Recording ollaboration with a remote singer or band member

[H165]

My first post in this section.

If there's already a thread on this subject please post a link.

I generally use the simplest system I can (for everything). So, two questions:

Can I use Garage Band to collaborate with a far-away partner in recording harmony and backing tracks in a duet? If so, how (in general)? If not:

Bearing in mind I'm not a pro or even a well-educated amateur in this field, what is the most practical way to do this (systems, apps, files, brands, anything)?

Thanks

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by H165

My first post in this section.

If there's already a thread on this subject please post a link.

I generally use the simplest system I can (for everything). So, two questions:

Can I use Garage Band to collaborate with a far-away partner in recording harmony and backing tracks in a duet? If so, how (in general)? If not:

Bearing in mind I'm not a pro or even a well-educated amateur in this field, what is the most practical way to do this (systems, apps, files, brands, anything)?

Thanks

I did a project very similar to that during the pandemic and it turned out way better than I thought it would.

I sent a rough mix to one of my friends and told her to listen with headphones or one cup over one ear and record the harmony part on her iphone. She did that and sent me back the single track of her harmony which I imported back into my DAW and did the final mix, incorporating her harmony vocal.

It was hard to believe how easy it was and how well the final product turned out.

[craigs63]

Friends and I do a recording project every February (RPM Challenge), two of us are local and one remote, 3 different DAWs (Cakewalk, Pro Tools, and Reaper). We create a shared Google drive folder, put up notes for each song (tempo, key, maybe chords and structure of verses/choruses).
Upload either mp3 or wavs to load into our respective DAWS.

If you both have Garageband, I imagine it's a lot simpler (upload/download the .band files).

[Doug Young]

Sure, quite simple. You can exchange wav or mp3 files regardless of what it was recorded on. I did a lot of projects that way during the pandemic. I even did a project involving twenty singers all recording on whatever they had, even their phones. We just started with a guide track that everyone listened to in their headphones while they recorded their parts, then sent me each file, where I added it to my DAW - GarageBand will be fine.

So the simplest case is one of you records a complete part, the other plays/sings/whatever along with it and send back the part - put both tracks in GarageBand and mix to taste.. Sometimes it takes a few passes. In my remote collaborations with Teja Gerken, we often start with a scratch track from one of us, usually recorded to a click track to keep the tempo steady. So I might send a rough track to Teja, he records a part. once I hear what he's come up with, I may go "Oh, if you're going to do that, let me change my part", I re-record, now playing along with him. Then he may decide to redo his part, playing against my 2nd take, and so on, until we're happy. Since Teja and I both use Logic, we generally sent the Logic session files back and forth, and you could do the same if you both use GarageBand (use DropBox, WeTransfer, or something else that supports large files), but exchanging wav or mp3 works just as well as long as you remember to start the recording in the same place or have some kind of count-in, so you can easily line up the files.

If it's helpful to work things out in advance, a Zoom/Facetime/Skype session may help - tho you can't play together at the same time. But you can bounce ideas off each other, agree on the outline, etc. There's also some technologies like JackTrip that will let you actually play together to some extent. I haven't had it work well enough to record together, but it works quite well for real-time practice sessions.

[dnf777]

Doug,
Did you have a hand in the “Playing for Change” productions?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by dnf777

Doug,
Did you have a hand in the “Playing for Change” productions?

No, the singer project I was referring to was a local (Bay area) community theatre production who did a virtual show during lockdown. It was fun as few of the people involved had every recorded themselves before, so there was a big learning curve for the participants, but it all worked flawlessly. It also involved video for each tune, again, done remotely, exchanging files, and involving everything from professional cameras to phones.

I seem to recall performing for one of the Playing for Change events (or some similar thing - I forget exactly what it was) some years ago, but I just showed up and played and didn't get involved in the technology.

[Chipotle]

I've done several long-distance collabs, much like the others have described. One person does the basic "playalong" track(s), whether scratch or final versions. Save as WAV. Everyone else downloads, puts them in their DAW, records their own tracks, and then one person takes all the final stems and mixes them. We also used Google Drive for lyrics and notes to share.

One cool thing I did on one project was have a remote "producer" when I was doing one of my vocals. It was the other person's song, so I wanted their input on my phrasing, timing etc. So I had everything set up in my DAW to record. Then, on a tablet, we fired up a Zoom session. Although my partner couldn't hear his tracks playing (I had them in my headphones hooked up to my interface), he could see and hear me singing, so he could comment & provide guidance in real time after each take, and I could ask questions as needed.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

I
One cool thing I did on one project was have a remote "producer" when I was doing one of my vocals. It was the other person's song, so I wanted their input on my phrasing, timing etc. So I had everything set up in my DAW to record. Then, on a tablet, we fired up a Zoom session. Although my partner couldn't hear his tracks playing (I had them in my headphones hooked up to my interface), he could see and hear me singing, so he could comment & provide guidance in real time after each take, and I could ask questions as needed.

Another option (costs some money tho) for this kind of thing is SessionWire, which is basically a plugin you put in your DAW and then the person on the other end can hear (and see) the session in their web browser, including the entire mix. You could probably get close with the right audio routing with Zoom, depending on your setup, but SessionWire makes it fairly easy. There's a competitor whose name I'm forgetting as well. But what you're describing probably comes plenty close enough for most recording projects.

[Aspiring]

I have used this setup successfully before for playing together online with low latency.

https://jamkazam.com/

It is not for the technophobes though. It takes some fiddling to get it all going and you need a decent low latency interface and net connection.

However I have had successful sessions with latency similar to playing with someone on the other side of the room and the sound quality is way better than zoom when up and running.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by H165

My first post in this section....

You might want to check out the Beginner's Guide in the stickied thread. Lot's of information there that might be helpful sorting things out.

AGF MEMBERS GEAR LIST, TUTORIAL VIDEOS, PODCASTS, & COMPREHENSIVE BEGINNERS GUIDE

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by H165

My first post in this section.

If there's already a thread on this subject please post a link.

I generally use the simplest system I can (for everything). So, two questions:

Can I use Garage Band to collaborate with a far-away partner in recording harmony and backing tracks in a duet? If so, how (in general)? If not:

Bearing in mind I'm not a pro or even a well-educated amateur in this field, what is the most practical way to do this (systems, apps, files, brands, anything)?

Thanks

First thing to clarify is are you talking about "in real time" like jamming with someone but at different locations over the internet ?

Or are you talking about one person lying down a track and sending to another person for them to add to it ... ?
They are two different things.

And then clarify what recording equipment you have and what budget range are you considering for additional gear

[DupleMeter]

I do this a lot because I work with artists all over the world. What I do is to send a WAV file of the guide track/current mix, with at least a count off click (if not a with a click all the way through). Then I ask the artist/collaborator to copy the count off click into their track before sending (keeping it lined up in time). That makes aligning super easy.

FYI, the count off is 2 bars: 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 * | (no click on beat 4 of the 2nd measure of count off). Just to have that breath to keep the click away from the first note on fast tempos.

In fact, I did this on an album that was nominated for a Grammy. The artists/band members were all in different places during the production. It meant more back & forth, but it worked out in the end.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

In fact, I did this on an album that was nominated for a Grammy.

Me too. I've done it a ton, actually, these days there's at least a little mail-order playing done on just about everything I work on. This particular one I just engineered, though. Airto Moreira overdubbing on a record of John Finbury's Brazilian-flavored songs. The Grammy in that category went to Chick Corea, so we were contenders but we got knocked out by a champ. Can't complain.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

I do this a lot because I work with artists all over the world. What I do is to send a WAV file of the guide track/current mix, with at least a count off click (if not a with a click all the way through). Then I ask the artist/collaborator to copy the count off click into their track before sending (keeping it lined up in time). That makes aligning super easy.

FYI, the count off is 2 bars: 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 * | (no click on beat 4 of the 2nd measure of count off). Just to have that breath to keep the click away from the first note on fast tempos.

In fact, I did this on an album that was nominated for a Grammy. The artists/band members were all in different places during the production. It meant more back & forth, but it worked out in the end.

This is my method, too. The 2 bar count off (leaving the last count silent) works very well to establish an alignment reference.

To make it even easier for those doing vocal parts, just ask them to vocalize the last "1,2,3,..." bar when they do their part which will be added to the mix later.

If they are adding an instrument track then have them hit three notes in time with the last "1,2,3..." bar. With a bit of explanation they'll understand the purpose of this and that those three notes will be edited out when the track is added to the mix.

This is so easy to do that they can do multiple "takes" and send back all of them, with what they think is the best one. Anyone who mixes realizes the value of having those additional takes for comping purposes.

[H165]

Thbank you everyone for the excellent information.

First thing to clarify is are you talking about "in real time" like jamming with someone but at different locations over the internet ?

Or are you talking about one person lying down a track and sending to another person for them to add to it ... ?
They are two different things.

I am not talking real time - I am talking about one person lying down a track and sending to another person for them to add to it.

Right now I can deal at a reasonable level with Garage Band, I have MOTU's
DP setup (older version) on my rig, and I could also use Logic Express if I had to.

I can get tracks down; I've just never tried remote collaboration.