#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE HOW TO#
#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE FULL#
#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE SOFTWARE#
#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE CODE#

#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE SOFTWARE#

To create a playback track in MainStage, add a new software instrument channel strip and add a stereo instance of the “Playback” plugin. In most cases, the correct sample rate should be 44.1 kHz.

The audio file should have the sample rate as your MainStage concert.

The audio file should be in a lossless format like WAV or AIFF.

#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE HOW TO#

If you are interested in learning how to integrate MainStage with Ableton Live for playback, please let me know and I will write a supplementary tutorial if there is enough demand.īefore we move on, ensure your audio file meets the requirements below. While the Playback plugin has certain limitations, it should be good enough for most situations. To keep things simple, let’s use MainStage’s built-in Playback plugin for the purposes of this tutorial.

Use MainStage to trigger an external playback app like Ableton Live.

There a two ways to implement playback tracks into our online concert setup.

Next, let’s set up a prerecorded playback track we can sing and play along to. Since we also want to use a physical audio interface for local monitoring as well, we’ll need to create an aggregate audio device that combines Loopback and our audio interface – check out the diagram below. In this case, we’ll use Loopback to route processed audio from MainStage to Zoom. Loopback is a macOS app that allows you to route audio between applications with a virtual device.

#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE CODE#

To set all of this up, we only need two apps – Loopback (use coupon code SOCIALDISTANCING for 15% off) and MainStage. How to Set Up a Great-Sounding Zoom Concert A dedicated monitoring mix is important because it allows us to leverage DSP effects for zero-latency vocal monitoring, and provides a way to deliver a click track to the performers only. Lastly, we’ll also create a stereo output for a local headphone mix.

#BACKGROUND FOR APPLE MAINSTAGE FULL#

The stereo output for Zoom will consist of a full mix that includes the singer’s processed voice, software instruments, and a backing track. The microphone input will be routed through MainStage to allow for effects processing – EQ, compression, and limiting.

1-channel microphone input for a singer.

In this example, we’ll set up an online concert with the following specifications. We’ll get into how to do this later on in the post. For example, if you’re performing with a digital piano, route audio virtually in software and monitor with headphones.

Don’t monitor through speakers – use headphones instead.

In most situations, even a basic Shure SM58 is going to sound much better than the microphone in your computer.

For sound sources that require a microphone, always use a decent microphone.

To do this, we’re going to follow two simple rules. Now, let’s talk about how to improve the sound quality of a Zoom concert. The reason for this is simple – singing or playing an instrument through your built-in microphone and Zoom echo cancellation is never going to sound great. From a technical perspective, casual setups will always yield below-average sound quality. That’s perfectly fine if that’s the vibe you are going for. Most online concerts I’ve watched on Zoom and Facebook Live are casual in nature. Instead, the main issue has to do with the lack of proper recording and mixing techniques. Zoom provides enough bandwidth for decent audio and video quality, so the bottleneck is not software or network-related. The Problem with Online Zoom Concertsīefore we dive into the technial details, let’s identify the problems we’re trying to fix. The MainStage template used in the webinar can be downloaded here. In this post, you’ll learn how to host a great-sounding Zoom concert with Apple MainStage. While I’m probably not going to host concerts myself (I haven’t practiced piano in a year), this got me thinking about how to help others to improve the production quality of their online concerts to create a better experience for viewers.

Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve seen quite a few of my musician friends host online concerts with Zoom.

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