Getting the best sound for music with Zoom.
One thing we've learnt over the first few sessions was that everyone should have the "Original Sound" option in Zoom switched on. This option improves high frequencies in instrument sound quite a lot, 'though it has less effect on voices.
There's potentially three stages to doing this, although with the latest versions of Zoom (5.4.7 onwards) the settings appear to have been made more accessible, on Windows at least.
Original Sound is still not available on Linux, other platform’s status is for now unknown.
To check what version of Zoom you have open “Zoom”, open “Settings” (Cog symbol or Mute arrow menu), open “Statistics”. The version number is in the “Overall” tab.
Original sound with Zoom 5.4.9 (Zoom website states from 5.4.7) Windows use.
In a meeting if the “Turn on Original Sound” option is displayed (top left) then it can be enabled turning the button blue and to now read “Turn Original Sound off”. It can be toggled on/off as required.
If the “Turn on Original Sound” option is not displayed then you must enable it in the Settings panel.
This can be accessed either through the cog symbol found top right in the Zoom client home page, or, when in a meeting, through the Audio setting option found in the drop down list when clicking on the arrow found next to the “Mute” tab (Bottom left of Zoom screen).
In the Audio setting tab there is “a Music and Professional Audio” section in which the “Enable Original Sound to be displayed “ option to available. When enabled there are three further options shown; High Fidelity music mode, Echo cancellation and Stereo audio.
Which options to enable is a matter of experimentation but probably enabling High Fidelity is the most important for our application.
Further information is available the Zoom web site here; https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115003279466.
Original sound with Zoom version earlier than 5.4.7. Windows use.
(Or if option to “Enable Original Sound to be displayed” is not in “Settings” then see 3) below)
1) If it's there as a option button on your screen in a meeting then simply turn "Original Sound " on. In Windows it's top left of screen but may be in a different location on other platforms (Mac, iPad, Android). It's not available on Linux.
2) If there's no option on the screen then find "Settings", this can be accessed either through the cog symbol found top right in the Zoom client home page, or, when in a meeting, through the Audio setting option found in the drop down list when clicking on the arrow found next to the “Mute” tab (Bottom left of Zoom screen).
In "Settings" go to Audio, then "Advanced" settings (at bottom ) and that should give you a second page with "Enable original sound" tick box. This will enable the button mentioned above in 1)
It may also be beneficial, particularly if playing an instrument, to disable both Suppress persistent and intermittent background noise options. Set Echo cancellation to Auto.
Again these options may be in different locations on other platforms (Mac, iPad, Android).
3) If there's no advanced option, or Original sound option in 2) then log in to your Zoom account (On the Zoom web site), go to "settings" and down towards the end of a long list (20-30 items) there's an option to "Enable original sound". Enable that, then go back through 2) and then (when in a meeting) 1).
Additionally, in the Audio setting menu there is an option to disable "Automatically adjust volume" for the microphone input. Disabling this can prevent the effect of sudden loud vocal or instrument parts instantly (albeit temporarily) knocking down the mic volume.
When disabled it is then important to manually set the Input Level slider to an appropriate level.