In this case, I had the engineer send me mp3s of the scratch mix with bass and guitar as well as the mix with just vocals and drums. This allowed me to sync the two files together in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). In my case I used Sonar 3 and my trusty old Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 programs, but a lot of studio musicians use Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Logic or one of the other great programs available. I was able to chart the tunes by writing a chord chart or Nashville Number Chart.

Then, I called my buddy Stan Lassiter (just a smoking guitarist! www.stanlassiter.net or check him out on YouTube sometime) to come and add electric guitar. It sounded like a Marshall Stack at full throttle, but Stan's sound was a 5 watt Epiphone tube amp, an Ibanez Tube Screamer and a Gibson Les Paul with a Shure SM-57 microphone. The result was a blazing Rock guitar that you could talk over. I added my bass parts (Carvin Icon 6 string into the Eden Navigator into a Carvin StudioMate 16 channel mixer and then the soundcard) either simultaneously or just before Stan added the guitar tracks. At that point, I did a rough mix of the new guitar and bass parts with the scratch vocals and drums and sent them as mp3s back to Canada for review.

The tracks passed muster, and then the job was to collect my fees (always important - it's the Music Business you know) and get the tracks to Vancouver. The producer sent fees via an online escrow service called PayPal and since we've got a bit of time before the mix and additional recording I wrote the sessions on CDRs (you can also use DVDs if you need more space) and mailed them Priority Mail back to the Great White North. If the tracks were needed immediately I could have placed the tracks in a secure ftp site and given the code to the engineer to download them. Since we're both using Sonar I sent Sonar files, but if he had been using Pro Tools I would have instead sent the tracks as wave files or aiff files that could be loaded into any DAW.

In this way, the session world has expanded to where you can collaborate online with musicians, producers, and artists around the world. For an example of the potential of this check out the FunkDawgs, who bill themselves as the World's First Virtual Jazz Band. All of the members are scattered all over the world but they send files back and forth to create their music. This is an attractive option that allows you to work at your own pace and when you want. We've finally reached the era where you can truly "phone in" your part.

Peace and Low Notes,
Roy C. Vogt
Nashville Bassist
Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

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