Sound problems w Zoom guitar lessons

[MarkRhodes]

I booked a lesson via Zoom with a teacher and thought I had everything at my end set up appropriately.
I ran my guitar and a mic through my Scarlett 2i2 into my stereo speakers and everything sounded fine on my end.
But the teacher could barely hear me at all.
This frustrated us both.

A day later, going over this setup with fep (who knows a lot more about sound recording than I do), the trouble remains a mystery.
A few more things remain to be tried.

Does anyone here take or give guitar lessons via Zoom?
If so, can you explain what setup allows both parties to hear each other's voice and mic?
I'm confused. (Which doesn't take much, I'll admit, but I need to solve this problem before attempting another Zoom lesson.)

Thanks for taking my call---I'll hang up and listen!

[MinToyTot]

I take zoom lessons with a similar multi-input setup. When setting levels before a lesson, I'll record test clips in Audacity with various combinations of talking, playing and ireal (aux from my phone) and adjust accordingly. If your audio device is producing an acceptable output to a DAW but not to zoom then in my opinion the issue is probably in the zoom ecosystem e.g. noise reduction malfunction which could be fixed by using headphones instead of speakers.

[MarkRhodes]

I take zoom lessons with a similar multi-input setup. When setting levels before a lesson, I'll record test clips in Audacity with various combinations of talking, playing and ireal (aux from my phone) and adjust accordingly. If your audio device is producing an acceptable output to a DAW but not to zoom then in my opinion the issue is probably in the zoom ecosystem e.g. noise reduction malfunction which could be fixed by using headphones instead of speakers.

Thanks. I can get sound into Reaper and can hear my mic and guitar (w/out Reaper armed) through my speakers. A Zoom issue may be the culprit.

[rlrhett]

I assume you already have your zoom settings to “original sound for musicians”? Otherwise it tries to suppress any sound that is not voice.


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[Luo Bi]

Hello Mark,

are you able to make a test call to yourself, or a friend?
What I do is, download Zoom on my phone, sign in with a different account (on phone), and call myself. That way I can trouble shoot and know instantly if a setting works or not.

[pamosmusic]

I assume you already have your zoom settings to “original sound for musicians”? Otherwise it tries to suppress any sound that is not voice.


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Yeah this is A number one.

It's in settings > audio settings > audio profile > original sound for musicians.

Some other options will pop up when you click it. Make sure that "echo cancelation" is turned on.

Every time you open the same meeting, you won't need to do all that stuff in the settings, but hover the cursor over the teacher's face at the beginning of each lesson. You'll see "original sound for musicians: off" on the top right or left of the screen. Click that and it will switch to "original sound for musicians: on" and then you should be good to go.

If that doesn't work, it's stuff buried in your interface and I have no idea

[MarkRhodes]

I assume you already have your zoom settings to “original sound for musicians”? Otherwise it tries to suppress any sound that is not voice.

Yes. I was told beforehand about that setting, and also "echo cancellation".

I've watched several YouTube videos on this subject and learned some valuable things, but so far, nothing that addresses this issue.

I will try various setups and Zoom meetings (just to test, not to take a lesson) and eventually, this nut shall crack.

[MarkRhodes]

Yeah this is A number one.

It's in settings > audio settings > audio profile > original sound for musicians.

Some other options will pop up when you click it. Make sure that "echo cancelation" is turned on.

Every time you open the same meeting, you won't need to do all that stuff in the settings, but hover the cursor over the teacher's face at the beginning of each lesson. You'll see "original sound for musicians: off" on the top right or left of the screen. Click that and it will switch to "original sound for musicians: on" and then you should be good to go.

If that doesn't work, it's stuff buried in your interface and I have no idea

Thanks, Peter. I know the "original sound for musicians" was set correctly but there's a chance that 'echo cancellation' was not. (I may have changed it while thinking I was activating it.) Something to try again.

Thanks!

[MarkRhodes]

Hello Mark,

are you able to make a test call to yourself, or a friend?
What I do is, download Zoom on my phone, sign in with a different account (on phone), and call myself. That way I can trouble shoot and know instantly if a setting works or not.

I did a Zoom meeting with fep yesterday and he couldn't hear it either.
Though that's not quite right: he could hear me (voice) well enough, but not the guitar.
Yet at one point he heard the guitar but not my voice.

So, SOME sound gets through, just not enough.

Try, try again, right?

[MarkRhodes]

SOLVED!

Frank (fep) figured it out.
Turns out to be simple and easy. One of those things that I just did not know: it is not enough to go to Zoom's audio settings and select "Original sound for musicians." Nope. You have to also select that for each session. (The option pops up onscreen, but as I wasn't looking for it, I never noticed it.)

Anyway, that was easy.

So let's hear from another Frank