With more musicians than ever wanting to collaborate online, the need for concise tools that just work has never been more acute. Sessionwire asked us to take a look at their remote working solution. Here’s what we thought…

The Rise Of VoIP

If nothing else, recent world events have demonstrated that much can still be achieved remotely, with an explosion in all things VoIP not only changing how business is done, but also how friends and family can stay connected across geographical bounds as well. While simple video calling offers functionality satisfying a whole plethora of uses, there are times when it’s more than just video and speech data that needs to be moved over an internet connection. When it comes to music, a surprising amount is created utilising the internet. At its simplest, the creative process often involves the sharing of embryonic ideas for others to listen to in advance of rehearsals, tours, recording or any combination of each. For the more tech-savvy, using a combination of file sharing and messaging has been around for years. Up until very recently, the concept of working collaboratively in real time using the internet has been little more than a tantalizing possibility.

The Challenges Of Remote

Any musician or engineer hoping to work remotely in real time has a raft of challenges to overcome. For some musicians, administering and using a DAW setup is nothing more than a fact of life and certainly no source of joy or interest to them. It goes that adding another layer of complexity is something that most understandably will try to avoid. Any tool in use must allow users to somehow navigate a setup including DAWs, cameras, and mics, as well as getting these to mesh with some kind of web based app that can bridge the gaps between users and their gear. This is no mean feat, and for anyone else, the quality of the connection itself can dictate whether collaboration can happen in the first place.

Sessionwire

This all-in-one music creation app for Windows and Mac brings a one window workflow to remote collaboration. Each collaborator runs an open DAW session with a Sessionwire Send plugin on the master. The Sessionwire app is run simultaneously in parallel to each user’s DAW, handling video and audio comms, file sharing, and contacts. File exchange is simply a case of dragging and dropping assets directly onto the recipient’s video window.

An Artist (paid account) can drop files, such as a stereo cue mix-minus vocals to a Creator (free account) for the latter to import into their DAW session to record into. The resulting overdubs can then be dropped back to the Artist in the same way for import back into their session. Users hear the other via Sessionwire itself without any need for a receive in each respective DAW. The Receive plugin can be used optionally at either end if desired for direct recording or alternative monitoring options.

The whole process is intuitive, and at its heart Sessionwire makes it easy to collaborate thanks to its separate HQ and talkback routing, intended for DAW audio and comms respectively. Source and destination audio hardware is selectable for each and can be used with or without the Sessionwire send and/or receive plugins in a DAW. Sessionwire can of course be used standalone at one or both ends for mix reviews or other simple tasks. Watch Russ and Luke as they use Sessionwire to exchange a cue mix and add a vocal with ease.

Remote Collaboration For All?

Perhaps the single biggest advantage of being able to collaborate remotely is that it can be used to augment in-person collaboration as opposed to being a replacement for it. At its simplest, an artist can communicate with the engineer using just their DAW audio, making it a friendly solution for anyone who just wants to make music. Sessionwire makes collaborating between artist and engineer simple- the only thing engineers have to do is not over-think the setup which is genuinely easy.