System and method for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing
Two or more wireless devices can be independently controlled by their respective users, a mixer component, or a leader wireless device to perform audio recording, convert the recorded audio into a standard or proprietary audio stream format, and transmit the audio stream to a server. The real-time clocks of two or more participating wireless devices can be synchronized. A wireless device can insert timestamps into the audio stream to facilitate the mixing operation. Mixing of the two or more audio streams recorded by wireless devices can be performed by a mixer component either in real time (contemporaneously with the recording) or asynchronously with respect to the recording. The mixing can be performed in a fully automated mode, and/or in an operator-assisted mode.
1. A system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing comprising:
two or more wireless devices capable of audio recording, wherein said two or more wireless devices are located near a sound source to be recorded;
each wireless device of said two or more wireless devices having an interface allowing at least start and stop audio recording and streaming operations;
each wireless device of said two or more wireless devices being configured to transmit a recorded audio stream to a mixer component; and
said mixer component configured to combine two or more audio streams received from said two or more wireless devices into a multi-channel audio stream by synchronizing in time said two or more audio streams, said synchronization being performed based upon one or more clearly distinguishable events present in all said two or more audio streams;
wherein at least one clearly distinguishable event of said one or more clearly distinguishable events is provided by a change in an audio signal amplitude at a given frequency range by a value exceeding a pre-defined amplitude threshold within a time period not exceeding a pre-defined duration.
2. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein said mixer component runs on a remote computer.
3. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices is controlled by a user of said at least one wireless device via a user interface.
4. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices registers with said mixer component and is controlled by said mixer component via an application program interface.
5. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices transmits said recorded audio stream to said mixer component synchronously with said recording.
6. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices buffers said recorded audio stream to produce a buffered audio stream, and transmits said buffered audio stream to said mixer component asynchronously with respect to said recording.
7. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein said two or more wireless devices elect a leader device, and wherein said leader device coordinates said audio recording by said one or more wireless devices.
8. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 1 , wherein said synchronizing said two or more recorded audio streams is performed by an operator via a graphical user interface (GUI), said GUI presenting to said operator two or more graphs of said two or more recorded audio streams, and allowing said operator to align said graphs at said one or more clearly distinguishable events present in said two or more recorded audio streams.
9. A system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing comprising:
two or more wireless devices capable of audio recording,
wherein said two or more wireless devices are located near a sound source to be recorded, each wireless device of said two or more wireless devices having an interface allowing at least start and stop audio recording and streaming operations, each wireless device of said two or more wireless devices being configured to transmit a recorded audio stream to a mixer component, each wireless device of said two or more wireless devices having a real-time clock, each wireless device of said two or more wireless devices being further configured insert timestamps into said recorded audio stream; and
said mixer component configured to combine two or more audio streams received from said two or more wireless devices into a multi-channel audio stream by synchronizing in time said two or more audio streams based upon said timestamps;
wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices is configured, responsive to receiving a start recording command from said mixer component, to transmit to said mixer component a message containing a start time timestamp followed by one or more messages containing a recorded audio stream.
10. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein at least one of said two or more wireless devices is configured to synchronize said real-time clock with an external clock source.
11. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein said mixer component runs on a remote computer.
12. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices is controlled by a user of said at least one wireless device via a user interface.
13. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices registers with said mixer component and is controlled by said mixer component via an application program interface.
14. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices transmits said recorded audio stream to said mixer component synchronously with said recording.
15. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices buffers said recorded audio stream to produce a buffered audio stream, and transmits said buffered audio stream to said mixer component asynchronously with respect to said recording.
16. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein said two or more wireless devices elect a leader device, wherein said leader device coordinates said audio recording by said one or more wireless devices.
17. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 9 , wherein said at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices is further configured, responsive to receiving a stop recording command from said mixer component, to stop recording said audio stream and continue transmitting one or more buffered messages containing said audio stream.
18. The system for distributed audio recording and collaborative mixing of claim 17 , wherein said at least one wireless device of said two or more wireless devices is further configured, responsive to completing said transmission of said one or more buffered messages, to transmit a time stamp corresponding to a time when said wireless device stopped recording said audio stream.