Collaborating on distance? How to?

Sending CDRs around certainly is no bad thing. If and when both parties involved are using the same type of audio or sequencing software, one might even want to exchange data this way. On the other hand, I don

When musicians start to think of a distance collaboration there is often just too much discussion about using the same software, operating system or other technical details.

Here is my recommendation:
If you like to exchange music-files which are still in progress just render the separate tracks out of your preferred sequencer software and name the resulting WAV- or AIF-files simple and self-explanatory like "bassdrum", "snare", "bassline", "leadline" etc. Do it without any effects, if that is possible. This leaves more mixing possibilities to your partner. Also: Avoid to use compression on the separate tracks, even when they are sounding too low then. It is better to send just normalized files. It is somewhat difficult to add new material to already compressed audio-signals.

To document how you might think the final mix could sound make a mixdown of the master-track (of course with all the effects you like) and add it to the other files. Again a self-explanatory naming could help your partner to recover those files out of the heap of all the others.

Put all the files which belong to the piece you like to share in one folder, name the folder with the number of BPM to set-up the other sequencer properly in sync to yours, like this: "track01_124bpm". If you like to be a bit more kind to your partner you can even add the key of the track to it, too: track01_124bpm_c-minor".

This folder you can easily compress to one ZIP-file and transfer it via FTP or services like http://www.yousendit.com/ to almost every place in the world which has more than only a modem dial-up internet-connection. Of course you can send the (uncompressed) folder just as a DVD- or CD-R or whatever.

In my opinion it doesn't make sense to really think about using the same software or software-version. There is so much very different software in use, that it seems to be hardly possible to set up two different systems in a way that you eventually just can double-click on a sequencer-file, that you might have got just by e-mail or so. In fact even when would use the same software and the same version all the used (VST-) plug-Ins need to match to each other.

I suggest just to concentrate on a precise communication and of the artistic aim your collaboration probably might have. Sometimes it is even better to make a phone-call, although having everything written down in the last e-mail.

Of course this all doesn't replaces a real encounter and the experience of making music together in a jam session and having the feeling to perform as a "band". But at least you can just pretend to sound like that...

well the way Eppie and I work for "Dutch Space Mission" is normally that Eppie asks me to play some pieces in a certain key.
(very difficult for me )

Than he plays something over it, or has already something recorded, and mixes everything together.

When he is ready he send me the track and I give my opinion, sometimes we change it.

no real life relation is involved

Create together a Box.com or Google Drive account and you are on the go. Last year I worked together with Perceptual Defense this way and it worked great.