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ZOOM Settings for Online Music Lessons – Desktop Version

{This post has been getting the most hits on my studio website since April of 2020. I’ve updated it a few times as Zoom settings have changed. Here is the current procedure as of March 2023.}

When using Zoom for online music lessons, both the teacher AND the student need to avoid using Zoom’s default sound settings! Zoom is primarily a verbal-communications app, so the default settings are designed to cancel out sustained background noise, high pitches etc. — the type of sounds that are generated by musical instruments! Zoom has had an “original sound” setting since 2020, which curbs their aggressive filter for these types of sounds. In the fall of 2022, Zoom specifically labeled their Original Sound feature to say “Original Sound for Musicians.” Clearly they are aware that using Zoom for music lessons is a very popular application! If you’ve never seen the “for Musicians” addition, or if you never got the audio settings just right, here is a quick guide to the desktop version of the app. The iPad settings are covered in this post.

Follow these visual steps to update the Zoom app on your desktop or laptop, and configure the Audio settings for music lessons.

Update the app.

Open Zoom and click on your profile badge in the upper right corner. Then click “Check for Updates” in the drop-down. If an update is available, confirm you want to install the update.

Access the Audio Settings.

After the update is installed, run the Zoom app. Click the Settings gear icon below your profile badge in the top right corner. Select the Audio category in the column down the left side of the Settings box. (You can also adjust the audio settings from within an active meeting. In the lower left corner by the microphone icon, click the up-arrow [carat] and select “Audio Settings” at the bottom of the pop-up menu.)

Adjust the Audio Settings.

Here’s what the Audio Settings window looked like in November 2022; there have only been small changes since then. Uncheck the “Automatically adjust microphone volume” box and increase your microphone volume to over halfway — at least this works well for me!

Next, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP:  In the Audio Profile section, select “Original sound for musicians” which  also turns on “High fidelity music mode”.

The other options here (“Echo cancellation” and “Stereo audio”) may compromise your connection speed and/or the sound quality for either you or the person on the other end. Experiment to see if they help at all. If they don’t, you can leave them unchecked.

Here is the official description on the Zoom website (March 2023) about the Original Sound for Musicians setting: “Adds an in-meeting button to disable noise suppression and echo cancellation, while increasing codec quality or encoding in stereo.
High-fidelity music mode: This disables echo cancellation & post-processing, while raising audio codec quality to 48Khz, 96Kbps mono/192kbps stereo. Professional audio interface, microphone, and headphones required.
Echo cancellation: Prevents the creation of echoes between mic and speakers. Disable only recommended when using headphones to isolate audio or when playing instruments.
Stereo audio: Encodes mic audio in stereo. Requires a stereo-capable microphone or audio interface.
Live performance audio (BETA FEATURE): Further reduces latency for audio to ~30-50ms.”

In Meeting, Turn On “Original sound for musicians.”

When you’re in a live meeting, click the Original Sound for Musicians: Off selection box near the top left of your video window. Read this as saying “Original Sound IS OFF.” When you click it, it will then read Original Sound for Musicians: On and you are good to go.

To see how much more control the desktop version of Zoom gives you than the iPad version, check out how to perform this same function on an iPad.

More Helpful Hints for Zoom Music Delivery

  • If you or a student have not used Zoom for a few weeks or months, make sure you have both downloaded the latest updates!
  • Optimizing the Zoom settings cannot overcome the deficits of poor microphones! Most laptops have very basic built-in microphones, and so do some older desktops. Anyone planning to use Zoom extensively to transmit music should invest in a moderately priced USB external microphone. I recommend the Blue Yeti mic [affiliate link], which I’ve been using since 2020 for online teaching.
  • If background echo is a problem for either participant, first experiment with Echo Cancellation in the Zoom Audio Settings. In tandem with that, have one or both participants wear headphones!
  • It probably doesn’t need to be said, but: Avoid giving music lessons to students who can only connect via a cellphone!

BETA Zoom setting for “Live Performance Audio”

Since March 2023, Audio Settings displays an additional Audio Profile, titled “Live performance audio BETA (recommended for multiple instruments or voices in different locations)”. Click to enlarge the image. The explanatory text overlays describe this feature as helping to reduce latency for playing “together” over Zoom, but warn that a fast internet connection is needed.

6 thoughts on “ZOOM Settings for Online Music Lessons – Desktop Version

  1. I tried so many ways for my music lesson.
    But my audio sound not so good.
    I even bought a blue yeti mic and set audio setting exactly what they recommend.

  2. I appreciate the work you put into these instructions. I’ve been dealing with this for months now, and no combination of Settings has ever allowed the teacher to hear anything but the students Voice.
    Skype has the same issue… But I found that if the student uses the Web version instead of the app, Both student and teacher can hear each other’s instruments and any vocals.
    You would think that if Skype could do it, Zoom Would have come up with a better solution by now.

  3. Zoom seems to have killed audio for lessons with its newest update. Have tried all these steps, and did so under supervision of tech support from zoom, and it still doesn’t work. Any updates on the situation you know of?

    1. While I haven’t had the problems you’ve described, I have noticed that it sometimes helps to adjust the microphone levels, as mentioned in the earlier comment below, and play with the echo-cancellation toggle box. Just make sure you only test one variable at a time, on one side at a time (you or the student).
      It is now February of 2023 and my Zoom app has updated a couple of times since I last revised my blog post. I’ll provide a new revision if any of the features seem to be different now.

  4. Hi, thank you for your post. I teach online piano lessons and the last update has created many difficulties. One thing I have forgotten to ask students was whether or not the “Automatically adjust microphone volume” box was selected. The previous update from 2021 worked better for me. I wonder if other musicians/teachers have faced the same problems.

    1. Thanks for your reply and see my comment above! I’ll update my Zoom post again if anything seems to have changed since November.

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