Audio Networking in Your Home Studio

When I set out to redesign my home studio from scratch, I knew I wanted to build something completely different than my old-school Black Lion Audio Mod Digidesign 002 based setup. My music production workflow had changed quite a bit from when I bought the 002, having evolved from a more hardware-based process to one that’s largely software based, with a bit of live instrumentation and outboard gear in the mix.

By transmitting a wi-fi signal directly to iOS or Android devices, the CineEye 2 allows the user and their crew to use the everyday devices that they already have – their phones or tablets. By combining modern high-resolution smart device screens with the strong signal of the CineEye 2, the videographer can turn their devices into professional camera monitors. The camera operator, director, client, or other members of the crew can see and hear what the camera is capturing in real-time from up to 150 meters away. You also no longer need to sacrifice the ability to use a wired monitor – with HDMI loop-out you can now daisy-chain additional monitors off of the CineEye 2.

Taking that into consideration, I also wanted this new setup to allow for ways of collaborating with other musicians and producers that weren’t so easy to do in the past, like synchronizing multiple computer-based production setups, each with its own instruments and sequencing capabilities, and recording large numbers of tracks from each system, simultaneously. Luckily, this was all very feasible, thanks to networked audio, which is much less daunting to put together than you might think.

Three Production StationsI’ll cut right to the chase. It involves three computers, each running Ableton Live, synched via Ableton Link— which is Live’s more-or-less plug ’n’ play synchronization feature that relies on Wi-Fi to keep each system locked and in time with each other. I knew that Ableton would be the basis of the system, largely for the convenience of this feature. Also, the other producers that I work with are familiar with Ableton; plus, it allows for other DAWs and production tools to run within it, such as Reason or FL Studio, if anyone feels so inclined.

ConclusionNetworked audio is often thought of as difficult to understand, and something better left to the commercial pro audio world. But the truth is, building an insanely powerful, flexible, and fun networked music production studio at home can be done affordably, and is surprisingly easy to set up. Are you building your home studio? We hope these tips help. Please feel free to ask us any questions you may have about incorporating networked audio in the Comments section, below.