Collaborating over the Internet with other musicians
As the Covid-19 crisis hit, we sought a way to continue to make music with our fellow collaborators. We would like to share some of the lessons we learned in the hope of making it easier for you to do the same. The tools fall into two main categories - recording and live play/rehearsing.
Recording
As a band, Sidetrack had previously recorded live; we gathered in one home studio with 16 tracks of digital recording and laid down tracks simultaneously. Bass, guitar, and keyboards were recorded direct to the board, and drums and horns were recorded via mics. (We also captured a second guitar track from a miced cabinet in an adjacent room). But in lockdown this was not possible.
One asynchronous alternative was to have each player record tracks independently in the DAW of their choice in their own home studio, and to share the tracks on Google Drive, however this required that each player have a DAW and the time and inclination to use it. We settled on Soundtrap, an online collaborative DAW owned by Spotify. We have included a full discussion of Soundtrap on the Recording Setup page of this website. Ironically, the need to move to distributed, asynchronous recording resulted in several benefits including better performances (multiple takes, each musician could play when they were rested) and the ability to collaborate with friends who now lived in other cities. When this crisis passes, as we hope it will, we still intend to continue recording this way.
One asynchronous alternative was to have each player record tracks independently in the DAW of their choice in their own home studio, and to share the tracks on Google Drive, however this required that each player have a DAW and the time and inclination to use it. We settled on Soundtrap, an online collaborative DAW owned by Spotify. We have included a full discussion of Soundtrap on the Recording Setup page of this website. Ironically, the need to move to distributed, asynchronous recording resulted in several benefits including better performances (multiple takes, each musician could play when they were rested) and the ability to collaborate with friends who now lived in other cities. When this crisis passes, as we hope it will, we still intend to continue recording this way.
Rehearsing
Live, synchronous collaboration requires a different approach. Online meeting tools such as FaceTime, Google Meet, and Zoom are not suitable due to a variety of technical limitations. To date we have found three workable platforms for real-time collaboration: Jamkazam, Jamulus, and Jack Pilot. We have found Jamkazam to be the best trade-off of functionality and simplicity at this point, but we expect these tools to improve and others to arrive as the Covid-19 crisis continues. Please read the information about recording interfaces/USB microphones on the Recording Setup page before moving on to the collaboration software as it is a prerequisite.
JamKazam
JamKazam is a free, fully functioning environment for live collaboration, and also includes the ability to record sessions. (Please note that the recordings are often out of sync. A colleague has come up with a nifty solution. Prior to recording each tune he counts off a 4 count and each musician plays the four quarter notes. Then he downloads the file as independent streams and aligns them using the countoff in his DAW prior to mixing).
We have found that performance varies from session to session, and is dependent on your computer speed and internet connection, but it is straightforward, and satisfactory. While it conceptually works on both Windows and Macs, in our experience (and that of others) it is much easier and performs better on Macs. If you are limited to Windows, you will need an Asio audio driver such as Asio4All.
Please note that JamKazam recommends that you connect the computer you are using via wired Ethernet. JamKazam does not recommend wifi, but if your equipment is not in a room that has access to a wired connection you can always try wifi, or use this as an opportunity to move to a mesh router system and set up a wireless node with ethernet plugs on it in your music room that will give you much faster connectivity than wifi, but not quite as fast as a direct wired connection to your router or switch. Good alternatives include the older WiFi 5 Google Nest WiFi, or one of the new WiFi 6 systems such as Netgear Orbi, Linksys Velop, or Amplifi Alien. If you are on a newer Macbook with no ethernet port you will need a USB-C hub like this one into which to plug the ethernet cable.
You will also need a recording interface to connect your mic or instrument cables to the computer. There is a full discussion of recording interfaces on our Recording Setup page. If you are using e-drums and a computer based sound module such as EZ Drummer or Superior Drummer 3 that is connected to your e-drum module with a USB Midi cable, you don't need an interface. If you install a nifty piece of free software called Blackhole, you can configure EZ Drummer/Superior Drummer to send audio to Blackhole, and configure JamKazam to get its local audio input from Blackhole and send to your headphones.
If you go to jamkazam.com, in the upper right corner you will see the link for signing up.
JamKazam
JamKazam is a free, fully functioning environment for live collaboration, and also includes the ability to record sessions. (Please note that the recordings are often out of sync. A colleague has come up with a nifty solution. Prior to recording each tune he counts off a 4 count and each musician plays the four quarter notes. Then he downloads the file as independent streams and aligns them using the countoff in his DAW prior to mixing).
We have found that performance varies from session to session, and is dependent on your computer speed and internet connection, but it is straightforward, and satisfactory. While it conceptually works on both Windows and Macs, in our experience (and that of others) it is much easier and performs better on Macs. If you are limited to Windows, you will need an Asio audio driver such as Asio4All.
Please note that JamKazam recommends that you connect the computer you are using via wired Ethernet. JamKazam does not recommend wifi, but if your equipment is not in a room that has access to a wired connection you can always try wifi, or use this as an opportunity to move to a mesh router system and set up a wireless node with ethernet plugs on it in your music room that will give you much faster connectivity than wifi, but not quite as fast as a direct wired connection to your router or switch. Good alternatives include the older WiFi 5 Google Nest WiFi, or one of the new WiFi 6 systems such as Netgear Orbi, Linksys Velop, or Amplifi Alien. If you are on a newer Macbook with no ethernet port you will need a USB-C hub like this one into which to plug the ethernet cable.
You will also need a recording interface to connect your mic or instrument cables to the computer. There is a full discussion of recording interfaces on our Recording Setup page. If you are using e-drums and a computer based sound module such as EZ Drummer or Superior Drummer 3 that is connected to your e-drum module with a USB Midi cable, you don't need an interface. If you install a nifty piece of free software called Blackhole, you can configure EZ Drummer/Superior Drummer to send audio to Blackhole, and configure JamKazam to get its local audio input from Blackhole and send to your headphones.
If you go to jamkazam.com, in the upper right corner you will see the link for signing up.
Click on Signup, and you will be taken to the signup page. It is good practice on the site to add (Instrument), where Instrument is the instrument you play, after your last name so that it is easy for others to identify players. Fill in the relevant information and submit. Go back to jamzazam.com and click on the login link to login.
Once logged in, click on the down arrow next to your name to open the menu, and click on Install App. Once the app is installed, open the app, and you will see a home page that looks exactly like the webpage.
Click on the down arrow next to your name in the upper right hand corner and complete the profile. Then select audio gear and configure the audio source (interface) and output (interface or computer headphones) for JamKazam. Optionally you can also select video gear and configure your webcam, but I have not tried that.
A good first step is to test your setup by clicking on Create Session, and then selecting Quick Start Solo. From there you can adjust volume, etc. Your output volume is controlled from your interface (or Superior Drummer). You should target three green lights, and only an occasional red to avoid distortion. Your headphone volume is controlled from the volume slider (click on the speaker icon to see the slider). Clicking on the icon will mute the channel. If you have more than one channel of output (e.g. stereo outs from your keyboard or 2 or more outs from drums) you can adjust the panning for each channel by clicking on the icon to the right of the volume icon and adjusting the slider for each channel. I would suggest hard left and hard right for keyboards or e-drums with a stereo out . The computer mic channel can be seen below the instrument channel(s) and can be adjusted independently. Monitor volume for the computer mic can be controlled with the volume slider. The mic output level itself is controlled from the setting panel on your computer.
For a collaborative session, one player starts a session and invites others. Once you have identified your "friends" you will be able to join their sessions. A session can be configured as public (anyone can join after asking the host's permission) or private (invitees and "friends" only). There is a provision for using the computer mic for voice communication if your instrument is connected by other than a mic. If a mic is used for the instrument, it is best to communicate voice over that mic and to mute the computer mic. I also recommend muting the computer mic on direct instruments before playing a tune. Volume and panning for the other musicians for your monitor mix can be controlled in each of the channels to get the mix you desire. There are green/amber/red indicator lights to monitor connection speed, CPU power, and latency for both your channels as well as each of the other participants in the session. The latency light for each musician is their latency as perceived by you, which is a function of connection speed and physical distance.
Bass/Keys player and Friend of Sidetrack Tom Yarnall has put together a document with helpful links on JamKazam here.
A good first step is to test your setup by clicking on Create Session, and then selecting Quick Start Solo. From there you can adjust volume, etc. Your output volume is controlled from your interface (or Superior Drummer). You should target three green lights, and only an occasional red to avoid distortion. Your headphone volume is controlled from the volume slider (click on the speaker icon to see the slider). Clicking on the icon will mute the channel. If you have more than one channel of output (e.g. stereo outs from your keyboard or 2 or more outs from drums) you can adjust the panning for each channel by clicking on the icon to the right of the volume icon and adjusting the slider for each channel. I would suggest hard left and hard right for keyboards or e-drums with a stereo out . The computer mic channel can be seen below the instrument channel(s) and can be adjusted independently. Monitor volume for the computer mic can be controlled with the volume slider. The mic output level itself is controlled from the setting panel on your computer.
For a collaborative session, one player starts a session and invites others. Once you have identified your "friends" you will be able to join their sessions. A session can be configured as public (anyone can join after asking the host's permission) or private (invitees and "friends" only). There is a provision for using the computer mic for voice communication if your instrument is connected by other than a mic. If a mic is used for the instrument, it is best to communicate voice over that mic and to mute the computer mic. I also recommend muting the computer mic on direct instruments before playing a tune. Volume and panning for the other musicians for your monitor mix can be controlled in each of the channels to get the mix you desire. There are green/amber/red indicator lights to monitor connection speed, CPU power, and latency for both your channels as well as each of the other participants in the session. The latency light for each musician is their latency as perceived by you, which is a function of connection speed and physical distance.
Bass/Keys player and Friend of Sidetrack Tom Yarnall has put together a document with helpful links on JamKazam here.
2. Jamulus
Jamulus is a somewhat rougher version of JamKazam. More information on Jamulus will follow shortly.
3. Jack Pilot
Jack Pilot, which was profiled in a recent NPR piece, is the underlying software for a family of programs whose high quality but quite technical approach was developed by researchers at Stanford University a decade ago and has been subsequently extended by others. It involves a pretty heavy technical lift, and there is no turnkey software solution (yet) for those who are less technically inclined. It appears that, once configured, provides higher quality uncompressed audio with (perhaps) lower latency rates than JamKazam, but the level of complexity and requirement that each of the musicians has high speed internet and that one of the musicians (at a minimum) needs to operate as a server location. There is an excellent website at jacktrip.org that has lots of links to videos, resources, and downloads for the technically inclined.
Jamulus is a somewhat rougher version of JamKazam. More information on Jamulus will follow shortly.
3. Jack Pilot
Jack Pilot, which was profiled in a recent NPR piece, is the underlying software for a family of programs whose high quality but quite technical approach was developed by researchers at Stanford University a decade ago and has been subsequently extended by others. It involves a pretty heavy technical lift, and there is no turnkey software solution (yet) for those who are less technically inclined. It appears that, once configured, provides higher quality uncompressed audio with (perhaps) lower latency rates than JamKazam, but the level of complexity and requirement that each of the musicians has high speed internet and that one of the musicians (at a minimum) needs to operate as a server location. There is an excellent website at jacktrip.org that has lots of links to videos, resources, and downloads for the technically inclined.