Many of the following ideal settings, hardware, and best practices have distanced music lessons in mind, but may apply to other areas of your music study.

Internet and Computer Setup

Access to reliable high-speed internet is the most important factor for a successful remote lesson experience—

• At a minimum, it is recommended that you have at least a 1.5MB internet connection for high-quality video chatting, regardless of platform.
• It is easiest to use a laptop computer rather than a mobile device.
• It is recommended that a wired connection is used rather than WiFi.
  • If your computer does not have an ethernet port, a simple USB-Ethernet adapter can be purchased from Amazon for as low as $13.
  • You will need a CAT6 ethernet cable to connect your internet router to your computer (into the USB-Ethernet adapter first if necessary).

Audio Hardware

• Using headphones/earbuds minimizes feedback or echo. Echo is caused by your microphone picking up the other user’s audio coming out of your speaker (at a delay) and sending it back. The quality of the headphones is not important. Let your budget determine your preference.
• A high-quality external microphone can improve your sound for the other person, but in some cases a cheap microphone can be worse than your computer’s built-in microphone. Here are a couple recommendations—
  • Shure MV5 for $99
    • Cardioid pattern (directional rather than omni, which rejects more background noise)
    • 24-bit sample rate
    • Connects to Mac and PCs OR an iOS device (such as an iPad or iPhone)
  • Yeti Studio Blackout USB for $149
    • Features its own headphone output and volume control
    • Works on Macs or Pcs
    • Does not connect to an iPad or iPhone
  • Blue Snowball for $69
    • Switches easily between Cardioid and Omni patterns, with an optional -10db pad for loud instruments
    • Works on Macs or PCs
    • Does not connect to an iPad or iPhone
• For more control over your sound/volume, a separate audio interface and microphone may be a better solution.
  • Audio interface with analog microphone input Behringer U-Phoria
  • Dynamic instrument microphone Shure PGA57
• Microphone stand and cable
  • Floor Stand
  • Table-top mic stand
  • 3’ Mic Cable

Ideal Zoom Software Settings

Note: Additional features were added in version 5.2.2, released Sept 1, 2020. Be sure to update to the latest version of Zoom before attempting to change the following settings.

In the preferences pane—

• Video Menu
  • We do not recommend checking “Enable HD” nor “Touch up my appearance” as it causes significant resource drain.
  • Under video please check “Mirror my video,” which only affects your own view.
• Audio Menu
  • If you have a particularly soft instrument (guitar, e.g.) you may wish to un-check the box that says “Automatically adjust microphone volume” and increase the input volume (on a slider).
  • Suppress Background Noise = Low
  • Click on the “ADVANCED” button in the lower right and choose these settings—
    • Check the box up top that says “Show in-meeting option to ‘Enable Original Sound’ from microphone.”
      • During any meeting be sure to make sure this is engaged in the upper left drop down menu, which is not seen until the meeting begins.
    • Check “Disable echo cancellation”
    • Check “High fidelity music mode
    • Uncheck “Use stereo audio”
• Virtual Background
  • We do not recommend using a virtual background. (Check “none”). It tends to cut off edges of objects, which is not ideal for music lessons.
  • If you missed the “Mirror my video” setting in the video menu, go ahead and make sure it is checked here.