Whether you love it or hate it, remote audio work is here to stay, which means so many music production teams have to adjust to new workflows. So many teams have very comfortably gathered in the studio to listen to tracks and edit together, and unfortunately, that’s slowly becoming less and less the norm.
While remote work has its benefits, such as the freedom to choose where you live and work and more opportunities to collaborate with global talent, it has presented a lot of unique hurdles to creative teams who aren’t used to working so far apart.
Thankfully, new tools are regularly being released to help remote creative teams work better together.
We’ve compiled our favorite tools that complement audio production workflows like FL Studio and allow you to start to recreate that magic of gathering together over the mixing board but from the comfort of your home or office, without having to try to stream everything over Zoom.
Does FL Studio offer a native collaboration feature?
Unfortunately, FL Studio does not provide any native collaboration tools or features. However, it does work quite well with a whole host of other collaborative tools available for creative teams.
The most important thing to keep in mind when choosing collaboration tools or plugins is to find one that “gets out of the way” of your creative process.
This means selecting intelligently designed tools that are as intuitive as possible and allow as much free-flowing communication between team members while also offering powerful co-working tools.
We’ve compiled some of our favorite collaboration tools that work in tandem with FL Studio to give you the most seamless remote collaboration experience possible.
Tools that can help your team collaborate in FL Studio
Tool #1: Evercast
Evercast is a platform built explicitly for creative teams that need to stream professional editing tools (like FL Studio) while live-chatting with their team.
It was built by creatives, for creatives, built to recreate the feel of an in-studio mixing session as closely as possible.
Pros:
- Ultra-low latency (less than 150ms on average) means that you’ll be able to chat and note-take in as close to real-time as possible
- Timestamped notes help you to accurately pinpoint areas where feedback is being applied (no more hunting down the “thing” your co-collaborator was talking about)
- The platform allows for simultaneous video chatting, text chatting/note taking, and workstation streaming, all under one clean interface
- No additional software is required for participants who are just joining a meeting; they simply need to follow a link to join
Cons:
- Requires some setup time and configuration for editors who want to stream their workstations (this is just a one-time setup)
- A bit more expensive than other tools
Create together remotely, in real time
Tool #2: Frame.io
Frame.io is a fantastic platform that you can custom-fit to your workflow to allow you to share, annotate, and manage all of your media throughout a project.
It functions primarily as a feedback and approval platform when paired with FL Studio, which is great for when you need a streamlined way to get notes back from both internal collaborators and external clients on their schedules.
Pros:
- Integrates with tons of other programs like Slack and Gmail to make organizing everything and everyone on your project easy
- Timecode-stamped comments make it easy to pinpoint areas to work on
- Simple approvals
- Version tracking so you can track changes
Cons:
- No face-to-face feedback features
- All files must be uploaded to the platform to make comments and notes, no in-platform integration for FL Studio
Tool #3: Satellite Sessions
Satellite Sessions breaks down the barriers preventing remote collaboration between audio production teams, most notably by getting rid of cross-compatibility barriers.
Satellite Sessions works with the most popular DAWs and allows for live collaboration even if you’re using FL Studio to build beats while your mixer is putting everything together in Pro Tools.
Pros:
- It works with all DAW’s and is Mac and Windows compatible
- Automatically backs up all data to the cloud
- It works as a plugin, so it integrates seamlessly with your FL Studio project
Cons:
- It doesn’t allow for simultaneous recording
- No built-in chat features
- It has a somewhat complex setup process
Tool #4: Amuse
So we’ve talked about collaborating during the editing process, but what about the final step after editing? The release of a new song is an exciting moment and one that you should be able to share with your co-collaborators.
Amuse is a music publishing platform that allows you to release new music to multiple platforms simultaneously. With their Pro membership, you can add all your team members to your profile so you can collaborate on the release together.
Honestly, if you’re regularly releasing songs using FL Studio, this is a fantastic tool to have in your back pocket that will help your music get heard.
Pros:
- Allows you to simultaneously publish to multiple streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and others.
- Allows to you easily and automatically split royalties between team members
- The platform allows you to keep 100% of the royalties
- Includes pre-save support for Spotify
Cons:
- It doesn’t directly integrate with FL Studio, so you’ll have to master and export your track before uploading it to the platform
- Doesn’t include in-platform communication tools.
Great teams make great music
The one thing we want to highlight yet again is that when you’re looking for collaboration software, ensure that the tools you’re using are simple, intuitive, and designed to help communication instead of hinder it.
The best creative work is done when people can freely share ideas, and music is one of the ultimate collaborative mediums. So you want your collaboration tools to prioritize that personal connection and design features that allow people to communicate in whatever way they feel is best. Enhance your production workflow and help everyone on your team do their best work.
