Dear Singers,
Have a good Labor Day Holiday and we’ll see you on Monday, September 14. In the meantime, we’ve got good news on two fronts – Audio Tracks (thanks, Karla) and the Zoom Update for Musicians (thanks, Zoom.)
Audio Tracks
There is a new tab on the practice files page for guide tracks for recording. ‘A Path to Each Other’ is the only one we have now; others will be posted as they’re ready. The sib and mp3 tabs on that page include all of our repertoire for the semester and are in our usual practice file format.
ZOOM 5.2.2 “MUSICIAN” UPDATE AND SETTINGS
Very exciting news! Zoom has (finally) upgraded their audio quality!
To install this update, launch Zoom (you can use your WVC link here to get onto zoom). You should see Zoom.us at the top of your screen on the strip that shows which programs are running; if not, just click on the video window. Click on the Zoom.us menu and Click “Check for Updates” Download and install. We should all be on 5.2.2.
After installing, on my computer, I went to my regular WVC zoom session and selected the arrow to the right of the mute/unmute button on the zoom screen and selected “audio settings.” You can also access this by going to the little gear on the upper right side of the Zoom Home screen and selecting “audio settings.”
Turn off, that is, uncheck “Automatically Adjust Microphone Volume.”
Set “Suppress Background Noise” to Low.
Next – follow the following steps in the linked youtube video about the updates. Summer 2020 Zoom Audio Updates
(Instructions are written out below, but it’s probably just as easy to follow the youtube explanation.)
In “audio settings,” select “Advanced” (may not be there depending on your operating system or device—these settings are usually on laptops and desktops, but not phones or tablets.) Check the following options “Show in-meeting option to “Enable Original Sound” from Microphone”“Disable Noise/Echo Cancellation.”
“High Fidelity Music Mode” is great if you have ethernet. Select it. If you are not using Ethernet, don’t select it, since it takes more bandwidth.
“Use Stereo Audio” (if your mic is stereo).
Lastly, when you are on your zoom call, in the upper left-hand corner it should say “Turn on Original sound” – do it! If it says “Turn OFForiginal sound”—but don’t do it!! We like original sound!!
***REMEMBER*** having more “true” audio means that you have to be extra careful about your sonic environment. If there’s a fan running, your fellow singers might hear that; if there’s background noise, they might hear that. You get the idea. There’s always the mute button if your end is having a really good time and has lots of noise.
Best –
Kay Johnson, WVC President
P.S.
- Zoom does not offer the update for phones or tablets.
- a)For all others, once you’ve done the update, simply go into zoom. The settings gear is on the “home” screen. It’s the access point for getting to the audio settings.
- b)OR if you start your own zoom session, you can use the arrow on the right of the mute button to access “audio settings.”
Hope this helps,
Kay