parts against the scratch track, send him an MP3 for approval, then do it again..and again..until he's happy..then send him a WAV file. :-)

Oh, did you mean like THIS James?

bapu

jamesg1213


When I collab with Bapu for example, he supplies a 'tracking shell': a .CWB file with markers for verse, chorus etc and a scratch track to work to. I record my parts against the scratch track, send him an MP3 for approval, then do it again..and again..until he's happy..then send him a WAV file. :-)

Oh, did you mean like THIS James?

ExactaMonko 

Well alrighty then... good stuff here...  I'll be giving this some thought.   Thanks for the input.

Another hint is to send files back and forth by sharing folders on a site like DropBox.  That is convenient, because you can include text for production notes and stuff in the same folder.

Long distance collabs.... I do them often. 

2 types of collabing... writing the song, and recording it. 

Writing: Someone sends me an idea or I do the sending.... the other person works it and sends it back... until the song is finished.... this is all email and mp3 at this point.

Recording: To collab in the recording process....ONE PERSON is the producer and sets up the project. A rough track is made to a click and it is emailed to the others. It can be a simple acoustic recorded to the click with a rough vocal to keep your place in the song. Once it's received....They load it into a project on their DAW and the proper BPM is set. 

they record their tracks and email them to the producer. When the track is "right" and no further changes are needed, producer says so and the "other" sends a WAVE file of that track to the producer using a file sharing or server site with uncompressed raw WAVE. 


"Others" in the project should trust producer enough to send unprocessed and raw waves, allowing the producer to do the producing and tuning and all the other magic. 


Enjoy the process.... it is a blast to collab.

Finally, of course, once the project is finished you must remember to bore everyone silly with a relentless campaign of self-publicity ;)

paulo


Finally, of course, once the project is finished you must remember to bore everyone silly with a relentless campaign of self-publicity ;)

well done Paulo