i am working with a small organization that has no budget.

they are relying on Zoom to "broadcast" some upcoming events.

at these events there will be singers and musicians and speakers.

it is still unclear if these folks will be in one place, the same place, or if they will be scattered in their own apartments.

i have read how Zoom is very limited for musician to play together (sound quality and audio delays being common concerns).

aside from tweaking the Zoom audio settings, has anyone made Zoom work for musicians so they can play together?

i hope the above is not too vague or obtuse.

i am hoping to have them keep their Zoom platform (is there something better for audio?) but find ways to better the audio.

thoughts?

thanks in advance.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc

Zoom isn’t the right tool for this purpose.

The best alternative I can think of is the musicians are together but 6ft apart. Either broadcast it live or prerecord then using whatever streaming platform you like.

Plus it all goes through the anti feedback matrix to null out the return audio streams to reduce/prevent howlround. The other snag with these platforms is deciding when is 'now'. There isn't any way I have found to determine a sync point. To some people it's in sync, but to others a real mess. The person presenting seems to hear everyone much better aligned in time, but participant 1 goes to the presenter, then out to the other participants. They get treated the same way. I tried with just 4 people and a click going out and then they clapped in time (or not) with it. A huge mess. Oddly for slow tempo choir stuff it's not impossible, but the result for tighter music makes it impossible to play with. I played my bass, in time with the incoming track and everybody put their fingers in their ears. That may, or may not be a zoom problem! Seriously though, I'd never want to be judged on my musicianship for anything live.