Remote online collaborative recording?

I have a bass player and drummer I get together with every few months to jam and have fun. We all live in different cities.

The three of us would like to recording something together collaboratively and remotely. I have Garageband on the Mac, a Lexicon Lambda USB Desktop studio, and a few mics. I also have a dropbox type account (SugarSync) for sharing files.

Anyone have suggestions on:
A. Good cheap DAWs for PCs for the drummer and bass player
B. How to share tracks among different DAWs (they have PCs, I have a Mac)
C. Workflow process (do I start with a basic drum or click track that everyone plays to? Do we record drums, then bass, then rhythm guitars, then lead, then vocals?)
D. Any other tips appreciated

If you actually want to share *project* files, you'll have to use something other than GB. I'm doing something similar right now, but fortunately, I was the only one that had to move from PC to Mac.

I think doing this a lot will get tedious without a common DAW, but it may depend on the technical ability of everyone involved, how much they want to invest in getting interfaces, and for the drummer, enough channels and mics.

I highly recommend that you all get Skype accounts, and use desktop sharing to help each other navigate whatever setup and transfer methods you decide on, unless you are all primarily computer zen-masters...

We use Google Docs to share files. The background process & network activity of Dropbox is not something I want running on my recording computer. I prefer manually uploading/downloading when I know I'm not doing anything else. These project files are going to be big - e.g., just a half dozen tracks (most not full) of a 3 minute GB tune will compress/ZIP to 50+MB. On my [cheap] network, and somewhat remote wireless connectivity in the office (not even a studio), that's an upload/download I need to manage, and not have happen whenever Dropbox decides to.

Keep us updated. I'm having a lot of fun doing this, so the effort to get it set up will be worth it.

I've done several projects this way ... it's really not a matter of a common DAW — all you have to do is swap WAV files via Dropbox. Just about any DAW can create a WAV.

You would of course be using click tracks, right? My suggestion would be to start with a scratch track, maybe vocal and rhythm guitar ... it helps to start out with a general idea and feel of the tune (even if rough). You could email that to the others as an MP3, since quality isn't an issue for a scratch. Once they've got that reference point for the general architecture and flow, the drummer can do the drums, then put the bass on top of that. Then top it off with the real vocal and various guitar work at your place. (Assuming you're the vocalist, of course!)

Audacity might be a good bet for the rhythm section guys on PC. It's free, and folks generally say good things about it. ... If I read you correctly, your rhythm section guys are recording noobs, so that tells me you would be handling the master file in terms of mixing, post-production and so forth. Therefore project files (DAW-specific) become a moot point — you have the master file all set up, and all they have to do is create their part, save it as a WAV and pop it into Dropbox. You retrieve it and place it in the mix.

Good luck!

I've used Audacity a fair amount - that's all I used before getting on the GarageBand-wagon. I just had to look and it's possible to configure it to allow exporting multi-channel .WAV files. I didn't know that! That was my main concern with using something like that with a drummer. I assume GB can import those OK? (I've imported stereo .WAV files, of course.) If so, that would be my vote, too. It takes plugins like non-free DAWs, so can be pretty powerful.

If I were the engineer/editor/mixer in charge of the project file, I think I'd want each separate drum mike (or stereo pair in the case of overheads) delivered raw, so each track could be cleaned up with EQ according to its own needs, then routed to sends and so forth.

If the drummer were accomplished in these techniques, he could submix them himself and send as a stereo track, but Cheesehead's post hinted that this is probably not the case.

Thanks for the great ideas. Keep them coming.

I use a few different file transfer services rather than dropbox. Yousendit.com has fairly decent bandwidth for free, as does Adobe sendnow.com. You definitely want to have just one person handling the raw tracks, which seems to be you by your posts. Record in the same order that you would if you were in a studio doing all different sessions, just like Woodman suggested. These tracks can be exported low quality (mp3 or whatever) to save file space, but have the musicians export their tracks back to you as .wav files.

It's a bit unclear as to how extensive the setups of your other buddies are. Is the drummer capable of or willing to multitrack his kit? Or is he going to give you a stereo mix of two or more mics?

Online recording collaboration is a great thing to be able to do and you can get great results if everyone is at least operating at the same minimum level of gear and competency.

Good luck!

I'm guessing we'd keep it relatively simple. Stereo mic the drums, but maybe not mic each drum. Probably record the guitars dry so I can tweak to my heart's content. I have Amplitube Jimi Hendrix, which has some nice amp sims.

Any basic tips on applying EQ, compression, and mixing?

I'm guessing we'd keep it relatively simple. Stereo mic the drums, but maybe not mic each drum. Probably record the guitars dry so I can tweak to my heart's content. I have Amplitube Jimi Hendrix, which has some nice amp sims.

Any basic tips on applying EQ, compression, and mixing?

It really depends on the source material (tracks). You could get your rough mix set up and post it here and many people would help. Here's one of the most useful things I've seen regarding the whole process:
Why do your recordings sound like ass? (http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283&highlight=ass)
[EDIT: This came from a Reaper forum, but the principles apply to all DAWs.

Clearing the mud out of the drum tracks is a good starting point.

It really depends on the source material (tracks). You could get your rough mix set up and post it here and many people would help. Here's one of the most useful things I've seen regarding the whole process:
Why do your recordings sound like ass? (http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283&highlight=ass)
[EDIT: This came from a Reaper forum, but the principles apply to all DAWs.

Clearing the mud out of the drum tracks is a good starting point.

That link is HUGE!! and very addictive to read. Thanks!

I've been re-reading it — Geoff originally posted the link a while back. The first 16 or so pages are chock full of audio wisdom.

Thanks for the link - a lot to absorb for my little brain! ha ha! But good stuff!

I also read the threads about the two collaborative efforts of TDPRI musicians. Really interesting and great results. The guy who engineeered it must really have known what he was doing.