File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

pro tools has an internal ftp client? that's just weird. though i still have fond memories of using ws_ftp back in the early 90s.

there's an ftp plugin for reaper floating around - search the forum [edit: not really a plugin, it's part of the autorender pack - search for 'autorender' in the forum]. pro tools doesn't have anything ftp built in, but there is some sort of proprietary file exchange thing in there (have forgotten its name). i don't think it'd ever be a requirement for doing professional work. i'd be more concerned about people sending you pro tools sessions and expecting you to be able to open them, because digidesign have helpfully decided to encrypt the pro tools file format explicitly to prevent other programs from opening them. i suggest you give the reaper evaluation a go though - it may do everything you want, and there's nothing to risk.

it's called DigiDelivery and I'm 90% sure it's a black box with a bunch of opensource code in it (ssh, scp, rsync) with some hooks to it in the software. For voiceover work you can get more or less the same mileage out of shup using private urls.

Or encrypted uploads to public filesharing services, or password-protected filesharing services.... there are dozens. What you ought to be checking is whether Reaper will do the job for you. You can check it out before you buy it. You can't with Protools, and that software is quite twitchy on hardware and OS configuration. Reaper is easy to use, very stable, very fast and very configurable, in other words, you can optimize it to your workflow to a high degree, saving a lot of time and therefore money. Try Reaper before you make a choice, and don't be afraid to ask questions or read the manual. It actually helps you start out, unlike the Protools manual. We're all here to help each other.

Try sendspace.........free and easy. -scott

The strength of dodgydelivery is in the completeness of the package. It also compresses the transfers of audio materials so they are quicker. I think something like a 'shup' with built in wavpack could really rock. As wavpack is perfectly capabale of running realtime it could squeeze your stuff up before transfer and desequze it afterwards at the other end.

I imagine a clever script can easily pull this off. Compressing all WAV files, if there are any, with Wavpack (or Flac in 'keep all WAV chunks'-mode) and then ZIP(fast mode)'ing the files in to something like blah-wvzip.zip. The same script would then need to unpack it on the other side. Great way to archive sessions that are self-contained in a directory too. Perhaps an Autohotkey script could do this ? Or even Reaper itself, which would spare you the 'save to other place to compile all media in one directory for packing' step.

try shup, if its mp3 you need to send, it will work right out of the box... otherwise you need to set up a costum uploader script inside shup, but then you can do all sorts of funky things... i myself made a system that, depending on the name of the file i was uploading, first uploaded the file, then send an sms to all the people who needed to hear that mix.

With all due respect to the many fine suggestions perhaps you should let the clients tell you how to deliver any work they pay you for? Some voiceover artists simply post links to the files on a server somewhere with a link for the client to download. Most businesses do have websites so... that would be a natural thing to do. It can be as simple as that. An mp3 sample for approval that can stream stream from the net - and also serve as part of a demo reel later - and a private link to download whatever format is required. I think you may be over-thinking this part of it. Just the mere mention of "Digi" and "salesman" can cause a long discussion. :)

Nobody asked so I will... do you even have an FTP server? Where will you be FTP'ing the files to? I get the feeling that - even though it may be overkill here - people don't really know what Digi Delivery actually is, how it works or why someone else (not this guy) would use it. It's not Filezilla. :)