How to do Live Remote Choir

Please note, the need for choirs to rehearse remotely has passed. I’m keeping this info up in case it may be useful in some other way. (Dec. 2022)

What is Live RemoteChoir? In this new age of social distancing, when choirs can’t be together physically, singers can still make music together in real time online. The latency inherent in online platforms requires specific repertoire that allows for and embraces the “lag” as part of the aesthetic (with the exception of advanced techniques with low latency programs; see the Q&A at the end of C4’s livestream “How Low Can We Go: C4 Goes Low Latency”).

For example, my first live remote choral work “Here I Am” and a recently completed commission “Meditation” both incorporate the time lag of online platforms. Please see my Remote Choir Repertoire page for ideas of asynchronous repertoire appropriate for this medium. There are other software options out there, including the exciting but expensive newly released JackTrip Virtual Studio; these are my recommendations for three levels of tech complexity. You can also see the ACDA webinar “All Together Now: Live Remote Performance in the Age of Social Distancing” for a discussion of artistic and technical considerations for this medium.

How to set up a live stream remote choral performance:

Option A: Zoom Only

Pros: Easiest set-up, accommodates a large choir
Cons: Lower audio quality, highlights individual singers (temporarily brings out one singer at a time), requires payment for Zoom pro plan
(Overview: livestream Zoom session directly)

– While it’s not possible to turn off the automatic selection of individual singers, this problem is minimized if all singers have their levels set well and the dynamic range is restricted to no louder than mf.

– I recommend each participant uses a mac or PC computer (laptop or desktop), in order to access high fidelity music mode and adjust and monitor input levels. Second choice is a Chromebook (input levels can be adjusted but not monitored, and there’s no high fidelity music mode). I do not recommend using smartphones or tablets of any type.

– Please note, it is also an option to just record a Zoom session and share it later. While it won’t be a livestream, it’s still a way to connect online with your singers and then with your audience.

All participants: update to the latest version of Zoom (Note: Zoom is available for free, with a 40 minute time limit, without livestreaming capabilities. The pro version that allows longer meetings and livestreaming is available without a limit to non-profits that request more than 6 logins, or otherwise for a monthly fee.)
All participants: wired (non-bluetooth) headphones are required to take full advantage of high fidelity zoom options. (It’s also best to avoid headphones with a microphone attached).
Livestream host: Create a YouTube channel if you don’t have one already, and enable live streaming on your YouTube channel (takes 24 hours to activate; For detailed instructions on setting up a YouTube Live Stream, see https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9227510)
Zoom host: enable participants to use original sound. (Go to Account Management, Account Settings, In Meeting (Advanced), and select “Allow users to select original sound in their client settings.”)
Zoom host: enable livestreaming (Go to Account Management, Account Settings, In Meeting (Advanced), and select “Allow live streaming meetings,” checking off your livestream platform of choice.)
Invite all participants to a Zoom session.
All participants: go into the Zoom advanced audio settings (To find audio settings, go to preferences, then select audio; or select the carat next to the mute button and choose audio settings. Select “advanced” at the bottom of the audio settings), and select the following:
- Echo cancellation: “auto”
- Select “Show in-meeting option to ‘enable original sound’ from microphone.”
- Select “disable echo cancellation” (only if everyone has headphones).
- Select “high fidelity music mode.”
- Select “use stereo audio.”
All participants: in the Zoom session, select “turn on original sound.”
All participants: Back to audio settings, check your microphone levels. Singing in a comfortable register at mf, the input level bar should go about halfway. If you are a soprano, err on the side of lower input volume (high notes are more likely to cause problems when the input is too high). Make sure that the “automatically adjust microphone volume” option is not selected.
All singers: pin the conductor’s image (move your cursor to the conductor’s image, click on the “…” icon, and select “pin.”)
Conductor: make sure you can see yourself. You can either pin your own image or just move the participants’ images around so that yours is visible alongside the singers.
Zoom host: start livestream (click “more,” and select either “live on youtube” or “live on facebook;” and remember to credit and tag me please if you’re performing my music).

Option B: Cleanfeed, Zoom & YouTube Live

– Please note, Cleanfeed is a browser-based software that only runs on Chrome. It can be run on a Mac, PC, Chromebook, Android phone, or iPhone. It does not yet work on an iPad, though they’re working on that. It may work on other tablets that can run Chrome.

Pros: Very easy for participants, tech setup do-able without an expert, sound quality is good and without unwanted noise.
Cons: Cleanfeed invitation process is time-consuming for the organizer, audio is not as refined as in Option C, and it can only accommodate a small choir (it works with 26 singers, and conversations with the company suggest the max would be 32 singers; the audio quality seems to be best with less than 20 singers).
(Overview: use Zoom for video, use Cleanfeed for audio, use OBS to capture the video and audio together, and broadcast with YouTube Live.)

Follow the first three instructions of Option A.
Download an encoder application such as OBS (free) https://obsproject.com/ (For a good overview of how to use OBS, see https://www.dacast.com/blog/how-to-use-obs-professional-video-streaming/.)
Schedule a YouTube Live Stream, find the Stream Key in Stream Settings, and put that Stream Key into OBS Settings (select “settings,” then “stream”).
Go to YouTube Studio, then Videos, select the “Live” tab, put your cursor over the upcoming Live stream, select “options” and then “get sharable link.” Copy and paste this link onto your website and/or social media to invite the public to the Live stream performance (and remember to credit and tag me please if you’re performing my music).
Invite participants to a Zoom session.
Create a Cleanfeed account (free, and necessary only for the person initiating the call) and start a session (or “call”) in Cleanfeed.
Invite all participants to the Cleanfeed session, one at a time. Yes, unfortunately it’s necessary to send a customized link to every single person participating. It’s possible to copy and paste a link into a mass email, but that link will be usable only by one person at a time.
All participants: in Zoom, select “leave computer audio” (option found in menu by mute button)
All participants: check your email for the Cleanfeed link, and click through to join the session.
Livestream host: add the Zoom session as a source in OBS (under “sources,” click “+”, select “window capture,” and choose the zoom session from the list of windows).
Livestream host: add the Cleanfeed session as a source in OBS. (Optional: run Cleanfeed through a DAW, i.e. Waveform Free, to add reverb before capturing in OBS and live streaming.)
Start stream in OBS, and then start stream in YouTube.
See this collaborative Cleanfeed Guide-in-Progress for details on using the platform.

Option C: Jamulus, Zoom & YouTube Live

Pros: Best option for audio quality, allows for individual and overall control of the mix.
Cons: Requires tech-savvy set-up, requires ethernet connections for all participants.
(Overview: use Jamulus for audio, use Zoom for video, use OBS to capture the video and audio together, and broadcast with YouTube Live.)

Every participant needs to download Jamulus (free software for MacOS, PC, or Linux: http://llcon.sourceforge.net/)
Set up designated server for Jamulus (this is where I rely on a tech-savvy friend.)
If possible, every singer should have a direct connection to the internet via an ethernet cable.
Route the audio from Jamulus into OBS. (Optional: run Jamulus through a DAW, i.e. Waveform Free, to add reverb before capturing in OBS and live streaming.)
Follow all the steps for Option B, including using Zoom, but use Jamulus for audio instead.
Please also see C4’s detailed instructions on how to set up Jamulus (created by C4’s tech gurus Brian Mountford and Daniel Andor-Ardó) and series of livestream engineering how-to videos (created by Brian Mountford).

Overall tips:

– Headphones for all participants are essential. They don’t need to be high quality.

– External microphones improve the sound, but are less essential. (One singer with a bad microphone will be just one singer whose sound quality is low. One singer without headphones can cause feedback that ruins the whole sound).

– Only one person needs to set up the live stream. This individual can be the conductor or it can be any one of the singers. Everyone else just connects and participates.

– The person streaming needs a very stable internet connection, no matter which method you are using. An ethernet cable is best. When participants have trouble with video or audio freezing, it is usually due to a problem with the Wi-Fi stability.

– The person initiating the Cleanfeed session will be essentially using their own computer as a server. They should have a very stable internet connection, and a newer computer will probably be helpful for larger groups. This person may or may not be the same person who is streaming.

– When using Jamulus, it helps to have individual meetings with each singer in advance of the first rehearsal, to make sure everyone is set up ok.

– Conducting tip: designate a corner of the screen for each voice part, and point to that corner to cue that section (I like to use the corner that correlates to the position of the choir that is familiar to me, i.e. sopranos in the front row on the left correlates to the bottom left corner from my perspective. It will be reversed in the video, so never give “left” or “right” instructions, just demonstrate.)

– Rehearsal tip: build tech time into the start of each rehearsal (expect perhaps 45 minutes at first, going down to 10-20 minutes as the choir gains experience.)

– Feel free to reach out to me with questions! I’d be happy to talk with you and help you out. I’m also available to do live remote workshops with your choir.

(Updated November 4, 2020. I will continue to update these instructions as my own experiences inform them… if you have feedback for me on what is or is not working in your own experiences, I would love to hear it. Thanks to Brian Mountford and Daniel Andor-Ardó for helping me figure this all out, to Scot Hanna-Weir for recommending Cleanfeed, to the members of C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective and the C4 Network for experimenting with me, and to all my friends and colleagues in the choral community who have joined me for test sessions of various platforms.)

(Pictured at top: remote choral performances by Santa Clara University Chamber Singers, C4, and Sacred & Profane)

How to do Live Remote Choir

Please note, the need for choirs to rehearse remotely has passed. I’m keeping this info up in case it may be useful in some other way. (Dec. 2022)

How to set up a live stream remote choral performance:

Option A: Zoom Only

Pros: Easiest set-up, accommodates a large choir

Cons: Lower audio quality, highlights individual singers (temporarily brings out one singer at a time), requires payment for Zoom pro plan

(Overview: livestream Zoom session directly)

– While it’s not possible to turn off the automatic selection of individual singers, this problem is minimized if all singers have their levels set well and the dynamic range is restricted to no louder than mf.

– Please note, it is also an option to just record a Zoom session and share it later. While it won’t be a livestream, it’s still a way to connect online with your singers and then with your audience.

All participants: wired (non-bluetooth) headphones are required to take full advantage of high fidelity zoom options. (It’s also best to avoid headphones with a microphone attached).

Livestream host: Create a YouTube channel if you don’t have one already, and enable live streaming on your YouTube channel (takes 24 hours to activate; For detailed instructions on setting up a YouTube Live Stream, see https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9227510)

Zoom host: enable participants to use original sound. (Go to Account Management, Account Settings, In Meeting (Advanced), and select “Allow users to select original sound in their client settings.”)

Zoom host: enable livestreaming (Go to Account Management, Account Settings, In Meeting (Advanced), and select “Allow live streaming meetings,” checking off your livestream platform of choice.)

Invite all participants to a Zoom session.

All participants: go into the Zoom advanced audio settings (To find audio settings, go to preferences, then select audio; or select the carat next to the mute button and choose audio settings. Select “advanced” at the bottom of the audio settings), and select the following:

Echo cancellation: “auto”

Select “Show in-meeting option to ‘enable original sound’ from microphone.”

Select “disable echo cancellation” (only if everyone has headphones).

Select “high fidelity music mode.”

Select “use stereo audio.”

All participants: in the Zoom session, select “turn on original sound.”

All singers: pin the conductor’s image (move your cursor to the conductor’s image, click on the “…” icon, and select “pin.”)

Conductor: make sure you can see yourself. You can either pin your own image or just move the participants’ images around so that yours is visible alongside the singers.

Zoom host: start livestream (click “more,” and select either “live on youtube” or “live on facebook;” and remember to credit and tag me please if you’re performing my music).

Option B: Cleanfeed, Zoom & YouTube Live

– Please note, Cleanfeed is a browser-based software that only runs on Chrome. It can be run on a Mac, PC, Chromebook, Android phone, or iPhone. It does not yet work on an iPad, though they’re working on that. It may work on other tablets that can run Chrome.

Pros: Very easy for participants, tech setup do-able without an expert, sound quality is good and without unwanted noise.

(Overview: use Zoom for video, use Cleanfeed for audio, use OBS to capture the video and audio together, and broadcast with YouTube Live.)

Follow the first three instructions of Option A.

Download an encoder application such as OBS (free) https://obsproject.com/ (For a good overview of how to use OBS, see https://www.dacast.com/blog/how-to-use-obs-professional-video-streaming/.)

Schedule a YouTube Live Stream, find the Stream Key in Stream Settings, and put that Stream Key into OBS Settings (select “settings,” then “stream”).

Invite participants to a Zoom session.

Create a Cleanfeed account (free, and necessary only for the person initiating the call) and start a session (or “call”) in Cleanfeed.

Invite all participants to the Cleanfeed session, one at a time. Yes, unfortunately it’s necessary to send a customized link to every single person participating. It’s possible to copy and paste a link into a mass email, but that link will be usable only by one person at a time.

All participants: in Zoom, select “leave computer audio” (option found in menu by mute button)

All participants: check your email for the Cleanfeed link, and click through to join the session.

Livestream host: add the Zoom session as a source in OBS (under “sources,” click “+”, select “window capture,” and choose the zoom session from the list of windows).

Livestream host: add the Cleanfeed session as a source in OBS. (Optional: run Cleanfeed through a DAW, i.e. Waveform Free, to add reverb before capturing in OBS and live streaming.)

Start stream in OBS, and then start stream in YouTube.

See this collaborative Cleanfeed Guide-in-Progress for details on using the platform.

Option C: Jamulus, Zoom & YouTube Live

Pros: Best option for audio quality, allows for individual and overall control of the mix.

Cons: Requires tech-savvy set-up, requires ethernet connections for all participants.

(Overview: use Jamulus for audio, use Zoom for video, use OBS to capture the video and audio together, and broadcast with YouTube Live.)

Every participant needs to download Jamulus (free software for MacOS, PC, or Linux: http://llcon.sourceforge.net/)

Set up designated server for Jamulus (this is where I rely on a tech-savvy friend.)

If possible, every singer should have a direct connection to the internet via an ethernet cable.

Route the audio from Jamulus into OBS. (Optional: run Jamulus through a DAW, i.e. Waveform Free, to add reverb before capturing in OBS and live streaming.)

Follow all the steps for Option B, including using Zoom, but use Jamulus for audio instead.

Please also see C4’s detailed instructions on how to set up Jamulus (created by C4’s tech gurus Brian Mountford and Daniel Andor-Ardó) and series of livestream engineering how-to videos (created by Brian Mountford).

Overall tips:

– Headphones for all participants are essential. They don’t need to be high quality.

– External microphones improve the sound, but are less essential. (One singer with a bad microphone will be just one singer whose sound quality is low. One singer without headphones can cause feedback that ruins the whole sound).

– Only one person needs to set up the live stream. This individual can be the conductor or it can be any one of the singers. Everyone else just connects and participates.

– The person streaming needs a very stable internet connection, no matter which method you are using. An ethernet cable is best. When participants have trouble with video or audio freezing, it is usually due to a problem with the Wi-Fi stability.

– The person initiating the Cleanfeed session will be essentially using their own computer as a server. They should have a very stable internet connection, and a newer computer will probably be helpful for larger groups. This person may or may not be the same person who is streaming.

– When using Jamulus, it helps to have individual meetings with each singer in advance of the first rehearsal, to make sure everyone is set up ok.

– Rehearsal tip: build tech time into the start of each rehearsal (expect perhaps 45 minutes at first, going down to 10-20 minutes as the choir gains experience.)

– Feel free to reach out to me with questions! I’d be happy to talk with you and help you out. I’m also available to do live remote workshops with your choir.

(Pictured at top: remote choral performances by Santa Clara University Chamber Singers, C4, and Sacred & Profane)