It used to be impossible to collaborate on audio projects using the net. When the world was on dial-up, most people weren’t using digital recording technology and even if they were, connectivity was just too slow to handle the huge files that are inherent in the process of making music.

Today it’s quite possible to collaborate on audio projects using the Internet, since we can handle the uploading and downloading of large files pretty quickly and without racking up a huge bill. But that doesn’t mean the methods for doing so have been refined, and you’ll be surprised how many producers, engineers and their collaborators aren’t sure what to do when they first sign up for this kind of venture.

Naming Your Audio Files

When you’re working with recorded audio in a collaborative project, the most important thing (after, of course, getting a high quality recording of a great performance) is to get some file naming conventions ready. The easiest way to tell your collaborator what to do with each file is to include all that information in condensed form in the file name.

It’s obviously important that everyone involved knows how to name their files so that everyone is on the same page and consequently knows what to do with the files they receive as well. I use the following formula:

Song Name, Track Name, Take Number, Insertion Point (in Bars), Date

It looks like it’d result in a long and complicated file name, but when you use the actual numbers it’s short enough and incredibly useful. Where abbreviations can be used, they should be, so you might get:

VotS Ld Vox 4 23 05-03-08

This tells us that the file is the fourth take of the lead vocals in the song Violence of the Soul and should be inserted at the 23rd bar. This makes it easy for everyone to know what the file is, where in the project it goes and also when it was recorded in case previous or subsequent recording sessions are involved where the take numbers have been reset.

It obviously requires that you bounce or extract a file from a specific bar, and from the very start of that bar, as the insertion point tells your recipient where to insert the file in the Pro Tools or Logic (or whatever DAW you’re using) project. The bar system requires that the song’s tempo be constant. If it’s not a constant tempo song you’ll need to use minutes and seconds instead of bars. And that can get tedious!

Sharing the File

Now, of course, you need to share your files. If I’m working with a producer in Melbourne and doing vocal takes here on the Gold Coast I need to double check all files are clearly labeled, preferably zip them up to shave off a little file weight and eliminate the need to upload multiple files, and get them over to the producer in a way that is both quick and reliable. After all, we all want to get on with the project.

Email services such as Gmail have caused a big shift in the way we think about email since you can now send and receive massive files via email, but I’d recommend using something else. Email is designed for communication, and doesn’t do file sharing very well.

I’d say your best bet is to upload the file to a hosting server, like the kind you can get from GoDaddy for a few bucks each month. If you’re going to be doing this sort of collaboration regularly I recommend paying the measly amount even if you don’t intend to host a website (that said, if you’re trying to ramp up your business in this industry you probably need one). It’s faster, more reliable, and you’re in control. Then you can just grab a link and send it to your partners in crime. No hassle.

You could also go for a service like YouSendIt, Rapidshare, MegaUpload, or Amazon S3 (which is what our sibling site AUDIOTUTS uses). When you use this type of service make sure you secure the download with a password, or anyone could get their hands on your audio. Intellectual property is your currency in the music industry; even if you intend to give away your song with the project files up for download like Nine Inch Nails, letting tracks leak pre-release is a no-no even if you’re totally invisible to the world as a performer, with not a single fan anywhere.

Feedback

In the normal studio situation, all decision-making parties can hear the same track through the same speakers at the same time and talk it over. Not quite so in the new online collaboration space. The team member who is in charge of putting all the pieces together, the producer, needs to make sure the latest mix is available to others in the team so they can stay up to date and provide feedback on the project.

Obviously, it’s a bit overboard to bounce and upload an mp3 every time the reverb decay time is shortened by a few milliseconds, but ensure the producer is eliciting feedback at a workable rate.

This is a point unto itself because the first thing that breaks down in collaborations is communication, and the Internet only makes this a more common downfall. Those online projects that succeed even when team members haven’t ever met each other in real life succeed only on the back of great standards of communication.