need advice on "cyber sessions"

ginormous

ginormous

Understatmentologist
Who among you is doing this actively? I need some different musicians to get the sounds I'm looking for (live drums, horns and keys, mostly for R&B/soul).

Nobody in this town is down with anything close to what I'm into, and as a result, the closest they get is a weak sauce cover of "In The Midnight Hour" or "Dock Of The Bay".
You know, dad funk.

What kinds of technical things do I need to get parts into my songs? I'm working with Reaper (32 bit) on a Win 7, dual-core HP.
My cable modem link is not hyper blazing fast, but I can watch a 720p YouTube vid without any hiccups.
I've got a USB cam/mic, if need be, for Google Hangouts.

Do I need to upgrade, or can I get started with this?
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

Er, what audio/MIDI in/out box are you currently using? Real time, multi-track audio will require multiple audio inputs, outputs, auxiliary and monitor routing.

Your existing gear would be fine for overdub collaborations. As an Apple user, I can exchange entire Garageband or Logic Pro projects with my collaborators via Dropbox. https://www.dropbox.com
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

My goal is overdub collaborations at this point. I've got a Teac 2-channel unit for audio and MIDI.

I've got a Dropbox account, and it's the best of the ones I've tried.
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

The only technical obstacle I can foresee is that all contributors need to use the same version of Reaper, hosting identical software instruments.

Lay down some guide drum, bass and chord changes. Put your music out. See what comes back. Edit the results into shape.


EDIT - If, for example, you invite contributions from a pianist, ask for the performance to be recorded as both MIDI data and audio.
 
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Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

I do tonnes of online collaborations with session musicians. My prog rock project, As Follows, is myself with online session musicians.

What would you like to know?
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

I used Ohmstudio for a while. You have a great deal of control who sees your stuff and you can search out players and give them private invitations to lay down tracks on your songs. There are some good players and guys who are great at mixing.


https://www.ohmstudio.com/collaboration


Edit: I just revisited the site for the first time in many moons. It seems like there's a lot of trance/dance/techno happening over there.
 
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Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

Checking Beathaven now. It reminds me of Wikiloops from a while back.

If I send out just a stereo mix of the guide/demo track, would the collaborators be able to send their raw tracks/"stems" back, no matter what the DAW?
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

If their DAW exports in a standardized format, yours should open it, and vice-versa. Sending project files for a given DAW is probably better, though you may encounter version incompatibilities. Sending raw audio files for a multi-track session can be tricky to line up in the DAW, unless you spec out intro clicks or use SMPTE synching. That should be universal among the current crop of DAWs.
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

Most DAWs embed tempo data when you print your stems. Just make sure your stems are head to tail. They will line up just fine in any other DAW. 24/48 is the current standard for recording projects and stems.
 
Re: need advice on "cyber sessions"

Use your imagination and don't get too creepy. Let her set the bar.
 
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