RE: long-distance performance

["Per Boysen" <per@boysen.se>]

> Hi folks,  I'm asking this question here, even though it's 
> wildly OT, because there's such good expertise here on 
> performing.  I figure that
> someone will probably have a useful tip for me! :)    I met a fellow
> singer on a trip recently whom I really enjoyed playing with 
> (we did a couple of impromptu gigs in the Galapagos!!).  We 
> decided that we'd like to be able to continue singing, even 
> though we live over a thousand miles apart.  My question is, 
> are there good programs/services that would allow us to have 
> "sessions" in real-time over the internet?  I've considered 
> telephone, but I shudder when I think of the quality of 
> speakerphones on each end!  Can we do better than that?  Any 
> suggestions welcome :)
> 
> Thanks much,
> Elby


Hi Elby,

I'm afraid, so far, there is always a problem with hooking up two, or
more, real time performers over a long distance (due to the trasfer
protocls being based on "packages" instead of "streams". "Buffering" a
stream won't help here). However there are alternatives if you are
prepared to record one musician first and then having the others doing
there part listening back to the recorded tracks. A very cool system for
this type of collaboration was Rocketnetwork that sadly went out of
business only recently (I was actively beta testing it on Logic and it
really rocked! As it also did with Cubase. Too bad so many good things
have to go just because someone does not make enough money in the bottom
end). 

Now I hear that Digidesign is planning a more advanced Pro Tools support
for musical collaboration in recording over the Internet. 

Network collaboration will also be part of Nuendo 2 from Steinberg. 

I've also been collaborating online by swapping 16/44,1 audio files by
ICQ file transfer. When you get a file you put it on a track of an audio
sequencing/recording software to add your recordings on other tracks.
Then you mix everything down to a stereo file and send it back to your
partner for feedback and maybe him/her to carry out additional
recordings. Just remember to add info on tempo and, if working with
shorter files, at what bar of the arrangement each file will start
playing.

Best wishes

Per Boysen
-------------
www.boysen.se
www.looproom.com <-- 1st Swedish Looping Festival