Music production has always and will always be a collaborative art form. 

However, trying to collaborate with your creative team members remotely in an age of closed recording studios and social distancing can be a huge headache. 

Working on a project together now means that you’re sending draft after draft back and forth while trying to keep track of everyone’s notes and chasing people for feedback.  

It’s no wonder that so many producers are looking for a way to recreate the feeling of a live recording and mixing session just like the studio, even when the team isn’t physically together.

The most obvious solution to this is to try to stream your Ableton Live session directly over our pandemic-era video meeting platform of choice: Zoom. However, there is no straight path to streaming a program like this over Zoom. How can you do it? 
Your goal: stream your Ableton Live workspace in real-time while collaborating with your creative team. Do these common workarounds meet the needs of modern editing teams?

The problem with streaming Ableton Live over Zoom

Ableton Live demands a significant amount of CPU power, which becomes an immediate problem when streaming over Zoom. Zoom just isn’t designed to stream DAWs, and Zoom itself demands a significant amount of processing power as well. The focus of Zoom’s design is for basic conversations or screen-sharing web pages and documents. 

When Zoom has to compete for resources against other CPU and graphics-heavy programs like Ableton Live, it will attempt to balance the load by downgrading the quality of the stream on one or both ends. This not only can result in a loss of stream quality, but can also lead to other issues like video lag and application crashes. 

All this aside, the benefit of Zoom is that it is a universally accepted video meeting software. Nearly everyone already has it installed on their computer and knows how to operate it. 

Because of that, it’s worthwhile to see if there are any workarounds that will allow you to stream your Ableton Live session over Zoom. 

A Few Common Ways to Stream Ableton Live

Use Evercast

Evercast is purpose-built to make streaming professional DAWs like Ableton Live a cinch. The platform requires a simple one-time setup and requires no additional software to enjoy a seamless, real-time collaboration session.

Evercast allows you to stream your DAW session in full HD with ultra-low latency (less than 150ms on average). This low latency is as close to natural conversation and editing as you can get. 

In addition to chatting in real-time, on-screen annotation and timestamped notes allow each participant to add their input while keeping everything organized and preventing you from having to hunt for that one imperfection someone picked out:

• Full HD with <150 millisecond delay (literally faster than the blink of an eye).
• Your team can video and audio chat at the same time they are watching, allowing for instant feedback.
• Ability to draw on screen for more detail.
• No special hardware needed, no “hacks” necessary.
• 24/7 white-glove support.
• Dedicated apps for macOS, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro.
• Supports up to 10-bit 4:4:4 color.
• 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound support.
• 4K/60fps streaming of any editing workflow via Premiere Pro, any other NLE or creative software, media files, and more.
• Encrypted video streams and two-factor authentication required to join secure rooms.
• Approved by ALL major studios and OTT content providers.
  

And for your less tech-savvy participants, they’ll be relieved to know that they don’t have to download any additional software to participate in an Evercast collaboration session. All they have to do is follow the link you provide and they can join from any device, anywhere in the world. 

If you’re looking for a better way to bring your creative team closer together and collaborate more efficiently from a distance, check out Evercast. Remote editing doesn’t have to be difficult. You deserve software that works for you, not against you.