How can a session be setup between two MacBook Pro's at different locations on high speed Internet connections, be setup to have a live recording session in Logic?

Question

My partner and I live on opposite sides of the valley here in Phoenix. About 50 miles apart one way. We are Musicians and are working on a commercial for television, and would like to know if there is a way, between FaceTime and Logic, that we can configure our MacBook Pro's to record sessions together without having to be at the same house? When we FaceTime, he can hear my keyboard through his headphones, but we can't seem to get the signal routed into Logic and register to a track when its record enabled. Is there a way for us to save gas, and record at seperate locations, so he can engineer me and I can engineer him, while we build this project in Logic and Final Cut? Here is what we are using, we have nearly identicle setups, which was planned so we might be able to do something like this. Both of us are using Mid 2012 15" MacBook Pro's with 2.6GHz Intel i7 processors and 16GB RAM. The only difference between the two MacBooks is that his has an Optical Drive, but I removed mine and replaced it with a 2nd SSD Drive, so I have two Samsung 840 Pro's each with 512GB in my MacBook Pro. His just has one Samsung 840 Pro with 512GB. We both use Focusrite Saffire Liquid 56 Firewire Audio Interfaces, and we both use Logic Studio 9 Academic. I don't know if you need to know what we are using in order to help us figure out how to configure the MacBooks for a live session, so I figured I would give you those details just in case. If you need any more information, just let me know? Oh, we both have high speed cable Internet connections. Mine is 150Mbps speed which is the absolute fastest I can get in my area. And his is only a 50Mbps speed line.
Again, what we are looking to do is have a LIVE recording session, in Logic, with him at his house and me at my house. When we FaceTime each other, we can pretty much hear each others keyboards as if they were part of the conversation, and as crystal clear as we can hear our own when recording, but we can't seem to record enable an Audio track in Logic and route that keyboard signal into Logic and record it so we can engineer each other without either one of us having to drive to the others house, to be there to do it. If any of this even makes sense, I'm not quite sure how to better explain it. So hopefully you get what I mean, otherwise just say so, and I will try to do a better job explaining it.  :-)
Anyone who can help us with this little problem would be greatly appreciated, and quite a hero in these two humble Musicians Worlds!! So from both of us, THANK YOU in advance for any input you might be able to give us. I look forward to hearing any and all suggestions.
Scott

Answer 1

Hey Scott
You and ALOT of people are attempting to do this, myself included.
Unfortunately at this point (to my knowledge) it's a pretty CRAP setup involved that will likely leave you frustrated.
HOWEVER:
A few things CAN be done:
IF you are getting live audio from your partner over the internet, you can re-direct that audio directly into Logic using a program called SoundFlower.
There are a few alternatives to SoundFlower, like JackTrip, and.....(the name eludes me)
(SoundFlower is from a company called Cyling 74 who also makes Max MSP. )
Once in Logic, you set your audio inputs to the track to be Soundflower. (either 16 inputs, or in this case 2)
That all being said, regardless to speed, you are still going to experience latency in the connection, and THAT is the part that will likely drive you to the mad house.
THIS all being said, I believe there are websites out there that are set up to actually do this kind of thing, (at least there WERE) but likely membership costs, and other "hidden" problems that you only learn about after you have signed on the dotted line. (Hopefully I am wrong?)
If you don't need to do a "live jam", there are always solutions like DropBox that work very well for exchanging large files quickly.
If you want to record live MIDI input from his keyboard, I am unaware of any solutions for this.
Due to the popularity of the iPad, you might want to look into the App store, and see if there is something available.
Good luck!
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