How do people collab over the Internet?

idontreallygiveashit · Post by **idontreallygiveashit** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:29 pm

Okay, i'm starting to think how much more satisfying my musical output would be if i had someone to work with. I have raw ideas, a sense of structure and can find really good samples, and that make up the basis of my tracks, but technical wizardry and synthesis aren't my things. I always wish i had someone to work with.

However, i dont know anybody into the same music as i do, and the ones that make tunes make happy hardcore or are worse than me. And i like to try and make genreless, unique music so its not like i can go "lets make a dutty dnb track, spam some reeses" and to make innovative music i assume you need direct contact and convo with the person, pointing out different bits to one another and getting into specifics.

Also, will you both have to use the same DAW, and what about all the components? If i use a 3 different patches on 3 different VSTs and about a dozen different samples, would i have to send all that shit to them? Or are you just bouncing stems back and forth and adding stuff to it?

It sounds like it could be fun, and two (or more) minds are better than one, as the old saying goes, but i can't figure out how it would work? Or at least, how would it work comfortably. Let me know from your personal experiences if you have any.

How does it work?

KrashOverRide · Post by **KrashOverRide** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:38 pm

idontreallygiveashit wrote:Okay, i'm starting to think how much more satisfying my musical output would be if i had someone to work with. I have raw ideas, a sense of structure and can find really good samples, and that make up the basis of my tracks, but technical wizardry and synthesis aren't my things. I always wish i had someone to work with.

However, i dont know anybody into the same music as i do, and the ones that make tunes make happy hardcore or are worse than me. And i like to try and make genreless, unique music so its not like i can go "lets make a dutty dnb track, spam some reeses" and to make innovative music i assume you need direct contact and convo with the person, pointing out different bits to one another and getting into specifics.

Also, will you both have to use the same DAW, and what about all the components? If i use a 3 different patches on 3 different VSTs and about a dozen different samples, would i have to send all that shit to them? Or are you just bouncing stems back and forth and adding stuff to it?

It sounds like it could be fun, and two (or more) minds are better than one, as the old saying goes, but i can't figure out how it would work? Or at least, how would it work comfortably. Let me know from your personal experiences if you have any.

How does it work?

I second this, I find the people that I work with in person who say they want to either lack commitment or don't really help. for example, if you could "jam" in edm that's all these "work sessions" would be.

idontreallygiveashit · Post by **idontreallygiveashit** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:45 pm

So you've never sat down and just started and finished a track with an IRL collaborator? What about your experiences online?

Also, just answered one of my questions - just send the folder back and forth. But still, if i have a vst he doesn't....

lloydy · Post by **lloydy** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:52 pm

idontreallygiveashit wrote: But still, if i have a vst he doesn't....

Thats what the bounce function is for.

Shum · Post by **Shum** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:52 pm

StratosFear · Post by **StratosFear** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:56 pm

When I collab we just tend to send audio files back and forth. If something sounds weird, or doesn't fit, we point it out, fix it, and move on. Sometimes if one of us has a better instrument, we use MIDI files as well to keep the melodies intact. But collaborating is so much fun. Yes, sometimes you have to wait on people, but it's totally worth it.

lloydy · Post by **lloydy** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:00 pm

StratosFear wrote:Yes, sometimes you have to wait on people, but it's totally worth it.

As virtual mark is finding out with me at the moment

But i promise mark if you read this it will all be worth it

idontreallygiveashit · Post by **idontreallygiveashit** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:13 pm

lloydy wrote:
idontreallygiveashit wrote: But still, if i have a vst he doesn't....
Thats what the bounce function is for.

Shum wrote:.

Cool, thanks for elaborating you guys! Proper helpful!

StratosFear wrote:When I collab we just tend to send audio files back and forth. If something sounds weird, or doesn't fit, we point it out, fix it, and move on. Sometimes if one of us has a better instrument, we use MIDI files as well to keep the melodies intact. But collaborating is so much fun. Yes, sometimes you have to wait on people, but it's totally worth it.

Thats cool, so you just send wavs or something back and forth? So they will make an edit, pass it back etc. What if you realise you guys didn't like something after doing this ten times? I mean you could fix it, sounds like a lot of annoying back-tracking to figure out who's responsible for fixing it, fix it, and send the files back and forth again till you reach that same position?

Shum · Post by **Shum** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:23 pm

idontreallygiveashit wrote:
Shum wrote:.
Cool, thanks for elaborating you guys! Proper helpful!

I reserved that post with the idea of writing out a lengthy post as i've collaborated extensively online but if that's your attitude then sod it.

StratosFear · Post by **StratosFear** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:30 pm

Generally it's a bunch of .wavs, one for each track or groups of tracks if they're similar and don't have to be edited much. That way if we want to edit something we don't have to backtrack through a whole mess of full song files.

@Shum, I don't think he knew you were going to do that...it just seemed like a spam post with just the dot. I would have assumed it was spam or an accidental post too...give him a chance.

idontreallygiveashit · Post by **idontreallygiveashit** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:30 pm

^Ah, i thought as much. I thought that maybe you made the track on the fly, as it goes.

And shum sorry, just a little joke. I thought you were doing that thing that people do when they just put a period as if to imply you agree with the above post or something

nowaysj · Post by **nowaysj** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:27 am

I think all daw devs have implemented a collaboration feature that is then withdrawn like 2 years later cause it doesn't work worth shit.

On line persistent nearly lag free wav quality audio/video connection is required... aka asian internet infrastructure. Hells yeah, that shit is coming. Porn is going to be so awesome. Might stop being porn, and just start being sex.

Anyway I think same room is like the only way to go for now. I live in San Jose and I'm always looking for someone to work with.

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:55 am

I don't fully agree with you, nowaysj.

I work with my mate online most of the time and it works pretty well (at least in my opinion).

IRL or online, the result is what is important. You can end up with a person with whom you can't work IRL, but when you try doing it online - it just clicks. And there are people with whom you have to work while being in the same room. It varies from person to person, but I believe that if you dedicate yourself to working on a track, such peculiarities can end up being unimportant and negligible.

As to how to collaborate online, there have been many topics on this subject. Synchronizing applications like Dropbox and etc. are the way to go, because you only have to upload what you change. That is, if you use the same DAW and the same version of it. For VSTi's your partner does not own - bounce the audio of those channels.

If you don't use the same DAW you'll have to send around stems, which is a bit slower, but there's no way around it.

nowaysj · Post by **nowaysj** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:06 am

yeah, let me caveat, I don't like nonrealtime collaboration. I just feel a real lack of focus when doing one of those.

I really want one wall of my studio to just turn into a wall of my homie's studio, and we are very near real time. We hear what each other are doing, and can make instantaneous collaborative decisions, can divide workflow, one is doing drum selection, one is doing bass design... fast and fluid, until the online technology is there for that, I'm a same room person. That's just me though.

Skang · Post by **Skang** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:18 am

Agree with both of you guys. It's about chemistry especially if you're doing same room collabs. Tried it with one friend and we were fighting for the mouse every step of the way, and another we had no problem working together cause we just happened to be on the same page. Never had much experience with stem swapping, do you guys set up like a session where you just work together online? Or it's just whenever the person feels like working on it

idontreallygiveashit · Post by **idontreallygiveashit** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:05 pm

Thanks for the advice and info, i will probably not find anybody irl to work with, and i'm sure with some planning, passing stems back and forth will become easier. It's just making little changes and edits that worry me the most.

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:21 pm

nowaysj wrote:yeah, let me caveat, I don't like nonrealtime collaboration. I just feel a real lack of focus when doing one of those.

I really want one wall of my studio to just turn into a wall of my homie's studio, and we are very near real time. We hear what each other are doing, and can make instantaneous collaborative decisions, can divide workflow, one is doing drum selection, one is doing bass design... fast and fluid, until the online technology is there for that, I'm a same room person. That's just me though.

heh everytime i've attempted to do irl collabs it's always ended up we get drunk/high and just make patches and dink about and never get anything done

nowaysj · Post by **nowaysj** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:25 pm

As everyone is saying, it is about chemistry. Just like fucking, some people you just hit it off.

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:27 pm

haha well take a bro like audiowright, we skated together chilled just regular buds but when it comes to collabing we just fuck around

Jizz · Post by **Jizz** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:44 pm

lol, have quite bad experiences with online collabs, my current one has been ongoing for over a fucking year now

when he sends me the stuff I get it back to him within the week, when its his turn it takes 6 months, completely putting me off lol

I am still interested in more online collaborations with people who make more ambient style bass, but honestly I'm just paranoid about how long they're gonna take after this experience

How do people collab over the Internet?

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