File transfer

[miwrigh]

I posted this question in the protools forum but it didn;t get much response--so apologies if it is silly. I have a friend in another state that I would like to trade protools files with (for shared recording). Is this a nuclear missile launch--or is there a simple method that everyone knows about but me? The files seem quite large.

 

[Seidy]

upload your project so that your friend can download it or just use memory stick?

 

[bozmillar]

yeah, projects are big. there isn't much getting around that. You can zip them up to save a little space, but in the end, you have to get all the files over there somehow.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Burning a file to a DVD-R and sending it by FedEx is fast and relatively cheap.

Hey, what a concept!

--Ethan

 

[miwrigh]

So true

Burning a file to a DVD-R and sending it by FedEx is fast and relatively cheap.

Hey, what a concept!

--Ethan

I was afraid someone would say that. But who wants to wait two days when I will realize by then that the song is not very good in the first place?

I can only deal with instant digital gratification.

 

[Washburn100]

Not sure if this would work, never tried it and I use Sonar not pro tools so just brainstorming, don't yell at me.

If you are just exchanging tracks, couldn't you bounce single tracks to MP3 and e-mail them?

 

[miwrigh]

Not sure if this would work, never tried it and I use Sonar not pro tools so just brainstorming, don't yell at me.

If you are just exchanging tracks, couldn't you bounce single tracks to MP3 and e-mail them?

I have considered doing something like that--but I'm not sure if the MP3's would degrade significantly in quality or over time. Plus, if they were imported, to his protools, I'm not sure that plugins could be transferred. Discussion is getting interesting though.

 

[bozmillar]

when I collaborate with other people, I find it easier to have one person in charge of the final mixing and not worry about what other effects the other guy has. If you are mixing, then he shouldn't have to worry about what effects you are using on your tracks, plus you can send him mp3s of each track to cut down on the size, but in the end, as long as the final mix is using the original wave files, it doesn't matter.

I find it's easiest just to deal with mp3s and the smaller filesize until it's time to do the final mixdown, then all you have to do is get the raw tracks that the other guy did.

 

[miwrigh]

Good points--thanks

 

[RD423]

look into something like

www.yousendit.com
www.sendspace.com

There are many different services available all offering different size files that u can upload. So just google transfer big files.

 

[philbagg]

Not sure if this would work, never tried it and I use Sonar not pro tools so just brainstorming, don't yell at me.

If you are just exchanging tracks, couldn't you bounce single tracks to MP3 and e-mail them?

Pro Tools will not work with mp3, and will re-convert them to multiple mono
(ie: 2 files) Broadcast WAV. Then, he works with them, reconverts them to mp3
to send em.

Using this in a constant transferring manner = wav to mp3 to wav to mp3 to etc.

Although I think 320kbps sounds really good, constant conversion is going to
muck it up in no time.

 

[Ethan Winer]

I can only deal with instant digital gratification.

Do you have any idea how on it takes to upload one or two GB of data from a home web connection? Even if you have a good high-speed provider, it's not "instant" or even close.

--Ethan

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Do you have any idea how on it takes to upload one or two GB of data from a home web connection? Even if you have a good high-speed provider, it's not "instant" or even close.

--Ethan

Yeah, it's a huge pain in the ass. Really, using a CDR or DVDR, or some sort of a flash storage card, to mail a project back and forth is easily the easiest way to do it.

If you're just asking the collaborator to add a single audio track or something - say, lay down a guitar solo on a piece you've recorded otherwise entirely on your end, you have one other option, though - you could send the mix you have to your collaborator as a mp3 file, which he could then convert back to wave, load in his DAW, and overdub his part on the stereo submix. Then he would do two things - one, mix down the mp3+new track file, with any FX or whatever he wants on it, down to a new stereo mix, and rip that to a mp3. Meanwhile, he'd also want to export a .wav of his new performance, or just copy the raw .wav from the project file. He could then send these two files back to you - a mp3 of the song with his performance included, and then a wave of his performance in isolation. If it's a single track, it'll still be a large file, but not so large as to make it impossible to send around.

Barring that, snail mail.

 

[jab2980]

MS Office Groove

I'm expecting to take some heat for recommending a Microsoft product, but I HIGHLY recommend MS Groove. It comes with Office 2007 (not sure if it comes with all the versions). I use it to synchronize with my in-town band mates as well as friends around the country. It synchronizes as fast as your connection speed and is as easy as copying and pasting (plus has other stuff like a calendar and message board if wished).