Sharing large music files via Internet.

[Maude]

We've been using the xr18 mixer for a long time now but recently our drummer has started recording every gig so we can get some good live recordings, it's also good to hear yourself from the audience perspective as things you don't notice live stand out when listened back. It records every channel individually so it can be mixed post recording, so as you can imagine, each set is a significant size file. He has been sharing via Dropbox but now my app says it's full and I can't delete anything as they're not my files, I just have access to view them. I did delete some thinking they were in my Dropbox but that deleted them from everybodys. I don't have a computer (the day I threw that in the tip was a liberating day) and don't want to download the files to my tablet or phone due to size. The only way I can see to proceed with Dropbox is to sign up but that means four of paying a tenner a month each, nearly £500 a year. 

What other ways is there to share large files like this without paying through the nose for it? 

[wateroftyne]

How big are the files? WeTransfer does most of my heavy lifting. Up to 2GB is free.

[Stingray5]

I also use WeTransfer. There's also MediaFire for sharing large files where you can also store them, too. You get 55GB of storage with the free account.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Stingray5

[mep]

WeTransfer for me too.

[Maude]

Thanks for the replies.

Typically the drummer will send four files after each gig, first set and second set, both with all channels separate (so he can mix if we keep one) and two channel FOH mix. 

The two FOH mixes are small at around 3.5MB each but the pair with all channels is usually around 130MB, so it soon mounts up. 

The main issue with Dropbox is it won't let me delete anything that's sent to me, I only need to listen through and see what's worth keeping, sometimes just listen to certain songs I know weren't great and scrutinise what went wrong, then delete it all. I won't need a lot of storage as long as I can delete afterwards. 

I'll look into the suggestions. 👍

[wateroftyne]

WeTransfer will do it.

[Stingray5]

8 minutes ago, Maude said:

The main issue with Dropbox is it won't let me delete anything that's sent to me, I only need to listen through and see what's worth keeping, sometimes just listen to certain songs I know weren't great and scrutinise what went wrong, then delete it all. I won't need a lot of storage as long as I can delete afterwards. 

If you're actually downloading the files to your own device, you should be able to delete them as normal. However, if you're listening to your band tracks via your drummers Dropbox account (i.e., in a shared folder), then you won't be able to delete the files as they'll be in his account.

With WeTransfer, the files are only on the server for 7 days then deleted. Once you've downloaded them, delete as appropriate.

[Maude]

3 minutes ago, Stingray5 said:

If you're actually downloading the files to your own device, you should be able to delete them as normal. However, if you're listening to your band tracks via your drummers Dropbox account (i.e., in a shared folder), then you won't be able to delete the files as they'll be in his account. 

Yes, that's the problem. He's paid the subscription so has more storage but he's just sent yesterdays gig and I can't open it as it says my Dropbox is full, even though it's actually his, kind of. I don't want to try moving it or anything because I think whatever I do I'm actually editing his folder. 

 

4 minutes ago, Stingray5 said:

With WeTransfer, the files are only on the server for 7 days then deleted. Once you've downloaded them, delete as appropriate.

I saw that and that seems like the perfect solution. I don't really want to keep anything, just have a quick listen to certain parts/tracks. If we decide to keep anything mix/master and 'put out there' then we can decide that within seven days and the drummer can keep that file. The auto seven day deletion thing means the rest of us don't have to really do anything so sounds perfect. 

Thanks 🙂

[CamdenRob]

15 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

WeTransfer will do it.

This...

I use WeTransfer almost every day at work. It’s not let me down yet. It’s also a good barometer of how “desperately important” something is, when the recipient then asks me to resend it a week later when the link has expired... 😐

 

[ambient]

I use We Transfer. I tend to compress the file first, it makes it a little smaller, I was told that it also prevents damage to the audio too.

[pineweasel]

You're using a shared folder in Dropbox, so anything the owner copies into it gets copied to your Dropbox too. 

If your drummer just sends a link to the folder you can choose which individual files you want, and can download them or copy to your Dropbox selectively, and delete them when you want.

Edited December 8, 2019 by pineweasel

[Maude]

Thanks @pineweasel, I won't pretend to really understand how a lot of this stuff works, it bores me stupid, I just need something that works easily. But your post makes perfect sense of the issue. 

[Maude]

Drummer has just sent a link to the Dropbox folder which works as you say @pineweasel but I still can't get rid of his other stuff without deleting it from his folder, maybe deleting every and starting again would work but it's just unnecessarily difficult. He also sent it via WeTransfer, clicked big button in email, which opened it in the app, files play from app, each file has a drop down menu to delete, save etc.

Well done WeTransfer, bad luck Dropbox. 

Thanks everyone 

[mcnach]

There's also pCloud.

Similar to Dropbox in many ways, but you get a bit more free storage. Drummer could just store the files and send you all links to download. You download what you want to your computer and do what you want with it. When he runs out of space it's up to him to delete the old stuff that nobody needs anymore.

The advantage of Dropbox (when used in the same way, just sending links to the stuff, but not 'sharing' folders) and pCloud is that they stay available longer than with WeTransfer if someone forgets to download in time.

[mcnach]

54 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

You're using a shared folder in Dropbox, so anything the owner copies into it gets copied to your Dropbox too. 

If your drummer just sends a link to the folder you can choose which individual files you want, and can download them or copy to your Dropbox selectively, and delete them when you want.

 

That's how I use it, as sharing folders was creating trouble for some people with smaller storage.

[Cuzzie]

USB sticks, SD cards etc are cheap as chips these days.

He could burn onto them and hand them out.

Do you have any way of recording ‘out front’ to check the difference?

The mixer will of course what goes into it, but how it sounds out front once bodies are there may well be different once the speakers are blaring - it may help for getting levels right especially if you play the same venues

[Maude]

@mcnach, you've already sealed pClouds fate by saying similar to Dropbox. I've already had to upgrade Dropbox earlier tonight, albeit a free months trial, still can't clear the drummer's files from my Dropbox, too complicated, life's too short, yada yada. WeTransfer was up and running with files sent and and received with no issues within minutes. We have a winner. 

 

 

[knirirr]

1 hour ago, CamdenRob said:

It’s also a good barometer of how “desperately important” something is, when the recipient then asks me to resend it a week later when the link has expired... 😐

 

I get the same fairly often, though Firefox Send is the method I’ve been using. 

[Maude]

3 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

USB sticks, SD cards etc are cheap as chips these days.

He could burn onto them and hand them out.

Do you have any way of recording ‘out front’ to check the difference?

The mixer will of course what goes into it, but how it sounds out front once bodies are there may well be different once the speakers are blaring - it may help for getting levels right especially if you play the same venues

Can't be arsed farting around with memory cards and other random stuff to lose. 

Dont need to compare out front with anything, this is only to keep anything worthwhile and mix it properly hence recording all the channels, everything goes through the PA, we also have our own soundman to worry about FOH changes as venue fills up. 

I've re read that and it comes across a bit harsh, not meant in that way at all. 🙂

[Maude]

Dropbox subscription cancelled and app deleted 👍

[mcnach]

15 minutes ago, Maude said:

@mcnach, you've already sealed pClouds fate by saying similar to Dropbox. I've already had to upgrade Dropbox earlier tonight, albeit a free months trial, still can't clear the drummer's files from my Dropbox, too complicated, life's too short, yada yada. WeTransfer was up and running with files sent and and received with no issues within minutes. We have a winner. 

 

 

 

 sorry!

I should have clarified... similar to Dropbox in the sense that you can set a centralised storage (which sounds like your drummer would be the ideal person, as he is the one dealing with the audio) and it can stay there until you (well, the drummer) decides to keep it. It doesn't expire like with WeTransfer.

You, personally, would receive one link to download files, and that's all. You do not need to have pCloud.

But with dropbox you can do the same. I have both just because of the extra space, but with my main band I use Dropbox. I have a folder with subfolders for different projects in progress etc, and I store the processed audio there. I send the band links to individual files or individual folders with multiple files. They can download the stuff at their leisure, and the links are valid as long as I keep them in the same place, so a year from now they could go back and find the files again. They do not need Dropbox, in fact most don't have dropbox.

If you have dropbox already, you might get a "oh, do you want to add this shared folder to your dropbox?" or some such when you try to open a link sent to you... just say "no, fosters off" and dropbox will leave you alone  If you don't use dropbox for anything else, easiest thing is to remove it entirely, and just open the links as they get sent to you, download content wherever you wish and that's all.

 

I feel your pain, because I was there too. At work we were collaborating with a group in the US and dealing with very large files. They sent us data via dropbox. Very soon my dropbox was saturated and could not use it, because I made the mistake of accepting the shared folder. Oh, how we laughed... My boss ended up losing a bunch of data because he got frustrated and deleted a whole lot of stuff without realising he was *really* deleting it

It's a good idea for a collaboration, so everyone can add/remove things but you need to be careful and ensure everybody has sufficient Dropbox space. To simply distribute large files, however, it's easier to just have the person holding the files send a link to people and you can all download to your preferred destination, without needing new apps or anything.

I like sometimes to send a link to a folder, the contents of which I update as needed. For example, I have a folder for recent rehearsals. Everybody has a link to it. They can all download the contents anytime. I simply put there any newer jam or any work in progress updates etc into subfolders with the date, and delete older stuff that's not needed anymore as I see fit.  I don't need to send them link reminders each time, it's all there. If they want to, all they do is use the link, go to the folder with the date they want and download the contents.

[mcnach]

28 minutes ago, Maude said:

Dropbox subscription cancelled and app deleted 👍

 

The app is more trouble than it's worth, if all you want is to be able to receive files, indeed.

[Maude]

The drummer has bought a hard drive just for band stuff so doesn't need the extra storage, or want to pay a tenner a month for it. He'll keep the files on that and just share via WeTransfer as, at the mo, it really does seem very user friendly. The expiring in seven days thing is actually better I think as none of us will want to go back and listen to a random complete set from months ago, any individual songs that get mixed properly can be saved to individual devices if wanted but will end up on social media where they can be accessed in the future anyway. 

The drummer is retired and likes the mixing side of things so we let him get on with it, a relative of his works in music production of some sort and has mixed some recordings previously with great results as well, so we'll just get sent tracks with a "what do you think of this?" he'll always have the master files so it won't matter if ours disappears. It looks like you can save stuff to the app anyway if you want to keep stuff. We'll use it and see how it goes. 

Thanks everyone, hopefully I'm all sorted. 👍

Edited December 8, 2019 by Maude

[pineweasel]

5 hours ago, Maude said:

Drummer has just sent a link to the Dropbox folder which works as you say @pineweasel but I still can't get rid of his other stuff without deleting it from his folder

You have to stop sharing the original folder, then it will disappear from your Dropbox. 

[Bassfinger]

Google Drive.  Live dropbox, but more Googly.