If you are a saxophone teacher looking to start giving Zoom Saxophone Lessons this guide provides all you need about the settings inside Zoom, so that you get the best possible sound over Zoom.
Now, if you are a saxophone student getting ready to take sax lessons over Zoom this guide is helpful for you as well. You also need to prepare your Zoom account with the correct settings before connecting to the call.
Providing Sax lessons over Zoom
The most common issue saxophone teachers run into with Zoom is that the sound is heavily compressed and also cuts off, making it hard to use for sax lessons.
The good news is that there's a setting that solves the problem, so that you can get the uncompressed “natural sound” from your saxophone going through to your students.
You also have to make sure that your student makes the same adjustments to their Zoom account before connecting to the call.
This is what you need to know:
- You must change the Zoom settings to activate “Zoom original sound” prior your first Sax lesson.
- Once activated in your Zoom app, you can toggle it on and off depending of what Zoom call you are in
- First activation of the “original sound” featutre must be completed before launching your Zoom meeting.
Settings for Zoom Saxophone Lessons
Zoom is great for regualr online meetings but can be horrible for singing, playing music and taking sax lessons online.
However, simply by changing one setting in your Zoom app, you are able to turn of the built in sound compression and noise suppression i Zoom, so that you will get a more natural saxophone sound during the Zoom call.
1 – Start your Zoom App
Simply Launch the Zoom app on your desktop, iPad or iPhone or Andriod phone
2 – Navigate to the “settings”-menu
- On Desktop: Click your profile image › Settings
- On iPad, iPhone & Android: Click the “more”-button in the bottom right corner
3 – Click the Audio menu
- On Desktop: Click Audio › Audio Profile › Activate “Original Sound for musicians”
- On iPad, iPhone & Android: Click Settings › Meetings › Toggle “Use Original Audio”
Once you've completed these 3 steps you are able to toggle “Original Sound” on/off during your Zoom calls.
Remember, you need to go through these 3 steps before launching the actual Zoom meeting. Once setup, the options will always be available in your Zoom calls.
Improving the sax sound in Zoom even more:
You can improve the sound of your Zoom Calls even more if you are on Desktop by ticking the option for “High-Fidelity Music Mode” directly below the “Original Sound”-setting in Zoom. This will give you the highest sound quality possible. This feature is only available on Desktop.
However, using “High Fidelity Music Mode” in Zoom for your saxophone lessons requires more CPU power from your computer as well as a fast internet connection.
Zoom even recommends a ethernet connection when using this feature but I've used the “High Fidelity Music Mode” without any issues on my computer while using my phone as a 5G mobile router.
Getting the best sound for Zoom Saxophone Lessons
Beyond setting up Zoom for “original sound”, as I described above, I recommend that you use a pair of headphones or handsfree during the sax lesson. This goes for both student and teacher.
The reason is simple…
Using Zoom for saxophone lessons still requires a lot of the Zoom app. Simply by using headphones you eliminate the need for Zoom to use “Echo Cancellation”, which is a function to prevent feedback during the Zoom lesson.
With “Echo Cancellation” (no headphones) you will not get anywhere close to the same sound quality during the Zoom sax lesson, so use headphones!
FAQs about Zoom Saxophone Lessons
Q: Can I use my Phone to take Sax Lessons over Zoom?
A: Yes, but remember to activate the “original sound” setting before connecting (3-step guide above) and use handsfree, so that you can hear your saxophone teacher/student clearly.
Q: Can I disable Zooms compression and background noise reduction during a Zoom Call?
A: Only if you've already activated the “original sound” option before connecting toyour Zoom Saxophone lesson.
Q: Why can't my saxophone teacher (or student) hear my Saxophone on the Zoom meeting?
A: Check that the microphone is activated. Both in Zoom and on the actual microphone if you are using a USB microphone with a “mute” button. If the issue remains it's most likely related to the “original sound” settings in your Zoom app. Use the 3-step guide in this article(see above) to fix the issue.
Q: Can I record my Saxophone with the Zoom app and send it to my saxophone teacher?
A: Yes, if you are using the desktop version of Zoom you can make a local recording and send that to your sax teacher.
Q: Do you offer Zoom Saxophone Lessons at LearnSaxophone.com?
A: Currently I am not offering any Zoom Sax Lessons. I am however making Online Courses for Saxophone where I teach through pre recorded sax lessons.
