A desktop application and supporting web site for recording voice-over or music sessions is introduced, wherein the production staff and talent may be in separate remote locations. The application includes providing a high quality data format for transferring audiovisual data, recordings and the like, and a lower-quality data format for intercommunicating verbal instructions that relate to, but are not part of, the recording session. The desktop application also provides mechanisms for playing back sound and video for talent's reference during a recording, timing the recording session or individual takes thereof, and calculating payments due based on such timing.