Zoom can be a great way to take music lessons online, but unless you set it up right, you are in for a nasty surprise when you start playing your harmonica: the sound disappears except for a few odd sputtering noises.
Zoom filters are set up to bring speech front and center and squelch background noise like buses, air conditioners, and music.
Fortunately, Zoom realized that this default setting makes music lessons impossible, so they created ways to change the settings. They are not as obvious as they should be so that is what this guide is for: to show you how to set up your computer, tablet, or phone so we can talk and play music instead of chewing up precious time troubleshooting equipment.
What Is Original Sound for Musicians?
Original Sound for Musicians primarily disables Zoom’s aggressive noise suppression, allowing your harmonica or other instrument to come through naturally.
You need to do two things to set up Original Sound for Musicians:
- Enable Original Sound for Musicians in Zoom’s audio settings.
- Make sure Original Sound is actually turned ON when you join your lesson – Simply enabling the feature in Settings doesn’t always mean it’s active during your meeting.
Here is how to do both.
For Desktop (Mac and Windows)
1. Open Zoom and click the gear icon in the top right to open Settings.
2. In the newly opened window, select Audio on the left hand side
3. Scroll down to Microphone Modes and choose Original sound for musicians.
For Mobile (iPhone and Android)
1. Open Zoom and tap your profile image on the top left hand corner.
2. Near the bottom, tap Settings.
3. Tap Audio.
4. Finally, tap Original sound for musicians.
One Last Step: Turn It On During Your Lesson or Workshop
After you’ve enabled Original Sound for Musicians in Zoom’s settings, check that it’s actually turned on when you join your lesson.
Depending on your device and version of Zoom, you may see an Original Sound or Microphone Mode control in the meeting window. Make sure Original Sound for Musicians is active before you start playing.
If your harmonica suddenly disappears or sounds like it’s sputtering, this is the first thing to check!
Here are some links that have screen shots that may make it easier to find what you are looking for – they have different ways of showing you what to do, so if one does not click, another one might do the job;
https://www.agtauditions.com/faq/original-sound
https://help.violinspiration.com/article/49-improving-your-audio-quality-on-zoom
https://catts.ie/how-to-setup-original-audio-on-zoom/
If you find even better instructions somewhere, please let me know!
After you’ve gone through this process a couple of times, it gets easier to remember where the settings are.
Set aside about 15 minutes before your first lesson to find the settings and test your microphone. That way, when your appointment begins, we can get right into the session and focus on what matters to you.
A Couple of tips about microphones
If you use the built in microphone on your computer or other device, your sound quality will not be as good as a high quality USB microphone or a microphone that goes through an interface designed for high quality recording or video – the best thing to do is to test it one way or another. I use a Blue Yeti USB mic and a set of headphones – I cant remember the. brand of the headphones but they are similar to high end studio headphones – the best i could afford from the selection at Sweetwater, the folks I but music equipment from online.
PC computers may have built in filters that work similar to Zooms default filters – I ran into this problem with someone who was doing a session with me on an HP laptop. I could not hear his harmonica until he plugged in an external mic.
Use a direct connection to your modem if possible
If it is possible to connect directly to your modem with an Ethernet cable (also labeled Cat 5e or Cat 6) that will improve the sound and audio. The plug looks like a telephone plug, but wider, with a little plastic clip.
This will give you better sound and video than using a wireless wifi connection
Email: rrsleigh@gmail.com
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