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No clue, I've only ever tried Audacity and haven't shared work files, but subbed for learning. Would love to be able to collaborate online with friends by sending tracks back and forth. Are there any formats considered "standard"?
If you are talking about saving mixes etc. of tracks, as in, saving a session, then each DAW is it's own world. You can use some DAWs as plugins inside other DAWs, but usually you can't open a session saved in one DAW with another.
However, if you are talking about just recording in one DAW and then doing all the work in another, you can open the WAV files you recorded (or whatever format you recorded the audio in) in any DAW of your choice.
However, if you are talking about just recording in one DAW and then doing all the work in another, you can open the WAV files you recorded (or whatever format you recorded the audio in) in any DAW of your choice.
It doesn't matter. You'll be sending WAV stems to the next person for mixing, not ProTools/Reaper/Logic/Audacity/Whatever files.
That's what I was afraid of. Didn't know about the plugins thing, though, will read up.
WAV is the standard. Every track you record is compressed in WAV, and every bounce you do should be set to output WAV as well. It should never be changed until you've finalized the song, and then you can make it into FLAC, MP3, OGG, whatever
Yes, I knew that was the standard output format, I was hoping there was a work-in-progress sharing standard format - a "BabelDAW", if you will (apologies to Scott Adams
). Too bad, sounds like a business opportunity for someone with more skills than I have...
Hmmm, are you saying that each individual track inside each of the DAW's work files is in WAV format already? Or are you saying to output each track into its own .WAV file individually, send them all, and import them on the other side into the other DAWs format? Hmmm.... have to go try some things. Sorry, thinking out loud, long stressful day.
Yes, I knew that was the standard output format, I was hoping there was a work-in-progress sharing standard format - a "BabelDAW", if you will (apologies to Scott Adams
What I do when I am remotely working on something with another person is to select the DAW that we will both use. Sometimes this means compromise on both parts, but it can be done (I do it regularly). For example, a producer friend works in ProTools, I personally prefer Cubase, as he owns both (and I don't) then we work in Cubase. Other times I have just worked with Audacity to colab with other people.
Note that all files (the WAV and the session file) will need to be available to both parties, not just the session file. I use dropbox for this.
Everything your record is in WAV format (unless you choose otherwise for any reason), the DAW file (as in, the session file) saves any changes made to that file without actually changing the original WAV. Once you have made any changes (EQ, gain, whatever) you can then reexport to another WAV file with these changes included, however, it is better to continue to work with the original files until you make the final mix. The more times you export to a new WAV, the more quality will be lost (it won't be noticeable at first, but will build up).
OK, thanks, starting to make sense. I don't own a real DAW program yet, still learning basics, but maybe it's time.
Sadly, there isn't. But there are some DAWs that are able to communicate more easily with others... Reaper has some plugins that allow it to read ProTools and Logic files, although I wouldn't be surprised if the conversion was a bit buggy.Yes, I knew that was the standard output format, I was hoping there was a work-in-progress sharing standard format - a "BabelDAW", if you will (apologies to Scott Adams
Did you mean Douglas Adams, btw? The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
...just like bouncing tracks too many times back in the 4 tracks days, hehe.
Yes, sorry, Douglas Adams, Scott is the Dilbert guy, so now I have to apologize to both!Sadly, there isn't. But there are some DAWs that are able to communicate more easily with others... Reaper has some plugins that allow it to read ProTools and Logic files, although I wouldn't be surprised if the conversion was a bit buggy.
Did you mean Douglas Adams, btw? The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
As I mentioned in your other thread and has been said here: use whatever DAW you're comfortable with; you'll only be passing around .wav files of each individual instrument track.
Exported tracks ( bounced to WAV ) - importable.
Internal DAW tracks ( e.g. Ableton Live, but pretty much all daw tracks ) have automation, a million settings per track, etc - not importable.
Many studios consider internal Pro Tools tracks to be interchangeable, because so many of them use PT's.
Internal DAW tracks ( e.g. Ableton Live, but pretty much all daw tracks ) have automation, a million settings per track, etc - not importable.
Many studios consider internal Pro Tools tracks to be interchangeable, because so many of them use PT's.
WAV files can be compressed. But AFAIK that's not usually the case when used in recording situations or DAW software. Those apps use uncompressed WAV files in the LPCM (linear pulse code modulation) format. WAV is also "lossless" so there's no bit interpolation or loss due to encoding like there is with MP3. A WAV file is an exact copy of the original source audio.
Compatibility to what DAW? In general, you give the mixing and mastering engineer either Wav or AIFF files, and s/he uses his/her DAW and plugins for further processing. There's also the OMF file format that allows you to let the edit to be altered. However you usually provide the mixing and the mastering engineer the edited files although they can edit the files furthermore.
Studio One 3, has the ability to record the tracks with a time code. For example if you record the track/song at 115 bpm, and you are locked into that tempo, you can send those wave files to the Engineer who likely has a DAW that will take WAV files. And let them know the tempo speed, in this case, 115 bpm. They will be able to open up the file and use quantization to keep the track in tempo. This is why it's best to record the foundation of the song by the DAW's tempo. This is usually done where the drummer is listening/monitoring via the headphones of the tempo beat from the DAW. All other instruments will groove to that tempo. This is the modular way of digital recording, which allows for editing, and opens up a lot of options for the creative process, as well as use parts for future songs.
Another option is straight recording without the DAW tempo, and all the tracks will have the same grove. This limits the modular cut and paste, but is good if your band plays through one song straight.
In any event, you should be able to send the tracks to the Mixing engineer and they'll do their magic. It's always good to let them know what kind of sound you are trying to achieve, and what are the special parts of each song, so they can do automation, and bring up the feature vocal/instrument for each song.
Another option is straight recording without the DAW tempo, and all the tracks will have the same grove. This limits the modular cut and paste, but is good if your band plays through one song straight.
In any event, you should be able to send the tracks to the Mixing engineer and they'll do their magic. It's always good to let them know what kind of sound you are trying to achieve, and what are the special parts of each song, so they can do automation, and bring up the feature vocal/instrument for each song.
