need some options...

[mojobone]

What are the most economical methods for transferring multitrack 24-bit WAV files over the net for purposes of collaboration? Say for instance I wanted to mix 10 tracks of 24-bit WAV files at a time for upwards of five clients in a given month, and send two tracks back, with all songs roughly three minutes long. I'd imagine I'd be brushing up against a 1 GIG monthly download limit in short order...any suggestions?

[Casey H]

Aug 7, 2008, 12:54am, mojobone wrote:What are the most economical methods for transferring multitrack 24-bit WAV files over the net for purposes of collaboration? Say for instance I wanted to mix 10 tracks of 24-bit WAV files at a time for upwards of five clients in a given month, and send two tracks back, with all songs roughly three minutes long. I'd imagine I'd be brushing up against a 1 GIG monthly download limit in short order...any suggestions?Check out www.yousendit.com ... It's free and great for transferring big files such as .wav ... I think you can only do one file at a time (up to 100 MB) with the free version, but many of us live with that... They have other options where you pay a little and can move larger amounts of information.HTH Casey

[hotjams]

Hey Casey thanks for posting that, I could use this service.Hotjams

[mazz]

www.sendspace.comUp to 300 MB for free.Right now services such as these are probably the best option unless you set up your own FTP server. Keep in mind that, depending on your internet speed, transferring large files this way can take a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG time. If you're going to go this route, I'd consider having a second computer dedicated to transferring files so your music computer doesn't have to be doing that and trying to run your mixing system at the same time.Cheers,Mazz

[stoney]

As mentioned before yousendit is brilliant. I'm pretty sure the free version is 1gig per month (?) with one file at a time or a zip file. I use yousendit pro which is I think about 10 bucks a month?? I get 40gigs a month multiple file sending a drop box for your clients to send you files either from yousendit or embeded in my website (haven't set this up). There is also software that you can download to run from your mac or PC so you can upload straight from you desktop which does speed thing up a little.Going to check out sendspace now sounds like another good one.If your on a mac I think apple run some sofware to a graphic designer I often work for has sent me file from his mac account?? Not 100% how this works though.D

[elser]

Aug 7, 2008, 3:43pm, stoney wrote:If your on a mac I think apple run some sofware to a graphic designer I often work for has sent me file from his mac account?? Not 100% how this works though.DA .mac account gives you 20GB of online storage. They give you a place to create a website which can be used as an FTP site. You can't stream from it as far as I know so it doesn't work that well as a straight ahead website, but you can create a link to another streaming site, broadjam or whatever, if you want.Elser

[mojobone]

Thanks, everyone! I was aware of yousendit, found the dropbox on Frodo's site, that's kinda what prompted the question. I'm hoping to find a less expensive option with more bandwidth (isn't everybody? ) A 1 G per month limit isn't a terrible restriction for mastering, but might be prohibitive for mixing projects at 24 bits. Mazz, I wonder if you could expound a little further on the subject; as it happens, I've got a G4 with a direct cable modem connection in the other room, but I don't have (and don't really want) a .mac account. Without physically networking the computers, I suppose I could just shift the files on CDs or DVDs as necessary...if anyone has a link to info on how to set up a G4 Mac as an FTP server, that might be useful, as well.

[mazz]

If you have OSX apparently it can be done because it includes built in FTP server capability. I tried but couldn't get it to work but I gave up pretty quick because I didn't want to spend my time on it. There's books out there that can walk you through it. A G4 would probably be a fine FTP server. Again, you're limited by the speed of your internet connection.Good luck,Mazz

[ggalen]

As Mazz says, the problem is your upload speed. Typically pretty slow for doing multi-megabyte files, even on broadband.

[mojobone]

A responder on another site suggested compressing (zipping) AIFF files to save time and bandwidth, but I think what's needed is a sort of universal format that works among all the different DAWs, most of which use Broadcast WAV files. Surely there must already be something available that'll compress those while retaining time-stamp and track data. (Hmmm...think they call it ProTools-maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy that sumbuck) Even a set of track and stem file naming conventions might be helpful. Giving all files a zero start time would appear to include unnecessary amounts of digital black, unless one used FLAC or something like it. (pretty sure FLAC doesn't preserve time-stamp data, though) For simple collaboration (overdubs, for instance), I'm sure it's not necessary to jump through all these hoops, I reckon most folks wouldn't mind referencing an MP3 of a 2-mix while overdubbing. Maybe I'm overlooking the obvious, here, it doesn't cost that much to snail-mail a DVD.