Highnote went public today, allowing musicians, podcasters and other creators to collaborate on audio files by recording audio notes directly onto a track, providing time-stamped feedback and feedback.
Haynot also announced a pre-seed funding round of $1.7 million.
The new platform aims to be a place for musicians, podcasters and their collaborators to listen to audio files and communicate all in one place.
It’s common for creators and their teams to rely on email, text messaging, Word Docs, Google Drive, Dropbox and other file sharing services and tools that aren’t optimized for audio content, Jordan Bradley, founder and CEO of Hinot, told TechCrunch. .
“It may come as a surprise, but the audio world, in general, uses general-purpose tools to discuss and replicate their files, which is extremely inefficient,” Bradley said. Imagine going into the final edits of your favorite podcast episode and having to switch back and forth between Google Drive’s junky default audio player and manual cleanup, with dozens of tiny changes to volume, timbre, and intonation. By typing ‘0:23’ – reduce the echo by dozens of times. Highnote changes it.
While there are many collaborative platforms for artists to upload tracks to, there aren’t many platforms that allow you to directly comment on the track.
Spotify Soundtrack is arguably the best-known DAW (digital audio processing platform) and introduced a collaborative audio recording tool in 2020. As of August 2022, Soundtrack was testing a tool that would allow people to write comments on different parts of a track. So far, however, Soundtrack has not implemented a feature that allows creators to create sounds for listeners to respond to.
With Highnote, musicians, podcasters, and other creators can upload a music track or audio file to their personal Highnote workspace or “Space.” A creator invites their team to Space so they can all collaborate on the audio file, manage different versions, chat with each other, and place time-specific text/audio notes on top of the track.
Haynot has designed an interactive audio annotation format that combines audio and time-based cards “in a way that hasn’t been seen before,” Bradley said. So when the creator listens to the track, you can see the feedback flowing over the track as it plays.
There is also an option to create polls to ask listeners questions at specific times.
Creators can share a private link with anyone, whether it’s fans/listeners, producers, mixing and mastering engineers, A&R (artists and repertoire) teams, or music supervisors.
Highnote is free to use, and no downloads are required. Users can create an account by going to www.highnote.fm. The platform is available on any device.
While there is no paid option yet, the company plans to launch a SaaS subscription model for Hinot at some point. He is also developing “Highnote for Teams” for major production studios and record labels.
Hainot closed a pre-seed funding round of $1.7 million along with angels from YouTube, Auth0 and Splice along with Afore Capital, Character Capital, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and Precursor Ventures.
“At our most recent fundraiser, it was about setting up and building a store. We think future, current and future partners can really help us make waves,” he told us. “For voice creators and their teams, we can scale to create Slack or iMessage – the communication platform for millions of people around the world who make working with voice a core part of their daily business.”
The platform started in 2018 as a side project for Bradley to create a tool that would allow creators to provide more constructive feedback.
As a musician himself, Bradley is interested in giving other music fans a behind-the-scenes look. He recommends Highnote to music students who want to ask their teacher how to play better.
He added: “I’m excited to see how my highness takes shape in these different environments.
Co-founders Pauline Vo and Chris Muccioli have experience in music technology. Vo has a background as a singer and producer, and is also the founder of the digliog music tech community. Muscioli is a musician, creative director and marketer who has led projects at Splice, Spotify and Kickstarter.
Image Credits: High note
Highnote has been in beta testing for a year, and a few dozen users have signed up for Highnote standbys. The feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Bradley said.
The company cited mixing engineer Barry Rashaun, who has worked with Drake, JEcole, Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd, Juice WRLD, Kodak Black and Meek Mill, among other notable artists.
According to Rashaun, “Highnote makes customer collaboration simple and seamless. The biggest issue I’ve had with clients is not getting a timestamp for the part they mention in their notes. By His Highness, that is a problem of the past. I will leave a customer before I leave Haynot.”
