Reach Albert on Zoom, here.

TIPS ON USING ZOOM – from the Songwriter Soiree Website

GENERAL ZOOM TIPS

Using Zoom for the First Time? Here is a good INTRODUCTION VIDEO on how to join a meeting!

1. MAKE SURE YOU ARE MUTED (you will be muted upon entry).

2. Top right of the screen: speaker view or gallery view – try those out.

3. You can click on a person’s square and pin them – then you’ll see them big. (3 dots on the top right of their image)

4. At the bottom is a chat function – you can use that to chat with others individually or everyone at once.

5. Zoom usually works better using a laptop or desktop instead of a phone – and on a computer, it likes the Chrome browser best. With a phone, you don’t get all the bells and whistles you would get with the other devices. 

6. Please keep your camera steady. Don’t put your fingers near the camera.  Try to avoid jerky moments – think of what you’re used to from broadcasters on the nightly news. 

7. Confidentiality is important – Please – no screenshots, no recording. (unless there is consent by the whole group).

8. If you come in late or don’t quite get the instructions, try your best to listen and follow along 🙂

9. Scroll around on the screen and see what you see and teach yourself how to use Zoom. Like many programs – it works differently on different platforms. Don’t get hung up on the tech – notice who’s speaking and focus on that.

AUDIO TIPS – IMPORTANT FOR PERFORMERS!

1. Use just one mic for both guitar and voice. Using more than one input causes phase cancellation of common frequencies.

2. Before joining, make the following adjustments to your ZOOM audio:

3. Go to your ZOOM preferences>settings>Audio. Uncheck “Automatically adjust microphone settings.” (test this out).

4. Go to Preferences>Settings>Audio>Advanced>Audio Processing: Under “Suppress Persistent Background Noise” AND Suppress Intermittent Background Noise” Select “DISABLE.”

5. Also, check the “Show in meeting option to “Enable Original Sound” from the microphone. You will then have an option on your Zoom chats on the top left of the screen. Press “Enable Original Sound” during the meeting to use your sound setup the way you intended. Try it out first and have someone hear the difference. It’s a big one.

   Now you will see a button in the upper-left corner during the meeting, which lets you turn Original Sound on or off. We recommend you turn it on when you will be playing an instrument. You may need to turn it off when you are speaking or singing without playing an instrument.

6.  Start your own meeting in the App and record yourself.   When you end the meeting, the software will compile a video that you can watch and listen to.  You will only sound as good online as that recording. Make audio input adjustments to reduce distortion and test again.

7. Please consider doing a test beforehand with another friend using Zoom to test your sound.

8. Play around with volume and or position from the mic to get the best sound.

9. What has worked well for many: Using a Mac audio interface for audio input with a good quality microphone with compression and EQ being applied through interface software. But use what you have! The built-in mic can be just fine.