Rehearsing with a band between Alaska and Hawaii

[Prime Mover]

Well, I'll be moving to Hawaii at the end of the summer, just as my contra dance band has been thrust on the national circuit. We want to continue to tour and write, but I'll be a few thousand miles away. I've seen many bands whose members only get together a few days before the show, and usually they're really not tight. So the idea was put forth to try and set up a high speed connection and practice over the internet. Where are things at technology wise? In this case it will be three musicians in one room in Alaska, and me (keys) in Honolulu.

Any thoughts on how to achieve long distance band rehearsals, or some various alternatives?

[mikehalloran]

You can sync to record over the internet - delay compensation works well with the right tools.

Live interaction is still limited by the speed of light and the delays caused by hardware on both ends. You can sync with a something over the net but, if a person, he can't sync with you.

[stubbsonic]

You could play along with them just fine as long as they have you turned off in their mix.

It would be like they would be rehearsing without you, while you rehearse with them. But obviously, because they would not be hearing you live, all that interaction would be gone.

If there was a click, you could play with them and record a first pass. Then, they could play along with your click & first pass while run a second pass. Tedious, but perhaps doable.

[David Polich]

Sorry, I have to file this idea in the "faggedaboudit" drawer.

You need to be in the same room with the other musicians. No internet connection is ever
going to replace the real-time interaction between human beings in the same room.

Maybe when there is a way to broadcast 3D holograms of yourself to another location, and
the other members can beam holograms of themselves to you...

[bayswater]

Steinberg came up with something for this, called remote something or other. But I agree with Dave: telecom links are never in real time, so it would be just as effective to just play along with recordings made by the other musicians (which is essentially what you're doing anyway)

[stubbsonic]

Yes, of course there is no replacement for everyone being in the room at the same time. And a tele-rehearsal involves some huge compromises. Yes.

HOWEVER, this does provide some helpful features that you don't get from rehearsing with recordings. You could still converse about arrangement stuff, even try things and hear them after one pass.

There is no reason to dismiss something that is less than ideal as being worthless. Rehearse with recordings as needed, then have a point-to-point tele-rehearsal and see what you can get done with this one-direction monitoring thing.

[bayswater]

Yes, of course there is no replacement for everyone being in the room at the same time. And a tele-rehearsal involves some huge compromises. Yes.

HOWEVER, this does provide some helpful features that you don't get from rehearsing with recordings. You could still converse about arrangement stuff, even try things and hear them after one pass.

There is no reason to dismiss something that is less than ideal as being worthless. Rehearse with recordings as needed, then have a point-to-point tele-rehearsal and see what you can get done with this one-direction monitoring thing.

Yes, tele-rehearsal has some uses, but the question was whether it helps when you know the material but want the band to get tight in live performance. I think the doubts were about that.

[Prime Mover]

There is no reason to dismiss something that is less than ideal as being worthless. Rehearse with recordings as needed, then have a point-to-point tele-rehearsal and see what you can get done with this one-direction monitoring thing.

And that's where I'm at right now. Fact: I will be in Hawaii. Fact: they will be in Alaska. That can't be helped. I'm just trying to figure out the best possible contingency. Obviously, it won't be as good as being in the same room, but I don't know what alternatives are to be had. We'd be able to rehearse in person a few days before going on tour, and we can practice on our own. The other 3 can practice together, and will even have a backup keyboardist for a few local shows. I'm just looking to add one more thing that will help bridge the gap in between tours.

Question: about a decade ago, I knew some people working on a project in, what was strangely called "web 2.0", where a bunch of musicians from around the world were collaborating in realtime. It wasn't public and required a special uplink. But typically stuff that's cutting edge is mainstream within 10 years, so I'm kinda surprised we're not there yet. Anyone know about this, and whether there are possibilities there? At the time it was limited to educational institutions... everyone in the band is connected to universities, so maybe there's a way?

[stubbsonic]

You'll never get around latency with hardware. It will ALWAYS take time to get the date to & fro. Even the conversations you have with your band mates will have you stepping on each other.

I remember there was a piece of software called GLASS which was even set up to look like a recording control room. It would handle things like delay compensation to keep remote talent sounding right on both ends. Obviously in the "control room" you would hit play, then wait several seconds before hearing the track and the remote talent perfectly synced. Wouldn't work for talent on both sides of the "glass". It also handled sending compressed audio for all the back & forth monitoring, while transferring all the full resolution audio in a later process.

Might be useful for some creative collaborations and getting good rehearsal audio.

[BKK-OZ]

No idea how well (or even if) this works, but it might be worth exploring: https://www.ohmforce.com/OhmStudio.do

[Prime Mover]

Ohm looks to be okay, but it's specifically designed for recording. I'm looking for rehearsing.

At this point, the best option is to use eJamming to play with the 3 of them, but have my mic muted. Record the result (if I can do that with my mic muted), and then all of us listen to the result.

Anyone use eJamming and know of it's functions? I'd like to route a voice mic in, then SoundFlower in my MainStage keyboards. Mute the keyboards for the other's listening in (so they're not pelted by 200ms delays), but keep the voice mic on so I can yell at them, as is always the case during rehearsal. But I'd like to be able to record the result of all the tracks (even the "muted" keyboard track), and then play it back for everyone afterwards. Does that sound like something eJamming could do?

[twistedtom]

Not knowing your situation I am just giving my 2 Cents worth. There must be a reason you moved, I suspect that it has to do with a living situation or a job. If this band is your primary source of income and or it pays well enough to fly to gigs and still make a money very well then give it a try. The logistics of what you want to do are quite difficult. In your absents things may change with the guys you played with; the replacement keyboardist may be more convenient for the band to keep as permanent. If you have copy rights to some songs the band plays this may help your situation. Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.