Pro Tools Audio over Zoom

[seanmccoy]

This isn't something I even want to mess with, but I have a client who is pushing for it. Before I go down the rabbit hole of trying to get this to work, is anybody having success sending decent quality audio over Zoom from PT in Windows, or would it be a colossal waste of time?

[taylor4814]

You could check out ListenTo from Audiomovers separately, for the audio https://audiomovers.com/

[seanmccoy]

Originally Posted by taylor4814

You could check out ListenTo from Audiomovers separately, for the audio https://audiomovers.com/

Thanks, this has some attractive specs. But aside from it being a subscription-only service, it also looks like it has to exist on both ends. Am I interpreting that right? I need a way for this client (and others) to be able to hear what I'm sending with zero fuss.

[taylor4814]

I believe they just listen in their browser, from a link you send...

[The Weed]

Zoom is audio through your browser - Chromium based browser - so it's not going to be quite the same quality as, say ISDN or Source-Connect or ipDTL. That said, I've tested Zoom, Skype, Cleanfeed and Zencastr for remote session direction. I have a send of my mic's track out to my interface then cabled to my onboard soundcard's line in. I have my onboard soundcard's output cabled into my interface and into a track in Pro Tools. Those I/O are setup properly in Control Panel>Sound>Playback and Record Tabs.

This setup allows Browser audio to make its way into Pro Tools and Pro Tools audio to make its way into my Browser so I'm heard at their end and I hear them at my end.

Of all the Browser audio apps I mentioned, Zencastr has been the best. Clear, clean audio, every person on separate tracks, invitees do not need to download anything, just click the invite link and it opens in their Browser, (they do need a compatible Browser: Chrome or Microsoft's new Edge Chromium) and when the host stops recording in the app, each track is available for the host to download; each invitee can only download their track. The free version is host and two invitees and 40 minutes of recording time (waved during COVID-19) and MP3 files, the paid version is unlimited invitees and unlimited recording time and 16/44.1 Wave files. One studio I did a test with told me the Wave files were fine for production. I did a test with a studio in Bahrain - I'm in Toronto, Canada - so halfway round the world - and it was like he was in the room with me. No latency/lag.

A couple of applications I haven't tested, but are made for collaboration, are ConnectionOpen and SessionLinkPRO. For Podcasts, have a look at Anchor.fm.

[seanmccoy]

Lots of great information there should I ever want to get deeply into this type of collaboration or regular remote sessions. In this case, the client is technically feeble but well familiar with Zoom and asked for it specifically, so ideally I'd be able to do a quick install and link and be able to send her some audio directly from my PT session. The reason I'm dubious about the simplicity of it is that I have Avid hardware, and Avid drivers are notoriously stingy.

[The Weed]

I have an RME UFX and while their drivers do allow multi-client, meaning I can use the RME for Pro Tools and Windows sounds/audio, I chose not too out of an abundance of caution. It's why I'm using my onboard soundcard for the I/O for the Browser audio and using cables between the onboard soundcard and my UFX to get the audio into and out of Pro Tools.

Note 1: Zoom requires a sample rate of 48K or better. I've "locked" my onboard soundcard and my UFX/Pro Tools sessions to 24/48.

Note 2: Zoom is the only Browser audio application I've used that gave me audio issues. When I attempted to use the Zoom desktop app and record in Pro Tools I got consistent crackling making the audio unusable. running Zoom in my Browser solved that. You can run Zoom in a Browser only, without the desktop app, but when you open the invite link, they make it very hard to just use your Browser; it's almost impossible to find the button that allows that. So, I completely uninstalled the desktop app and, in the Google Play Store, found the free Zencastr Redirector extension. This works in Google Chrome and Edge Chromium and, when you have it installed, when you click a Zoom invite link, it immediately opens the link in your Browser, no desktop app needed.

Once you have the routing and Pro Tools session set up for Zoom, the same routing will work for any of the Browser based audio apps, since the I/O will be the same.

Since you client already has Zoom working, then they have the requisite Browser. If you sign up for Zencastr then send them an invite, they don't have to do anything but click the link and the app will open in their Browser if you don't want to use Zoom.

As always, YMMV.