Double Bass Help Using DB with Zoom

[Jim Dedrick]

Hi everyone. I’m struggling to get my DB to come through on a Zoom call. I’m using either a Win10 PC or a Mac mini M1, or an iPhone X. All allow voice and DB is either very faint or not there at all. Ive gone into Zoom settings, selected audio, selected original sound for musicians, checked hi-fidelity music mode, unchecked noise cancellation, and check stereo audio. I’m thinking my issue is either with the mic that can’t pick up the low frequencies or there is a filter setting I am missing.

Anyone have similar experience? Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Happy Steve]

i had success with zoom - many badly synced practices during lockdowns. I used my zoom h5 as an interface to mix bass and vocal mic, and headphones out for monitoring. If you are using the phone or Mac mic, 1.. balance of bass and voice will be tricky
2... the apple software may be overthinking what the mic hears and 'improving' it for you.
I definitely recommend using a usb interface.
Good luck!

 

[Ric Vice]

Zoom with a Double Bass is tricky in the best of circumstances. The general rule is that the closer the distance between participants on the Zoom call the better the connection, even with that of there are a number of switches between you and your other connections all kinds of weird things can happen. If you can pre record part of your lesson it will be more stable.
I haven’t used the musicians mode but as I understand it both parties need to be in music mode for it to work.

 

[Jim Dedrick]

Zoom with a Double Bass is tricky in the best of circumstances. The general rule is that the closer the distance between participants on the Zoom call the better the connection, even with that of there are a number of switches between you and your other connections all kinds of weird things can happen. If you can pre record part of your lesson it will be more stable.
I haven’t used the musicians mode but as I understand it both parties need to be in music mode for it to work.

Thanks Ric- yes he was in musician mode as well. I’ve got a few audio engineer friends I can ask as well and really leaning towards the mic filtering out the low end.

 

[Don Hergert]

While Zoom is a very flexible multi platform tool that can run on very small resource-poor platforms, it does best with plenty of computer and plenty of network resourses.

So, other than improving your microphone setup, here are some general computer/network tweaks that might help:

1) use a wired connection between your Zoom computer and your router, not wireless, and make sure to turn off wireless on your Zoom computer if it is on.

2) make sure that no other applications are competing with Zoom on your Zoom computer for disc, memory or CPU resources. That includes updates, backups, email and any other background or foreground applications that you have the ability to turn off. Turning your Zoom computer off and back on again before running your Zoom session can help with this.

3) do the same for network resourses with any online devices that may compete with your Zoom computer. Consider disconnecting the other online devices or turning them off, during your Zoom session.

Also, keep in mind that Zoom is designed to be a meeting tool. It intentionally prevents multiple separate participants from contributing audio to the session at the same time. It will not work for synchronous music with multiple separate participants. For example, music lessons can work well on Zoom, but ensemble performance won't work. There are other online services that are designed specifically for synchronous music with multiple separate participants.

Good luck with all this!

 

[bilias]

Try a cheap pc microphone like this.
Not this one specifically but something like that.

A few years ago I've recorded a rehearsal DB+Sax duo with a similar mic (mini jack not usb) and we couldn't believe how nice it was.

I believe mic was on a desk next to pc, bass 1 or 2 meters away and the soprano a little bit more at the back.

 

[Jim Dedrick]

Try a cheap pc microphone like this.
Not this one specifically but something like that.

A few years ago I've recorded a rehearsal DB+Sax duo with a similar mic (mini jack not usb) and we couldn't believe how nice it was.

I believe mic was on a desk next to pc, bass 1 or 2 meters away and the soprano a little bit more at the back.

Thank billiard. I’ve got a USB mic like this I tried. I also have an audio interface somewhere I used for remote jam sessions during peak Covid. Allowed me to connect my Schoeps. Of course the live jam session had their own issues. This case it is simply lessons so I’ll test that today.

 

[Keith Rawlings]

Thank billiard. I’ve got a USB mic like this I tried. I also have an audio interface somewhere I used for remote jam sessions during peak Covid. Allowed me to connect my Schoeps. Of course the live jam session had their own issues. This case it is simply lessons so I’ll test that today.

Let us know how this all goes. I’m about to embark on a mix of zoom lessons first with some in-person lessons to come later for arco work and I’m also worried about getting everything right on my end to be heard.

 

[Ryan in PDX]

Thank billiard. I’ve got a USB mic like this I tried. I also have an audio interface somewhere I used for remote jam sessions during peak Covid. Allowed me to connect my Schoeps. Of course the live jam session had their own issues. This case it is simply lessons so I’ll test that today.

My best results have been with a condenser mic through my interface. One mic (sdc or ldc, both work), a couple of feet back, at about my sternum height. I've also used two separate dynamic mics for my bass and voice, but that's more work to set up and adjust.

My settings are: original sound mode, hi-fi on, echo cancellation off, stereo off. You might also want to disable the automatic volume adjustment. I haven't had an issue with it, personally, but it's one more thing to try.