Best Remote Music Collaboration Platforms With Video: 4 Solutions for Real-Time Collabs
Top video collaboration platforms including Submix, JackTrip, LANDR, and more.
Struggling to collaborate in real-time with off-the-shelf video chat services like Zoom? Ditch the business protocol and try these best remote music collaboration platforms instead.
Best Remote Music Collaboration Platforms
A lot of things changed during the pandemic. One benefit of having to spend all that time locked up indoors was the advancement of remote collaboration technology. With all that free time and no way to meet up, many musicians took to the internet to find new ways to make music. We wrote about it at the time but things have come on in leaps and bounds since then, with low-latency audio and video conferencing becoming a regular way to work for many audio professionals.
In this piece, we’ll look at four platforms offering complete remote collaboration solutions. To qualify for this list, they’ll need to offer video as well as audio. Some even include remote MIDI… but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Here then are the four best remote music collaboration platforms with video.
Collab Bro? Applications for Remote Collaboration
Before we jump into the services themselves, though, let’s look at what kinds of applications there are for remote music collaboration.
Song collaboration: You can’t always be in the same room with your musical collaborators. Rather than sending stems back and forth through email or Dropbox, remote collaboration services allow you to work together on the same song or DAW project in real time. This goes double for vocalists or session musicians. You may be on the other side of the world but that doesn’t mean that you can’t sit in on the session.
Remixing: Remixers can use these services to communicate with the original artist and label on their remix and make changes right there during the conversation.
Mixing and mastering: Working on a mix or master for a client? Now they can sit in on the session and give feedback as they listen. Even if they’re in the same town, you may not want people in your studio space, or you may prefer that they listen on their own speakers or headphones. Now you can.
Soundtrack work: With the addition of video, directors and producers can audition your latest cue together with you live.
Education: Remote music lessons are becoming more and more common. Rather than rely on the limited audio bandwidth of Zoom or some other teleconferencing app made for business meetings, you can use a remote collaboration platform to not only hear what your student is playing but also see what they’re doing.
Best Remote Music Collaboration Platforms: Evercast
I’m starting with the most expensive and moving down so you can see what’s available at the top tier. And Evercast is very top tier. Primarily aimed at video creation, Evercast also works for music and audio recording. Soundtrack composers, this is the service to look at first.
Evercast works in any DAW and offers ultra-low latency of less than 150ms globally, even when doing 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound audio streaming. Yes, you can remote collaborate in surround sound. Of course, it has built-in video conferencing, with 4K streaming plus live annotation tools and time-stamped notes and session playback. It also offers security approval from all major Hollywood studios and many game developers and ad agencies, making it one of the best remote music collaboration platforms.
All that quality comes at a price though, with plans starting at $849 a month. Probably not the applicable option for the bedroom producer but for those working with studios, game developers or ad agencies with intense NDAs, it could be the smart option.
- Evercast home page
Best Remote Music Collaboration Platforms: Submix
Aimed squarely at those working in audio who need to collaborate regularly, Submix is a streaming audio and video platform with a number of attractive features.
Rather than use a plugin in your DAW, Submix comprises two desktop apps, Submix Patchbay for routing audio in and out of your DAW, and the videoconferencing app called Submix Sessions. Submix lets you stream audio between multiple users, allowing you to record into your DAW music played by others on the call, and even transmits MIDI. Imagine being able to control a vintage synth in a studio on the other side of the world and then record it back into your DAW.
Submix was kind enough to give me a demo and I really enjoyed the experience. Pricing starts at $20.83 per month for two users per session with a total of 10 hours a month. You can buy more session time on a per-hour basis as well.
- Submix home page
Best Remote Music Collaboration Platforms: JackTrip
JackTrip is a much simpler solution than what we’ve looked at so far; just a desktop app for video conferencing with settings to route audio in and out. Where JackTrip really shines though is in its latency count. The company promises streaming of only 25ms! That’s faster than Bluetooth, making it one of the best remote music collaboration platforms.
With such low latency, the obvious target user is live musicians. And when looking around online at testimonials, most seem to be from performers like jazz and classical musicians. So we’re talking jams, rehearsals and even lessons. Note that it is possible to stream from your DAW but you’ll have to do some intra-computer routing to get this to work.
JackTrip is also affordable. It’s free to try, with HD audio plans starting at $4.08 per month with up to five concurrent musicians and three-hour sessions.
- JackTrip home page
Best Remote Music Collaboration Platforms: LANDR Sessions
LANDR Sessions is, as you might expect, LANDR’s video collaboration platform. You can get it on its own or as part of the complete LANDR Studio, which includes AI and plugin mastering, samples, song distribution, the new LANDR Composer, VocAlign 6, and a lot more.
To use LANDR Sessions, drop the streaming plugin onto your DAW’s master channel and then use your web browser for the video part. No muss no fuss. There’s even a mobile app, which makes it one of the best remote music collaboration platforms.
LANDR Sessions is free to try but you’re limited to 15 minutes of audio streaming. Sessions Pro is $3.25 per month or $49 a year. You can also get it as part of the complete Studio plan, which starts at $11.99 per month when billed for the year.
- LANDR Sessions home page
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