wow that would be a cool idea! do u mean like send an instrumentalist a song and he/she puts a part down and sends it back and you pay them for it? that would solve scheduling/ locattion issues and make for very professional and professionally played parts...let me know if you find out anything...

Oats: Thats exactly what i'm after. Lets say i have a song that needs a a soulful guitar solo, or an upbeat piano chord progression, or even a howling saxaphone line.... Wouldnt it be great if all I had to do is send a printed copy of the music/chord progression etc, and be gauranteed a proffessional mp3 recording of the desired instrument sent back to me via email?

Anyway, i'll let you know if i find anything.

There are already a couple of guys, specifically drummers that I've read about. Check out the back pages of Modern Drummer and other industry related mags. I know of a bassist, drummer and BV'ist(?) here in SA who do this already.

You might ask this question in, for instance, the "Music Lounge" forum on cubase.net (http://forum.cubase.net) - there are many musicians there who may be willing to work like that. Many may even jump at the chance. As a suggestion, you may want to ask for a .wav file instead of an .mp3, since you'll get better sound that way (.mp3 is a compressed file, with attendant loss of sound quality).

I'd suggest joining a collaboration website - there are plenty of excellent musicians who will help you out, usually just for the love of creating music.

Try http://www.artistcollaboration.com

Online Collaborations...

Hey guys-n-gals, here's an excerpt of Tony Brooke from silentway.com It tells a story about exactly what you guys are looking for!!! I wish they were still around, but I can tell you of something similar if you'd prefer... Here's the excerpt: (All of the "I"'s and "my"s have been changed to "He"'s and "his"'s...)

Tony Brooke recently discovered a long letter which he wrote in early 1992, but never sent. He had lived in San Francisco less than a year and was still figuring out what he wanted to do in life. He had begun to change his mind about his career choice of radio, but had not yet begun working in recording studios.

While driving down the freeway at 70mph, he had a brainstorm which he had to pull over to describe.

He called it JamNet, and it was a remarkably forward-thinking Internet and music-related invention. Unfortunately, he never followed up on the idea. It did not become reality until 2001 (nine years later), but he had no part; A company called Rocket Network brought it to life. (Then in April 2003, they were bought out and shut down.)

In February 1992 there was no World Wide Web yet, just the non-graphical, disconnected, fledgling beginnings of the Internet. Tony had only seen behind-the-times college networks, and private Bulletin Board Systems such as BMUG. He had yet to begin recording audio professionally, and had not even bought his first modem. (One of the last lines in the letter read, "Man, I can't wait to get a modem." Ha!)

Finding this letter was a reminder of a time when he had grand ideas despite having no way to achieve them. He was filled with ambition but had no direction.

What can we all do (collectively) to bring back such a great idea?

Just1Ghost

I remember something from a few years ago that I checked out. It cost money so I never did it, and for the life of me I can't think of what it's called. DAMMIT!!! This is exactly what it was though. You'd post something, or get together (online of course) with other musician's or producers who were signed up for this site and you woudl send songs back and forth, and send each other your respective parts. It had a weird name that began with an "F" I believe. Sorry I can't be of more help, I just know that there is....or was....something exactly like this out there so keep looking and you'll probably find it.

Love yer werk people! Still, it amazes me that by now there STILL is not an organisation online that offers accredited session players for arrangers/composers struggling to get their parts recorded proffessionaly. As pointed out by Oats, there are many factors to take into consideration when trying to find and record the right session musician. Firstly the player has to,

a. Cut the part, both as a seasoned sight reader and with the desired
chops to match.

b. Be professional enough to rock up for the recording gig at the right place at the right time. I mean lets face it, most musicians are not renowned for their punctuality, either or organisational skills!

c. Know what he is worth. If i'm talking to a someone who says "Hey dude, how about i record your part for free?" The first thing i'm going to think is that this guy is NOT up to standard. You will find that most people when they want something done, are prepared to hand over the cash if they know that what they are going to have at the end is a professional job.

Anyway, the search continues. If i dont succeed in finding a service that can offer what i'm after then i suppose i'll just have to play and record the parts myself......yeah right!

It seems to me that this is a huge hole in the business just begging for someone to fill it. It's difficult to figure why someone hasn't done this yet .. maybe because internet geeks are notorious for not wanting to pay for anything

Try looking up Res Rocket, i know they do ( did ) synth and midi based stuff you described, and where supposed to go mp3 and wave, havent checked it out lately

http://www.windsynth.org/studio/riding_the_res_rocket.shtml

but i think it may help or point you somewhere that might

SI

I had the idea a long time ago too.
But some young yuppies i was working with threw me off made it stupidly and it never became usable.

I am making a run at doing exactly this for keyboards.

I am a pro keyboardist in NY w/ a solid home studio.

go to http://www.thevergestudio.com

Click on "Web Sessions" and follow the link. Tell me you saw the site here and I'll cut you a 20% discount on the first session- to help me see if the process is feasible.

Thanks.

I have an idéa how tomake it happenwithout any expenses except the workoff the people that might be involved.
The problem is offen that it takes a big server where you can upload and download the files.
Well my idéa was that all the members must download a ftp server program to their computer and then the main webpage will funktion mainly as a place of linking between members(computers) ,forum for meeting , pms and all that.
So all the upload and downloads will be directly from computer to computer , person to person.

I have given it alot of thought how it can be made in a simpel and usefull way when I was working with the yuppies , so if there are people who has time and ability to do the work I will gladly give them the siteplans.

Hi All-

Just1Ghost is right on the money... I'm the daydreamer he quoted. Check it out:
http://www.silentway.com/tony/articles/1992jamnet.html

I posted that to give people the impetus to follow up on their daydream million-dollar ideas...

How many times have YOU missed the boat? If only you had followed up on your genius invention...

SO someone should roll with the idea! Maybe I'll end up it's oldest fan...

A close modern approximation is by Digidesign:
http://digidesign.com/products/digidelivery/overview/

I've been thinking about this for a while now and have done some research on it. Most collaboration systems now depend on multicast networks and high speed networking between sites. A German company is releasing a VST plugin that will let you collaborate directly in your DAW (assuming it has Internet access and supports VST). Problem with their approach is their using video as well as audio and it will likely limit the number of concurrent tracks available.

Something I've been thinking about (and playing wiht in moderation :-) is using lo-fi audio to allow people to collaborate live, and then have a component on each person's site to collect the hi-fi audio for post-take streaming back to the "producer" site for insertion into a DAW of your choice. the local client bit would use a timing (something maybe like SMPTE...) to ensure you can line them up.

Finding a commercially available, multi-user "conferencing" tools that can support unicast (like most of the Internet) is hard. Most products don't support "full duplex" audio or some other limitation... I think my first version of this will probably be .NET based clients and some conferencing API...

anyways... i'm rambling... thing is, this is definitely a market whose time has come but like anything web based, it will likely not be a huge money maker but more of an enabling technology for the masses...

I have actually done this a few times. I can supply all guitar tracks for any type of music, and the same with bass. I supply multiple takes with variations, so you can choose, or even edit the wav to your liking. I charge very little because I actually love doing this, and would like to build a good reputation. Drop me a PM if you have any questions

You can use 'sendthisfile.com' for the server facility .. and as long as the originating composer sets a click track with the first track(s), anyone else should be able to play along and build their part. Then they send their track to the original composer for mixing.
In this way, the original composer can obtain individual tracks from any number of people.

Actually, I think a site called globetraxters.com is also doing some kind of collaboration service.

If anyone needs any session guitar for their music, I specialise in funk, rock, metal, blues, and am one of the dying breed of guitarists that can still play solos.

£100 (GBP) per song if you supply the score for the guitar part
(signed / unsigned)

£200 (GBP) per song plus co-songwriting credit if I write the guitar part to fit your music (unsigned)

£200 (GBP) per song plus 1% plus co-songwriting credit if I write the guitar part to fit your song (signed)

Performance credit obligatory.

I can provide demos, just email me: philplumpton@hotmail.com

I own / have access to many guitars including 3 Fender Stratocasters (an original '59, a 60's re-issue and a Rory Gallagher signature)and 2 Ibanez's (an RG550 and a customized RT-series).

Recording using MOTU 828, Vox TonelabSE, Logic.

Professionals: can hire a studio at Olympic Studios for reasonable rate (email to ask), including Protools HD3 Rig, SSL desk (G, G+, K), any guitar, any fx, any amp, in-house engineer.

Phil

This is something I have been working on, but more of a project auction site that is subscription based (bandwidth and storage ain't free!). The idea is reciprocal. Artists, producers, etc... can post their projects and other artists can bid (lowest bid wins, of course). Also, the same musicians and artists that are bidding can advertise in a centralized directory. (instruments, genres, location, etc..) The goal of the site is to allow on-line collaboration as well as local collaboration as well. With each subscription profile, the user will receive 1 gig of FTP storage (more can be purchased) I have the back-end infrastructure (servers, disk arrays, bandwidth, etc..) secured and am filtering through a network of front-end developers to bring the user interface to life. I will post developments as they occur. Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome!

online session musicians

It's the way forward! I used to schlep round the country doing my thing, now I work almost exclusively from my own studio. What you lose from being in the same room with another musician, you gain in so much flexibility. Sessions can be open ended - you keep working on a track till it's right.
My site is http://www.realstrings.com - still mostly get work from people I know though!

This sounds like a very cool idea so I'll throw my name into the hat as well.

For anyone needing professional piano, B3, wurli, keys of any sort (vintage or modern), strings & arrangements (using some of the best libraries available including VSL) give me a pm and I'll give you more details or visit http://www.d-dmusic.com

My fees are flexible depending on what you need and always includes composing a part or parts that will fit your track. 24 bit WAV's can be FeEx'd and or posted on my site for immediate download with no limit on file sizes.

I have a University Degree in Performance Piano. Also, I've done session work for many, many people in Toronto including Triumph and Rik Emmmett and also quite a lot of Ethnic keys (which has been quite a bit of fun).

oops dbl post.

Seems like people are queuing up to sell their talents rather than develop the system that would make it possible!
As a programmer and developer, I'm interested in hearing what you might want to pay for the system that would make it all possible?

I've just read an article in the Sound On Sound mag in the UK, which previews this type of system. Apparently, it will be available in August.
http://www.digitalmusician.de/misc/static-pages/preview/index_eng2.htm

VSTunnel.com - new VST plugin for making music online

Hey for those who are interested, I found a free VST plugin that can have multiple musicians working together online. check it out: http://www.vstunnel.com

Anyone need a session drummer?

I have actually been doing this for 2 months now.

http://www.newjersey.com.au/sessiondrummers/

it will be sessiondrummers.com within the next couple of weeks

Actually digital musicians net just went live.

http://news.harmony-central.com/News/2005/Digitalmusician-Launch.html

8)

ISDN

I know some guys who are responsible for a great many, probably well in the majority of radio jingles, you know, audio idents, commercial sounding station idents, in the UK.

The recording studio is housed geograhpically remote from the vocal session singers. They use ISDN boxes either end giving them deicated bandwidth and record happily all day.

There is a slight delay, always constant, which is eaily solved by monitoring a delayed feed in the studio whilst the vocal feeds arrive.

Sweet.

I've also recently had a student who had his drum tracks recorded over in the USA whilst he was based in UK, you can listen to him talk of that here: http://www.audiocourses.com/blog/2005/05/rocking-country-in-kent-uk.html

We Do It !

Hi Guys

If you are interested, we can help with this.

We have a team of highly talented session musicians covering:

Drums
Bass
Guitar
Piano

We can do arrangements per track/instrument as well as entire songs.

Check out the details here:

http://www.breverstudios.com/audiocomposition.html

Cheers

Col
Brever Studios Edinburgh

Online session player available

Yes, I can do that. In fact, I can actually help you record a whole CD project online, long distance. Of course, if you just need a guitar part or keyboard part or maybe just a vocal or two that's really quite easy to do also.
Just like with a local, physical studio, you'd schedule a session time where you'd be available at your computer, online, to recieve your tracks where you'd plug them into your recording system, listen to them and then Instant Message me through Yahoo Instant Message your comments, "tweaks" and adjustments. It's not totally in real time but darn close to it.
I am a professional Midi Programmer and Songwriter demo studio so if you have a song you need to flesh out you can send me a rough cut of it. I'd sequence you a custom version of it, convert it to MP3, e-mail it to you for your approval and then we'd move on from there.

If you'd like to pursue this further on a more personalized basis please e-mail me at http://www.martmanrecords@yahoo.com.

My studio fees are very reasonable as well as custom programming fees. I can furnish sparkling references and am totally commited to your success!

MartMan
MartMan Records

Hi, just saw your question about online recording musicians. I realize you posted this over a year ago, hope you're still around. I'm a percussionist with over 30 years pro exp. 10 of which I spent touring with the Cirque du Soleil show "Alegria". I do online recording. Problem is on my end it's difficult to find paying work, plus people don't want to pay much. I will sometimes spend a day or 2 on a track, and I have to squabble over 100 bucks. My policy is very fair. The client sends me a mp3. I do my thing and send a rough mix mp3 back for the client to hear. If the client doesn't want what I did, no problem, they don't pay. On the other hand if they want, once I've receiced payment, I up-load the individual audio tracks. It's that simple. I'd like to mention that most on-line musicians ask for a deposit up front.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://thenetstudio…"]Virtual Recording Studio[/]="http://thenetstudio…"]Virtual Recording Studio[/] is a decent service... although internet collabs/services have been around for a pretty good while. I've been apart of several over the last 10 years or so.

We Do It, Too!

Howdy all,

I came across this old post by happenstance and I wanted to link you to our business, Music Evolutions. We provide all of the services that the original poster was/is looking for in this thread. Run by two respected, professional musicians Mike Bennett (Hillary Duff, Richie Kotzen) and Dave Wood (Jessie McCartney, Marie Digby) our custom built studio was specifically designed to provide the best quality sound possible.

Our site has a ton of details about the services we provide and the prices we charge for everything, including media and lists of all the equipment we use to make your music sound perfect. If anyone's interested, please check out our site. Also, feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

http://www.musicevolutions.com

Thanks!
Bryce
Music Evolutions

Hey congaro!!
There is a solution to the high costs of getting pro tracks whether you need guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, mixing, or any other service. That solution is the use of an online recording studio. This refers to a studio that offers its services over the internet. In almost all cases, these services are offered at a significantly discounted rate compared to normal rates. there are some excellent online recording studios that offer great services at very low prices. For example, many of these online studios offer custom drum tracks for prices ranging from $100 to $300 per track. Even the $300 per track price could save you money, because you are paying for the tracks but NOT the studio time.