Home Studio: webRTC Offers Real-Time Remote Communication With Your VO Clients Via Internet – Without Software, by Armin Hierstetter

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webRTC Offers Real-Time Remote Communication
With Your Clients Via Internet – Without Software
May 24, 2016

By Armin Hierstetter
Founder and CEO, Bodalgo

Just as we are about to say ‘goodbye’ to ISDN, new alternatives
for remote audio communications have surfaced.

The new buzzword: webRTC – web real time
communication – promises high quality audio connection between voice talent and client/producer without the ISDN price.

 

If you are the proud owner of a “real” ISDN line (not a VOIP
connection with ISDN capabilities), chances are that you have already received, or will soon receive, a letter from your service provider stating that
your ISDN line will cease to work.

ISDN is an outdated technology and it’s a
thorn in the telco’s side. They want to get rid of this cumbersome legacy
infrastructure.

 

Of course, many studios and voice talents switched a
long time ago to software-based alternatives like Source-Connect that includes VOIP technology in your recording software – and others like Logic, ProTools, etc. Yet as with ISDN, there is one flaw with both of these solutions: both parties need
the software in order to be able to communicate together.

While this is not an
issue when you are working with other industry professionals, the software requirement
will not help you when a “normal” client with no studio background
wants to direct a recording session remotely. Usually, Skype or a phone is the
way to go in these cases.

 

ENTER webRTC

A fairly new web technology has gained recent traction: webRTC (web real time communication).

This is a collection of software
interfaces that web applications can use to create peer-to-peer audio (and video)
connections.

Most modern browsers support webRTC already: Chrome, Opera and
Firefox come with webRTC support out of the box; Safari and Internet Explorer
will do the trick with a free plugin.

 

Maybe you have not yet realized what this means, so I repeat
it: webRTC comes with almost every browser and enables anybody to connect to
others via audio and/or video.

In order to open a remote audio connection
you don’t need software or hardware! All you need is an Internet
connection and a browser. The rest is done by the web application.

 

WHO OFFERS THIS?

In the voice over market, there are three known webRTC web
applications available:

• SessionLinkPro
• ipDTL
• bodalgoCall

Because all of
these solutions are based on webRTC, they work in the same way. It’s in the
complexity of the design where they differ.

For example: Session Link
and ipDTL will give you meters and more bells and whistles, whereas bodalgoCall
concentrates on simplifying the process of establishing a connection with
somebody.

 

HOW IT WORKS

So how do you actually “call” people using webRTC? Taking
bodalgoCall as an example:

• Set up a customized link to share with the party you want to communicate with real-time.
• Make an appointment.
• The other party visits the link and you “call”  that
  link in your browser.

It’s as simple as that.

 

The three services offer different plans, such as monthly,
half-yearly and yearly.

And when it comes to pricing, there are quite some differences:

• ipDTL charges $50 USD monthly ($320 USD yearly)
• SessionLinkPro asks for $20
  Euro (approx. $23 USD) per month ($200 Euro yearly; approx. $230 USD)
• bodalgoCall, part of the online casting website bodalgo.com,
  takes a different approach: Voice talents who are premium members (which
  enables talents to audition for jobs) get bodalgoCall for free. And voice
  seekers can book bodalgoCall for $12 Euro ($14 USD) per month ($115 USD yearly).

   

The bodalgoCall policy has an interesting angle. If you not interested in online casting, you may still want
to use bodalgo’s webRTC service.

 

GLITCHES AND BEST PRACTICES

Of course,
webRTC is still in development, so while it works
wonderfully in many cases, it will cause trouble in others.

Let me share some
known glitches and best practices with you:

 

1. Browsers

webRTC will work in most browsers.

The best experience is with Chrome and Opera.

Firefox works fine, but the bit
rate (transmission speed) is a little reduced, so the quality might not be up to
scratch. This is not a problem when you just want somebody to direct
your recording remotely, but it’s not ideal if the other party wants to record your
session.

Safari (with the free temasys plugin, see above) results in stuttering
audio with some audio interfaces, and the same has been reported with Internet
Explorer.

These issues will vanish over time as software developers
integrate webRTC.

2. External microphones

In most cases
you would want to be standing in your booth while being connected to a client,
so you need to make sure that your external microphone works with webRTC.

If
connected via an audio interface, make sure your microphone
uses input channel 1 or 2 in order to work (btw: the same is true if you want
to use an external microphone with Skype).

 

3. Recording a session

You should
always record the session locally, of course (no audio will get better in
quality when sent over the Internet).

Yet, the other party could potentially
record your session, too, if their audio is set up for this.

This can be
a bit tricky since recording software usually does not allow you to record what comes out
of your computer (the audio from a remote sent over the Internet), but rather, only what
gets into your computer (the signal from your microphone).

There are
software solutions for both Mac and PC to help you trick the hardware, though.

Also, Universal Audio’s audio interface series “Apollo” enables you to record
remote sessions out of the box because of the way their hardware is designed –
very useful!

 

The best way to find out if webRTC works for you (literally
and figuratively) it to simply try it!
———————
ABOUT ARMIN
Armin Hierstetter is German entrepreneur and CEO of bodalgo.com,
one of the world’s leading resources for voice over talents. Since its
launch in 2008, bodalgo has served more than 10,000 enterprises, from
individual entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. Armin is married, has two daughters and lives in Munich, Bavaria.

Email: armin@bodalgo.com
Web: www.bodalgo.com
Free bodalgoCall demo: https://www.bodalgo.com/en/calldemo