Zoom for Musicians

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At San Diego Community College, we’re committed to helping musicians achieve the best possible audio quality when connecting through Zoom. Our support page provides detailed guidance on Zoom’s specialized audio settings tailored for musicians and live performers. These features, such as Original Sound for Musicians and Live Performance Audio Profiles, are designed to enhance audio fidelity by preserving more of the natural sound from your microphone or musical instruments without interference from Zoom’s standard echo cancellation and audio filters.

When enabling the Original Sound feature in the Zoom desktop client, musicians can access advanced audio controls, including:

  • High Fidelity Music Mode for optimizing Zoom audio to achieve top-quality sound
  • Echo Cancellation for reducing unwanted noise, which can be adjusted as needed
  • Stereo Audio for a richer, more immersive listening experience.
  • For live performances, the Live Performance Audio Profile takes audio quality to another level by further reducing latency, though it does require more robust audio equipment and a stable network connection.

Once enabled, these settings can be activated in meetings as needed, allowing musicians to switch to high-quality audio whenever they perform. Additionally, musicians sharing audio as part of screen sharing can follow instructions to optimize either mono or stereo output, ensuring their audience receives clear, vibrant sound every time.

You will need a basic Zoom Account that you can access by logging into your SDCCD email or accessing the SDCCD myApps to find Zoom.

Zoom Technical Requirements

  • Zoom desktop client for Windows, macOS: Global minimum version or higher
  • Zoom mobile app for Android or iOS: Global minimum version or higher
  • Zoom desktop clientWindows: version 5.14.0 or higher
  • macOS: version 5.14.0 or higher
  • Enabled for all participants in the meeting
  • Audio input device that supports 48kHz sample rate
  • CPU with 4 or more physical cores
    • Note: Live performance audio also has higher network requirements for best performance, so ethernet connections are recommended.


Limitations of live performance audio mode
Live performance audio mode is only supported for Zoom Meetings.Zoom Webinars are not yet supported. 
Up to 5 users can have live performance audio mode enabled in the same meeting. 
Due to network bandwidth considerations, live performance audio mode is not supported in meetings with more than 50 participants. 

Accessing Your Zoom Settings

In order to use the High Fidelity Music Profiles in Zoom. You will need to have installed the Zoom app onto your device.

  1. To access your Profile Settings you can click on your Profile Icon on the top right-hand side of the app.
  2. Then you can select the Settings link from the menu.

A screenshot of the Zoom app with arrows pointing towards the Zoom Profile in order to acces the settings.

How to Enable Zoom Audio Profiles

  1. To access your Audio settings you can click on the Audio link on the left-hand menu.
  2. Here you will be able to access all audio and sound settings for Zoom. Scroll down and locate your Zoom Profiles.
  3. This is where you can select and enable the Original Sound for Musicians profile.

A screenshot of the Zoom audio settings page.

Customizing Your Zoom Audio Profiles

By selecting the Original Sound for Musicians Audio Profile, you will be able to customize various settings to enable the best sound quality in your Zoom meetings.

  • High Fidelity Music Mode for optimizing Zoom audio to achieve top-quality sound
  • Echo Cancellation for reducing unwanted noise, which can be adjusted as needed
  • Stereo Audio for a richer, more immersive listening experience.

Once enabled in Settings, this can be toggled on and off during live meetings as needed.

A screenshot pointing to the various audio settings for the Original Sound for Musicans Audio Profile.

Using The Live Performance Audio Profile

Enabling the Live performance audio profile reduces audio latency even further, but requires better audio equipment and network connection. 

  • Live performance audio mode is only supported for Zoom Meetings.
  • Zoom Webinars are not yet supported. 
  • Up to 5 users can have live performance audio mode enabled in the same meeting. 
  • Due to network bandwidth considerations, live performance audio mode is not supported in meetings with more than 50 participants. 

A screenshot focusing on the Live Performance Audio Profile

Once you have enabled an Audio Profile in your Zoom settings, the next time you are participating in a Zoom meeting you will be able to toggle on the specific Audio Profile by clicking it on the top right-hand corner.

Be default the Audio Profile is not enabled and you can click on the profile to turn it on for the meeting.

A screenshot of an active zoom call with an arrow pointing to the toggle to enable zoom audio profiles.

A screenshot pointing to the enabled Audio profile.

Changing your Audio Profile During an Ongoing Meeting

In the event where you would like to change or edit your audio settings during an ongoing Zoom meeting.

  1. You have the option to select the small arrow in the right-hand corner of the Zoom Audio button.
  2. Then you can select the Settings link to view your Zoom Audio Settings.

A  screenshot directing users how to access their Zoom audio settings while in an active call.

Then you will be able to access your Zoom Audio Settings and make any changes to your Audio Profiles.

Make sure to remember to toggle the Audio Profile after you are finished editting the settings to ensure that your changes are active during the meeting.

A screenshot of the Zoom Audio Profiles

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