How to peer review any audio or video recording project

If you're working on an audio project (podcast, documentary, music track, video, etc), oftentimes there's a need to gather feedback, make comments on audio projects, and review audio files (mp3s, WAVs, AIFFs) once they've been produced. Notetracks is a platform built to easily comment on audio projects and gather feedback precisely on the track (think of SoundCloud meeting Google Docs) alongside your peers from anywhere.

To begin, open Notetracks, click on the ‘New Project’ button and select your file type (either audio or video). Give your project a title and click ‘Done’.

Once you're on the project page, click ‘Add Track’ or drag and drop the audio into the web page. You can also import your audio project directly from your computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

In order to peer review any audio project, you’ll need to share your audio file first. To do so, click on the ‘Share Project’ button in the top right corner of Notetracks. You’ll be greeted with a variety sharing options, including sharing via communication platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger, email address, Notetracks username, and/or a public link. You can also set the permissions of your peers to ‘Can Edit’, ‘Can Comment’, and ‘Can View’.

You also have the ability to share your audio track at a specific time-stamp by clicking the checkbox in the bottom right corner. If you’d like more information about sharing your audio projects with collaborators, feel free to read our How to Share Audio help blog.

Once your audio project is shared with your collaborators and peers, you’re now able to leave feedback and begin peer-reviewing your audio project. To begin leaving comments on your audio project, ensure you’re in the ‘Comment’ pane, selectable at the top middle of the workspace.

You can use the playback controllers at the bottom to listen to the track, and at any time you'd like to insert a new Comment, click the ‘New Comment’ button to add a comment precisely at point you'd like to discuss without having to stop the audio. If you have the audio paused, you can also double click on the waveform at the exact spot you'd like to make a comment or you can highlight an entire range (from 00:10-00:20) for your peers to be able to review.

To further peer-review audio with ease, Notetracks has additional annotation options that can be utilized effectively. These annotation tools can be especially useful for identifying areas needing review, labelling sections of your track (such as for a scene for a film), marking up audio, and otherwise communicating ideas with your peers in a visual fashion.

To access these tools, navigate to the ‘Draw’ pane and click on it. You’ll be greeted by a toolbar that includes tags, labels, and a notepad, all with colours that can be selected. If you’d like additional information on how to use Notetracks’ annotation tools, read our How to Annotate an Audio Recording help post.

Using Notetracks can elevate your scholarly and peer-reviewed audio projects to a higher calibre. By streamlining your workflow and eliminating extra apps, you and your peers can work together seamlessly, with ease, and alongside one another from anywhere in the world. Try out Notetracks for free today.