Zoom (or Skype) Lessons - Question

[Fernlin]

With the current situation we are experiencing, I have been considering taking guitar lessons remotely using Zoom or Skype. I haven't used either program before and was wondering if any additional equipment would be needed to do so? Specifically: would I need to have an extra microphone set up at my end?

[JAMKC]

Hey Fernlin, nothing extra needed and it has worked great for me. A good internet connection helps.

[Fernlin]

JAMKC - Thank you for taking the time to respond. I had been taking piano but we had to suspend lessons back in March. I hope that they will resume eventually, but my teacher is still exploring safe options in her home. (She and her husband are higher-risk seniors and are being extra cautious.) That said - I would like to add guitar lessons - potentially with a teacher who is out of state. If I can get comfortable with the platform, I might be able to help them as well. (No problem with our internet connection as a rule.)

[619TF]

Zoom will require a certain amount of tweaking of the settings to work best for music. Skype not so much. Either would benefit most from a better microphone and then, secondarily, from an audio interface input. Other than that I've found online classes are best in a one on one setting as opposed to taking those lessons in a group. More so than when learning in person.

Good luck!

[Fernlin]

Originally Posted by 619TF

Zoom will require a certain amount of tweaking of the settings to work best for music. Skype not so much. Either would benefit most from a better microphone and then, secondarily, from an audio interface input. Other than that I've found online classes are best in a one on one setting as opposed to taking those lessons in a group. More so than when learning in person.

Good luck!

I hadn't even thought of group lessons, to be honest! I am pretty intense as a student and rarely agree to anything other than private lessons. Could you expand a bit on "audio interface input"? This is new territory for me. Much obliged for your time.

[SprintBob]

Living in Covington, LA, I’ve been doing online lessons via FaceTime with my teacher who is in Portland, OR for over 4 years. I use a Lightning to HDMI connector and run the FaceTime feed from my iPad into a 40” monitor and my teacher is bigger than life during the lesson. The only thing we can’t do is play in real time together as there is about a 1/2 second latency. Other than that, it’s as good as being in person. I can use my iPhone with the same connector also.

We have the option to use Skype but FaceTime seems easier at this point.

[Howard Emerson]

I've been teaching via Facetime and it has been working perfectly.

Today I've actually made arrangements to use my Shure MV88 mic to bypass the iPad mic, so I expect a lot better sonic presentation with less extraneous ambient noises.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Mycroft]

The most pernicious problem seems to be latency - lag time. As to microphone, it will probably depend on the device.

[Fernlin]

@Howard Emerson and SprintBob: I'd forgotten about Facetime as an option. To date, I haven't used any online formats for instruction but am willing to give them a try. I'm waiting to hear from a prospective teacher to see what he uses-or if he has the capacity for another student.

[mercy]

My house church (9 people) has tried to sing with a guitar on Zoom and the latency of the different hardware makes it impossible so I cant see a group lesson as working but 1 to 1 should work fine.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Fernlin

I hadn't even thought of group lessons, to be honest! I am pretty intense as a student and rarely agree to anything other than private lessons. Could you expand a bit on "audio interface input"? This is new territory for me. Much obliged for your time.

I teach via Zoom and actually use two external mics, because I happen to have a 2-channel audio interface I use for recording - and I use a PC with no built-in mic or camera (so I also use an outboard webcam).

But my students just use their laptops, in fact I think one uses her phone.
So you don't actually need any additional hardware, although an external mic will improve the sound enormously. Laptop mics are OK for speech, but not great for music.

The important thing with Zoom is to turn off the automatic sound processing, which is designed for speech - this is easy to do, and there's a guide here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb5dg98cSEM
(It's the same set-up whether you're a teacher or a student)

Its also worth plugging directly into your router via a cable, if you can, rather than relying on wi-fi. Again, not absolutely necessary, but makes for a more reliable connection, so I'm told.

As the others mention, latency is an issue, and means you can't actually jam online, because you can't play in time with the other persion. The other problem it causes is it makes it easy to talk over the other person, because you get their speech (and image) a little later than they send it - less than a second usually IME, but that can still be significant. Likewise, what you say takes that long to get to them. So there's a kind of whole new etiquette about how you converse on Zoom. I find I have to speak more clearly and a little more slowly, and then wait a little longer than usual for an answer.

Otherwise, despite having technophobe tendencies, I've found Zoom really easy to use. The basic free version only gives you 40 minutes a session for a group meeting, but for one-on-one it's limitless. And even the 40-minute limit is easily over-ridden because it's so easy to log off and log back on again, with a technically new "meeting". (In fact, during lockdown Zoom have relaxed the limit anyway.)

I've seen some advice for Zoom which recommends using headphones, but I've not found that necessary. I listen to my students via my monitor speakers - I was concerned there might be an echo effect (their end) if my mics picked it up, but it doesn't seem to happen. My students don't use headphones either.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Fernlin

@Howard Emerson and SprintBob: I'd forgotten about Facetime as an option. To date, I haven't used any online formats for instruction but am willing to give them a try. I'm waiting to hear from a prospective teacher to see what he uses-or if he has the capacity for another student.

An update on using a Shure MV-88: You can't. It does not work with conferencing apps.

I DO use it when making my students private Youtube lesson segments.

There have been little to no latency issues. I guess we both have good wifi.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Fernlin]

Thank you all for sharing your experience and tips. I hope this will eventually work out for me, but the communication has been slow. The initial contact with the instructor has been made and I am waiting to arrange an online "interview". I'll keep you posted.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

An update on using a Shure MV-88: You can't. It does not work with conferencing apps.

I DO use it when making my students private Youtube lesson segments.

There have been little to no latency issues. I guess we both have good wifi.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

Don't own one so totally just curious I wonder why you can't use it ? I ask because I know someone who is considering getting one for the virtual online JH Hootenanny (for which we use the ZOOM app) ,

What conferencing apps did you try it with ?

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Don't own one so totally just curious I wonder why you can't use it ? I ask because I know someone who is considering getting one for the virtual online JH Hootenanny (for which we use the ZOOM app) ,

What conferencing apps did you try it with ?

Hi Kev,
It appears that they've formatted the MV88+ (the expensive package) to work with live streaming video, although they do NOT say which ones.

I would ask lots of questions before proceeding with a purchase, but in the meantime here's the little Shure blurb link:



Howard