Source Connect and the Avid Colab Cloud (since you’re already on Pro Tools) are both good options. The Colab cloud is $5 /mo. Both people need subscriptions.
…You’ll never get skype or FaceTime to relay audio in HD.
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Hey Cristina…Got back to the office just a little while ago. I was thinking about this thread as I was playing tonight. Stan made some good points, and I think he’s on to something. In my experience, this isn’t something that just sort of gets hired out by the hour. The producer is really on a creative journey with you through the whole thing. There are guys that act more like consultants, because their time is so limited, but the best scenarios are people that are willing to really invest in the artistic aspect of it. More because they can, and they want to, than that they’re just doing it to get paid. What I believe is really going to work in your favor is that the material is good. That in and of itself is incentive to a producer…the resume credit…possibly a percentage on the back end…seeing your portfolio and recognizing that what you work on with him/her stands a good chance of making it across the finish line.
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Skype is fantastic for this. And I’m pretty sure you can use your interface as the audio source for Skype and accomplish just this.
EDIT: It was mentioned that you can’t do Skype audio in HD. I’ll defer to the more experienced sound guy. 
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I see Jonathan’s point, that you’d prefer to have the best audio quality you can get for working remote, but I also think that what Cristina described as horribly off mixes and masters would be identifiable over Skype connection. Making all your decisions over live remote might be ideal, and a time saver, but I think if you can get 90% there online you can still double check the bounced file after the fact for any discrepancies. I figure you’re going to do that anyway, even with excellent online sound. You want to have time later to assess it with the actual bounced file in your own studio with nobody else and no distractions.
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Do it because you want to do it. Do it because you’re driven to do it. I am currently listening to your Fragile Reality EP on Spotify and I’m very much enjoying it. I also watched your 10 Years of Progress video. (BTW: Your wife DID find the gold nugget!) I was captivated. You have a lot of great tunes.
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Thanks! 
I’m glad you’re enjoying the EP. And yeah I’m definitely driven to do it. I’m thrilled to have a little time off for Christmas starting today, but I spent all morning so far watching a course on music production, haha.
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I need to make myself do this! Thanks to your generosity, I did make myself start working on music (even though it isn’t my own) every afternoon when I get home from work rather than taking a nap. 
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Hey, I don’t mean to over simplify things, but after reading all the encouragement here I have one suggestion.
Whatever producer you look for or decide to collaborate with will have one thing in common: it is your music and you are paying them.
Don’t go into anything where you don’t feel that isn’t being respected.
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Nice, I just realized I screwed up my last reply, hope I didn’t confuse things. It is up to you to make sure your ideas and money are being respected, and I’m sure you’ll have lots of opportunities with talented people you can trust based on what we’ve heard.
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From my perspective learning the production side of things helps me get a cleaner sound. But I enjoy the production. I enjoy being in front of a computer. If all it does is suck the energy out of you, that’s what you are going to put into your music.
Kind of why I feel like the producer has to enjoy your music too. Some people feel like the person mixing just has to do a job, but if they don’t like your music or their job, what sort of job are they going to do?
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was that for the wasteland song? price is quite a bit high unless you had 60+ tracks…lol
anyway, I have heard your youtube channel and your songs are great! I dabble into youtube along with live performances at weddings and such … over all I find the process painful but worth it, I am focusing more on streaming at the moment. every little bit helps, but most important, you end up learning a lot in the end. If you listen a lot, you can learn a lot. It is just that way.
Please dont give up music for a new challenge, music will always come back to chase you no matter how far you run.
My advice is pretty much what I followed for myself when first starting out… and that is stick to simplicity, focus on clarity over complexity. It is amazing what you can just do with a guitar and vocals. Focus on playing around with your strengths instead of worrying about mixing and mastering those come later, much later.
Make a lot of songs dont worry about technicalities, just make em even if they are not perfectly mastered with 5.1 surround lol
Write music that caters to those who connect with your music emotionally, don’t write just for audiophiles. If you worry keeping audio technicalities in mind, you can lose focus of the bigger picture. Not saying audio tidbits are not important , they are important but they are not the soul of the music, you are 
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I’m guessing you’re a lot closer to where you want to be than you know. Realizing that you don’t like the production/technical aspect is the first step. If Wasteland is any indication, you are a wonderfully talented song-writer and gifted singer. And THAT is the hard part! Write your songs and don’t let the technology crap interfere.
This forum has plenty of talented people who can do, and in fact who are very happy to do the parts you don’t like - which I’m sure is what @holster is talking about. This seems like the ideal place to match those skill sets too!
I’ll just add this, I finished up an EP last year, and looked up my old band mate from 30 years ago to get it done. We did it remotely, trading tracks back and forth and learning our DAWs along the way. But I’ll tell you, as much as I adore recording and mixing - but what I miss most from the “old days”, is the late nights with band mates hammering out song ideas and lyrics, just jamming to warm up and get things going, and pulling together the set for the next gig. Sitting in my cold basement on a computer is definitely no substitute!
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I’m late to the game here, but I think the discussion is still good.
I think it’s important to understand that almost everybody feels this way. there’s this strange area where you don’t want to give up control, but you don’t have the ability to make the stuff you want to make as quickly or as well as you want to make it. You either have to give up some control to people who don’t care about your work as much as you do, or you have to accept that you will always feel unfinished. Neither is that much fun.
I think what it really comes down to is figuring out what you really want to accomplish. Do you want to get better at writing music? Then it’s probably better to off load the non-writing stuff. You can still have one foot in it so that you understand it, but you don’t need to be a master at it.
Unfortunately, we have limited time. As awesome as it would be to be good at everything, at some point it’s best to just let other people handle the things we don’t have time to handle so that we can get good at the things we like best.
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No, it was for my 6-song EP called Fragile Reality. That was for mixing and mastering.
Yeah I’ve thought a lot about this since making this thread. In a weird way, acknowledging that I probably should work with a producer made me question my bigger goal, which is to have commercially viable music. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I don’t care to have commercially viable music. This isn’t my job. And the better I get at production/engineering, the more I’ll like it. If I’m only ever working on my own stuff, it’s a much smaller skill set than being an all-around good producer/engineer.
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So you’d only work with a producer if you want a commercial sound?
Don’t you think there’s value in working with them to achieve * your * sound? (If you manage to find someone who can effectively capture that vision)?
There ya go
Cristina, I would say learning to self-produce your own signature sound is more specialized and less broad, but that doesn’t make it less deep. But a lot less pressure and less overwhelming maybe? 
I think it’s great that you’re thinking about this stuff though. Makes some of us think too!
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I can’t imagine anyone would be better at achieving my sound than me. There’s value in collaboration, and I gain more knowledge of myself through the experiences I have with others, but at the end of the day I don’t think I can rely on someone else being able to do it for me. And I think I’d rather spend time learning on my own than searching for a unicorn.
Yeah, no less deep. I’m not saying it’s easy. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s worthwhile. I get overwhelmed comparing myself to other people. And I get really down about it, too. And in a sense I want to work with a producer so my music sounds more like other people’s music–but when I really think about it that’s bullshit, unless of course I’m going for “commercially viable.” Which doesn’t seem so worth it to me anymore.
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Why’s that? Your badassery is only matched by your incomparable generosity. You’re the wizard of the forum. You’re the keeper of the seven keys. God bless you.
I could spend the next 30 years working hard to become a top-notch musician, and then decide to take up sculpting and feel like a worthless piece of shit because of all the sculptors out there who are way better than me at sculpting. It’s not a fair comparison, but I make it anyway. I did just get this book though called “The Six Pillars of Self Esteem” which my wife bought for me as a surprise, and maybe it’ll help.
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Such coarse language, I can hardly bear it. AHA!
Your wife sounds like she’s frequently on top of every situation. And no, I swear to Christ that is not a double entendre, I mean she’s just really good at keeping up at things. It’s easy for me to be nihilistic, because I try to have a good time with my art, fulling knowing that it sucks.
I’m poor at writing encouragement, so please take this encouragement while you ponder your production skills.
The simple equation is: Fantastic Song + Okay Production= Fantastic Song
Okay Song+Fantastic Production= Okay Song
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