A desktop application and supporting web site for capturing audio and video recordings is introduced, wherein multiple participants in a collaborative session may be in separate remote locations. The application includes providing a high quality data format for transferring recordings, audiovisual data and the like to a remote network location or computer and a real-time data format for intercommunicating comments and instructions that are not recorded. Peer-to-peer and server-client implementations may be optimized regarding delivery time versus take quality. The desktop application also provides mechanisms for playing back sound and video for participants' reference during a recording, along with synchronized presentations of textual, audio and visual material corresponding to the session.