LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS
Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
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You can win a free mix from featured company The Mixingbox and also a free mastering session from featured company eMasters. Entering the contests couldn’t be much easier.
The Mixingbox is giving away one free mix session. The winner will be determined by random drawing on April 15, 2007. No purchase necessary; limit one entry per household. To enter, go to www.themixingbox.com/remix.
For your chance at have a track mastered for free either digitally, to vinyl or to CD from eMasters, go to www.emasters.co.uk/remixregister.php. First you register for the site and then answer some simple questions to enter the contest. There will be 10 winners chosen!
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As a teenager about 15 years ago, I would dial into local bulletin-board systems with a pokey 24k modem and chat for hours with like-minded musos across town about the latest computer-recording technology. I fondly recall an Atari 1040 ST freeware utility that let me jam back and forth with a buddy via modem using MIDI keyboards and sound modules, which we thought was too cool. In those early days, actually jamming with acoustic instruments and real-time streaming audio was pure science fiction.
Today, online collaboration is big business — even gaining attention from venture capitalists. In the past year, all sorts of services have popped up. Whether it's finding your next project, recording online, having a song professionally mixed and mastered or schmoozing industry types to find publicity and distribution, online collaboration is catching on fast and closing the distances between musicians.
WRITE IT
Every song or project must begin with inspiration. A great place to start your search for songwriting and jamming partners is Digital Musician (www.digitalmusician.net). Like the majority of online-collaboration sites, Digital Musician is community-based, meaning members sign up and create personal and professional profiles indicating musical experience, artistic leanings and intentions for using the site. For example, hobbyists join in hopes of learning more about songwriting and gear, and working professionals jam and record together with other site members from around the globe without travel costs.
Using the site's Talent Scout search utility, I was able to find so many different musicians from so many countries and diverse musical backgrounds — very refreshing. It didn't take long to spot members with matching tastes and visions. After a few e-mails, we added each other to our musical partners lists and got mingling in the new collective studio.
Obviously, communication and invitation is a huge part of successful online collaboration. Users can organize private and public projects for their partners or general members. The community area features a public forum and a chat section where you can ask technical questions, make suggestions for improvements or discuss anything else to do with making music online.
Digital Musician's secret weapon — as with all collaboration sites — is a proprietary session-hosting tool. The Digital Musician Link (DML) is a VST 2.0 or RTAS plug-in that you insert in one of your sequencer's channels and use it to log in to the Digital Musician server. Through broadband connections, DML allows you to connect with people and jam in real time with high-quality synchronized stereo audio (as high as 256 Kbps), as if you were in a studio together.
Both MIDI and audio streams can be transferred without latency thanks to an embedded time-stamp technology. Via the integrated full-screen video window, you can see and hear your session partner, making it a fully emotive experience. Of course, you'll need at least a basic microphone for the talkback connection and a Webcam for video conferencing. Transport messages make sure everyone's sequencers shuttle and playback in perfect sync.
DML downloads are free of charge, but both you and your partners will each have to be paid subscribers to Digital Musician to enjoy premium services. A DMN Standard (free) account allows using the DML plug-in at a maximum of 128 Kbps with full access to the Website, including a homepage with one picture and as many as three demo tracks. A Pro account (9.90 euros per month; 89 euros per year [approximately $117 per year]) allows a 256 Kbps streaming throughput that sounds equivalent to uncompressed WAV or AIFF material. This account also unlocks DML's file-transfer function, where you can transfer recorded audio in any format and resolution. You'll also receive more space for your homepage and get promotional ad rotation of your profile, so other members can take greater notice of your talents.
Since it's based in Germany and currently most popular in Europe, the majority of Digital Musician members were asleep when I wandered online in the evening, Eastern Standard Time. Once more North Americans join, that will be less of a concern.
Another new service (about 200 members at press time) using proprietary software to host songwriting sessions is eJamming (www.ejamming.com). The system is entirely MIDI controlled and sends MIDI data back and forth — not audio. So you and your collaborators will need to have MIDI controllers (or MIDI converters) to play all keys, guitars, drums, etc.
To keep all participants hearing the same sounds, the eJamming Studio software includes an internal General MIDI Sound Set programmed exclusively for eJamming by world-renowned sound designer, Sonic Implants. You can, however, use any sound set that supports the GM spec. As you jam, you can record your performance, load previously recorded MIDI files into eJamming overdubbing or export the newly recorded files to any DAW for offline audio overdubs, editing and mixing.
Musician profiles show their location, influences, favorite genres, main instruments and studio-gear list, so you can search for compatibilities. Members also list what time of day or evening they're typically online.
The Jam Scheduler calendars your sessions and rehearsals and sends out e-mail reminders. It even lists all public Hosted Jams and special sessions, all on one interactive calendar. JamVites is an Instant Messaging system used to invite other musicians currently logged into eJamming to join in your writing or playing.
Day-passes to the eJamming site cost $4.95, and renewable subscriptions cost $14.95 per month, $75 for six months or $150 for a year; the software is free to download.
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