Moving audio data—analog or digital—between one party and another requires
careful planning and supervision. Photo
courtesy of Library of Congress
Dear Mitch,
I just read your column about choosing
a DAW in the November 2012 issue
[“Choosing the Right DAW for Your
Studio”] and I agree with almost all of
what you said. However, when you mentioned
that having the same DAW as
the people you’re collaborating with will
allow one to “easily” exchange files, I have
to respectfully disagree. Trying to share
projects is always fraught with danger.
At the project level, you need to
know the following: Have all the audio
files been included? What about MIDI
files? Are people using the same version
of the software so the project files
are compatible? Does the project’s file
format use direct (rather than relative)
path references for files and, if so, have
the files been put in the same place on
the hard drive? Does the project’s file
format use a search path to locate files
and, if so, is it set up correctly to find
the necessary files? Are there tempo maps
or time-signature-change cues that might
not have been included?
At the track level, are you recording at
the same audio-interface frequency as the
person you’re collaborating with? Are all
tracks recorded from the same start points?
And when you get to plug-ins, all bets are
off, and this also goes for virtual instruments.
You have to make sure you have the correct
samples if you’re using a sampler-based emulator.
Same goes with convolution reverbs—don’t forget the impulse-response samples.
The bottom line? Unless a fairly
restrictive set of ground rules are adhered
to, exchanging DAW projects to collaborate
can be quite awful, even if the DAW
is the same. It’s almost never “easy.” In
fact, it’s usually no easier than exporting
audio files from one DAW and importing
them into another DAW.
In any case, thanks for a great series
of articles. I’ve enjoyed reading them all
very much.
Frank Adrian
Thanks for the insightful comments,
Frank. I love it when we can all learn
from one another, so this month, let’s take
a short break from our series on choosing
the best gear for your studio and talk about
some of the points you made.
You’re absolutely correct in everything you
mention in your letter! Exchanging DAW
files with collaborators or even taking, say, a
session you created in Pro Tools into a commercial
studio that runs Pro Tools for mixing
and overdubs can indeed be a frustrating
challenge. This is due to differences in systems,
versions, optional items that need to
be installed, and more. I have run into these
problems myself, most commonly when an
older version of software might not open a
file that was created on a newer version of the
software. And if it does open the file, there
may be feature differences that change how it
sounds or plays. There’s also the issue of using
different plug-ins than those of your collaborators
or the studio you are using. Your tracks
won’t sound the same, and it’s generally a
time-consuming and futile task to recreate the
sounds of your tracks using different plug-ins.
Housekeeping. There are several things
you can do to make collaborations (using
the same software, or not) easier. The first
is careful attention to “housekeeping.”
Organize your files carefully by making sure
that everything you need is exactly where
it needs to be. In some cases, you can take
your plug-ins with you (if your plug-ins
use an iLok for authorization, for example).
Are all the audio, MIDI, fade, automation,
instrument samples, instrument and plugin
presets included with your session? Most
importantly, all the collaborators must do the
same level of housekeeping: If one forgets a
necessary file, everyone else will be stuck.
Documentation. In the old days, commercial
studios often had an assistant who did
nothing but take notes on everything that happened
during a session—mic setups and placement,
mixing console settings, effects settings,
cable routings, takes and alternate takes, good
and bad tracks, and so on. The tapes would be
stored with the bundle of notes so the session
could be accessed later for more work. Today,
we can easily take copious notes on everything
involved with sessions and store them
either right inside, or at least along with, the
DAW files. I use a free, cloud-based program
called Evernote that automatically syncs notes
entered on one computer to other computers,
tablets, and smart phones. By setting everyone
up with Evernote, all collaborators will have
the same notes, screenshots, or photos on their
device instantly. And if all collaborators document
everything religiously, the project will
stay current and things will go much smoother.
Plan ahead. Make sure each collaborator’s
system is roughly equivalent. If that’s
impossible, come up with guidelines so that
system differences don’t become an issue. If
you know that only one collaborator has a
certain virtual instrument, record its tracks
as audio files rather than MIDI/instrument
files so they can be exchanged more easily.
Make sure everyone knows what settings to
use by establishing “standards” that everyone
will adhere to. If you’re taking your tracks
into a commercial studio, contact the studio
in advance to find out if they have the plugins
and instruments you need and what software
versions they are running. If they don’t
have what you need, bounce tracks using
those processors or instruments into fresh
audio tracks with the processing so they can
be properly loaded into the studio’s DAW.
Finally, with multiple collaborators it’s
often best to designate a “keeper of the
files”—the individual who will maintain the
master set of files that everyone works from.
We’ll discuss session hygiene, housekeeping,
documentation, and organization in
future columns. Hopefully, these tips will
help ease or avoid any potential “gotchas”
when collaborating with other musicians and
using DAW software—be it the same program
or a different one.
Mitch Gallagher is
the former editor in chief of
EQ magazine. He’s written
more than 1,000 articles
and six books on recording
and music technology, and
has released an instructional
DVD on mastering. His upcoming book is
entitled
Guitar Tone: Pursuing the Ultimate
Electric Guitar Sound. To learn more, visit
mitchgallagher.com.