Hi there!

I like music and I am involved in some musical ensembles that have to move online due to the virus-that-must-not-be-named™. Most have used Zoom, despite the public 'zoom-bombing' and security vulnerabilities, to bring lessons and rehearsals over to the digital world, via video conferencing technologies. But, is it any good at transferring audio?

Audio Quality

Like most video conferencing applications, Zoom uses audio compression. And I am in no means criticising this. Doing web development myself, I see that hosting is not particularly cheap and considering there are probably thousands or maybe millions using Zoom at the same time, worldwide, it makes sense that they need to do this. However, this makes instruments, whether voice, orchestra, French Horn, Flute, etc., a bit... dodgy, to say the least. There seem to be a few 'Advanced' options in the settings to minimise this, but from what I see... or more, hear, it doesn't make much of a difference. There is also a sizeable amount of delay, meaning playing together is near impossible and it can make loud instruments (e.g. F Horn, Trumpet, etc.) pretty distorted. But, for video conferencing and for free, it's pretty good and can sometimes depend on the user's internet connection.

Image courtesy of NDC Orchestra

Learning

Zoom is great for learning though. Here are a few reasons why:

• 40 minutes for free

• Breakout Rooms - A great feature where you can split the meeting into mini-groups, with a size of your choosing. Selection can be manual or random and can be great for orchestral sectionals

• Screen Sharing - allows you to share your screen with the meeting to show them something (e.g. sheet music). Includes a Whiteboard feature.

• Waiting Room - Can put people logging in in a 'waiting room' to wait for the host to admit them into the meeting. Used to reduce 'zoom-bombing'

Conclusion

Overall, from the student's perspective, it's much better than not having a rehearsal at all, but it does feel (and sound) a bit weird, so it's best to get back into a building as soon as possible.