Virtual band rehearsal? Via Skype? is it done, and how???

[Bobby D]

so, after one too many 1 1/2 hour drives north into palm beach county to go to yet ANOTHER freaking warehouse for what seems like the ten thousandth rehearsal i have attended in my life, i got to thinking...

is anyone yet doing VIRTUAL band rehearsals?

if people are doing guitar lessons via SKYPE, then is there a way to do band rehearsals via SKYPE? or is there another service that offers this?

imagine....being able to plug into your USB audio interface and webcam, and getting into a VIRTUAL practice room. you can even digitally decorate it like a warehouse. or perhaps you can select dozens of different virtual locations, like Le Studio in Canada, or AIR Studios in Montserrat.

is this a million dollar idea?

i know dozens of band spending upwards of $200 a month for warehouses. i had one myself for over ten years in tampa.

imagine if each member paid $24.99 a month for access. AND if you were feeling "jammy", how about if you could log in, and meet in a "main room", where you could meet other musicians and JAM with new people?

AND....what if you could RECORD your jams, and maybe take those audio tracks, download them, and blow them into your DAW and work with them later?

so......we have plenty of IT and Software talent here. and some VC i am sure. who is with me?

 

[Bobby D]

i trawled the entire interwebs with several search engines, and found only ONE reference to a virtual band rehearsal, and that was just some guy's blog about sending MP3's around.....

 

[magdream]

ejamming.com

 

[Bobby D]

sweet! thanks for that link....

 

[magdream]

NP. let us know if you use it and if it's any good. I've always wanted to try this with my band. the only thing that I can see being a problem is vocals.

 

[Bobby D]

NP. let us know if you use it and if it's any good. I've always wanted to try this with my band. the only thing that I can see being a problem is vocals.

i would think the biggest hurdle is for the drummer, to mic up his kit and mix it before hitting the audio interface.

luckily for our band, the drummer OWNS the warehouse, and has his "day job" business in there, and can easily have his kit set up and mic'd there, he's got 10 kits of vintage slingerland and ludwig drums

i have suggested it to my band members, and we all live about 1.5 hours apart from each other. it costs me $20 in gas to drive to rehearsal, takes me 3 hours of driving (on I-95 in south florida, one of the most dangerous highways in the country) and the wear and tear on my car, as well as being locked in a warehouse with 3 other smelly men

what interests me just as much is the opportunity to meet OTHER musicians, and jam with other cool people on the fly.

there's a LOT of possiblities here....

instead of sitting here posting on TGP, some of us could get online and PLAY TOGETHER. imagine that?

 

[magdream]

yeah, the drummer thing might be a problem. didn't consider it cause our drummer plays a v kit.

 

[ripoffriffs]

What about delay? By the time you strum the chord and send it through TCP/IP, is it going to be in sync with the drummer and bass, etc?

 

[Bobby D]

they say that the latency is 24 ms......and they have a free month trial subscription. as long as you have high speed cable internet, it should be doable.

i imagine as tech progresses, this WILL get better. and it has LOTS of possibilities.

imagine doing online virtual shows.....

 

[twoheadedboy]

It's not a new idea. It won't really be practical until data transfer speeds increase significantly.

 

[RedTiger]

It's not a new idea. It won't really be practical until data transfer speeds increase significantly.

IF (and that's a big IF), the latency really is 24ms, it should work ok. If it gets much longer than that, it will be noticible enough to be distracting.

 

[Bmused]

The band I'm in has tried to use "Jamlink" for rehearsing, but it seemed to work with only two boxes, maybe, three at best, probably for the latency/bandwidth issues mentioned above. Someday....

 

[Jazz2Punk]

IF (and that's a big IF), the latency really is 24ms, it should work ok. If it gets much longer than that, it will be noticible enough to be distracting.

I've been taking lessons via skype and the latency is very noticeable. In my case, real time jamming is not an option.

 

[marcher5877]

Latency is the issue.

Even mbox's still have latency issues (although I have heard the new MBox Pro has 0 latency? anyone have experience with it?)

I coulnt imagine not being able to communicate in real time with other musicians so untill this issue gets sorted out, which I am sure that in time it will, we'll be dealing with it.

There is an answer to this problem, and someone will find the answer. anyone wanna have a go out at it? Calling all Angel Investors!!!

 

[chrisr777]

It may be just me being old school, but I have a problem with this. To me, playing music together is as much about the connection as it is about anything else. The eye contact with the drummer on the down beat. The electricity in the band when you know you are "on". It seems to me that this would be missing in a virtual environment. I've felt this way since I first started hearing about people collaborating on protools. Clapton getting a disk in the mail, giving it a listen and then sending back a lead. I know this has been going on since the White Album when the Beatles couldn't stand to be in the room with each other, but it just doesn't seem right. At least on a band level. I do see the advantages such as guys who might never meet in person, say a TGPer in Asia collaborating with one in California. Coming up with something that otherwise may never have happened. But in a band I feel I need that connection that requires personal contact.

YMMV

 

[frankiestarr]

We use Skype at the house to talk to family and stuff. I think the only way it could work for me is just running over the chord progressions and stuff. Talking about the arrangements, set-lists. A real rehearsal doesn't seem very likely....But that's just me. If you would go as far to mic everything up, maybe another idea could be to record a version with the band, and practice your part with the cd, like music minus one. Saying that, in my 30 years of playing I never had to drive far or pay to rehearse. I can't imagine, and wouldn't pay to rent a place to rehearse. Another thing I do is take a new song that needs work and do it later in the night when things are winding down. Good luck with these ideas.

 

[frdagaa]

Skype can work somewhat in a one-way format, i.e. if most of the band is together, they play a song over skype and the other non-present members play along with this. Not exactly a full rehearsal, no real time two-way interactivity, so not good for interactive jamming, but it can allow a singer or lead guitarist, etc. to hear and practice along with their band.

The latency issue is a real bug-a-boo that will be hard to get around satisfactorily, IMO.

 

[Dickie Fredericks]

i would think the biggest hurdle is for the drummer, to mic up his kit and mix it before hitting the audio interface.

luckily for our band, the drummer OWNS the warehouse, and has his "day job" business in there, and can easily have his kit set up and mic'd there, he's got 10 kits of vintage slingerland and ludwig drums

i have suggested it to my band members, and we all live about 1.5 hours apart from each other. it costs me $20 in gas to drive to rehearsal, takes me 3 hours of driving (on I-95 in south florida, one of the most dangerous highways in the country) and the wear and tear on my car, as well as being locked in a warehouse with 3 other smelly men

what interests me just as much is the opportunity to meet OTHER musicians, and jam with other cool people on the fly.

there's a LOT of possiblities here....

instead of sitting here posting on TGP, some of us could get online and PLAY TOGETHER. imagine that?

I go through the same stuff cept its back country roads. Im 1.5 hours away from the drummer and we usually get together at his place when we do rehearse. It sucks, I feel for ya.

 

[MichaelsQuest]

We have created the first Virtual Online Band Practice

We are looking for testers who will receive free access for 6 months to the online software which will allow up to 5 members to practice online simultaneously. It is still in Beta mode so any feedback you can provide to us to continue to fine tune will be a huge help to us all... Musicians need this for so many reasons... Long drives to practice, Huge Gas bills and most importantly wasted time... This will eliminate all that!!

If you would like to help test our software please send an email to betatesters@mypersonalstudio.com and request your Band Access Username and passcode which will allow up to 5 members to log in.

You must have dedicated High Speed internet access Cable or better... (Wireless devices do not work well with bandwidth and speed(

You need a device that allows you to connect your instrument or vocal mic into your computer

You need headphones for monitoring your rehearsal.

And again this is in Beta mode so dont expect anything perfect yet!!

Thanks and looking forward to seeing the results

Michael Anthony
Creator and Founder
MyPersonalStudio.com



Also we are looking for acts to perform at our 1st Annual Broken DuckFeet Music Festival in San Antonio, TX If intersted visit our Fb age at https://www.facebook.com/BrokenDuckFeetMusicFestival

 

[howardbullseye]

It may be just me being old school, but I have a problem with this. To me, playing music together is as much about the connection as it is about anything else. The eye contact with the drummer on the down beat. The electricity in the band when you know you are "on". It seems to me that this would be missing in a virtual environment. I've felt this way since I first started hearing about people collaborating on protools. Clapton getting a disk in the mail, giving it a listen and then sending back a lead. I know this has been going on since the White Album when the Beatles couldn't stand to be in the room with each other, but it just doesn't seem right. At least on a band level. I do see the advantages such as guys who might never meet in person, say a TGPer in Asia collaborating with one in California. Coming up with something that otherwise may never have happened. But in a band I feel I need that connection that requires personal contact.

YMMV

I totally agree, I guess I just look at it old school (I'm 25) but, we practice in an 100 year old former bakery. It is a huge building divided up into rooms, a couple of gyms, studious ect. It is hot in the summer, and cold as crap in the winter but, we got in and let it flow.