Archive for the ‘Online Classes’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on February 22, 2021
As you may know I teach a small variety of movement classes online. I am so fortunate that some of the students I taught in person wanted to keep moving and they were willing to do it online via Zoom. For me, part of the draw of doing it live via Zoom is that I get to see the students. I feel more connected to them when we are all online together and I am doing a live class. When I teach I have Zoom set to “gallery” so I can see all the students. But I feel I need to emphasize that having the camera on when you attend a class is not necessary. There are days when having the camera on may not work. I want to make sure that people know that they have that option.
I know there were some days when I just got up in enough time to take a class (when I am attending someone else’s class) and I don’t want to have the camera on. Sometimes when I am taking a class I don’t want to set up the computer at just the right angle in just the right spot. Sometimes it is easier for me to just have it where I can see the monitor and I don’t want to be concerned with what the instructor – and everyone in the class – is seeing. There are a million reasons why you may not want the camera on and that is ok. It is actually really great that we can “show up to an exercise class” and we don’t have to be concerned with what we look like or how bad the traffic is.
Having the camera transmit the video is optional and it can change every time you take a class. In my classes I want to make sure no one is feeling pressured into having the camera on. I know sometimes when I am taking a class with hundreds of people I am confident no one is really going to be focused on me. I have small classes so chances are if someone has it set to gallery they are going to see you so it is completely up to you at the time of the class.
There are a lot of reasons why a student might sign on and say hello, then once we start moving turn the camera off . . . again, it is all up to you and how you want to do it that day – that class.
And, if you want to ensure the camera is not able to see what you don’t want it to see you can always buy something cover it with something like the little covers I bought. I really like those because even if you don’t have your camera on transmitting . . . it is still on.
Having a camera transmit during class is a person choice and there is no pressure to have it on. Check my website for my class schedule.
Cheers!
Posted in Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: camera cover, exercise classes, Live Zoom Classes, Online Classes, transmitting video optional | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 16, 2020
A couple of months ago (already) I asked my hubby if I could make some permanent changes to the house. I wanted to hang curtains in the middle of our house so I could use them as a backdrop for my classes I teach via Zoom. I feel somewhat odd having our stuff as a backdrop when I am teaching. It also seems a little easier for people to see me when there is a plain background, and stuff is not competing for the eye. Some people get distracted by so much stuff in the background. I love having a home “studio”. Granted I am not a big fan of having the curtains up all the time and having to constantly move a lot of furniture. And, I am thinking I am not alone in the sense that we never get away from work because our homes are our offices/studios. But I do really like having a more “studio” LOOKING place with a plain backdrop and not our entertainment center and/or closet.
Laughing because photo was not taking when I pressed button!
The cats’ cat tower is still a part of the studio setting except now, when the Christmas tree is in that spot. But I am not going to move the tower daily. It is a home studio after all and people seem to understand.
We hung the curtains with a curtain hanging wire. In regards to curtains, I need something LONG and light (in weight) so I couldn’t buy drapes. I also didn’t want to spend as much as drapes cost. I also couldn’t find drapes that were just plain off-white or white. I ended up buying shower curtains. They are not plastic, but not entirely fabric. They are light and easy to tie up. They are long enough, but I need three to cover the space.
I’ve gone back and forth on whether to use the rings that came with the curtains or the hooks with clips that came with the wire. I like the rings because they fit through the rivets and the curtains hang nicer. It is easier to move the rings past the holder in the middle of the wire. But then I decided I wanted to use the hooks with clips so I ordered more hooks with clips, but the ones I purchased (that look somewhat similar to the ones that came with the wire) are sideways. So that doesn’t work. Plus I am experiencing the hooks come off the wire if there is any lift in the curtain (like when opening it or closing it) and when the curtain is tied back the hooks get all tangled. I am sure it looks odd with one curtain having white rings and the other two having hooks, but . . . . that’s the way it is for now.
It’s a quick switcheroo from living room to studio, I have to move furniture around, but I had to do that anyway. Setting up the monitor is much easier now because I have it on a rolling stand. So I don’t have to lift it off the floor and put it on the table all the time. Not a fan of having the monitor and all its cords as a permanent fixture in the living room, but . . . I AM a fan of being able to teach!!!
I am really happy to be able to be teaching through all of this. I have a great group of students that have been very consistent since we started Zooming. They are amazing. They show up every week and are very understanding when there are technical glitches . . . mine, theirs, whomever’s. We have fun.
I feel the home studio is better for students and I really appreciate my husband allowing me to take over yet another room in the house! Still amazing me, the stuff we are all doing at this time.
Have you had to create a home office or a studio? What did you do? What is your background?
Posted in Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: curtain hooks, dance studio, home studio, movement classes online, Nia Classes, online teaching, shower curtains, stretch classes, work from home, yoga classes, Zoom studio | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 14, 2020
It is a widely known fact that our devices, especially certain applications, listen to us. So, I don’t necessarily trust that my camera is not on when I don’t want it to be. I like to be unable to see that it is able to take pictures. In addition to my phone, I use two devices with cameras, a laptop and a monitor to teach my yoga, Nia, and stretch classes via Zoom. On both the laptop and the monitor I used to have a folded piece of paper taped over the camera. I had assumed there were devices that would block the camera, but I assumed they were “big” and “bulky”. I was thinking that whatever could cover the camera would not allow the laptop to shut properly. But finally when my piece of paper fell off the last time I decided to actually shop – online, of course. And, of course, I found something on Amazon.
The pictures showed it to be very tiny. So tiny that you could put it on a phone to block that camera. I thought it would work on a laptop and monitor if it worked on a phone. So I ordered a 3 pack for $5.99.
They are so tiny, they work great. I don’t have one on my phone, but I put one on the laptop and the monitor. They can hardly be seen – I had a difficult time taking a picture of it. I love them. It is the peel and stick type of thing. I don’t know how long it will last, but I have an extra one since I only used two. They are cool. It is so much better than having a paper that falls off. As I mentioned the taped paper would fall off often, when I took the paper off and put it somewhere on the monitor so I could use it when I was done, it would fall off. I was constantly “losing” it. This device is just a little slide.
The ones I bought are oval shaped, but they have rectangles. There are even some that have a red dot to indicate something – either open or closed, I don’t remember which, but that sounds like it would be handy. But I only saw the dot on the rectangle kind and I liked the oval ones, they looked smaller.
I know there is one laptop . . . at least there used to be a commercial on TV that showed you could visible cover the camera. I don’t know if they still make that or if other laptops have that. My husband has an external camera that has a little piece of plastic that flips over the camera. So . . . with all of these camera covers available I know I am not the only one that likes to visibly cover the camera.
How do you feel? Do you see the need for camera covers?
Posted in Misc, Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: Amazon, camera cover, classes via Zoom, Online Classes, oval peel and stick camera cover, teaching Nia, teaching stretch, teaching yoga | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 4, 2020
I keep hearing new teachers ask about teachers’ setup. In this post I am specifically talking about Nia. Since Nia has started conducting training online we are just getting a wealth of opportunities to meet (via Zoom) and learn various things. I feel as if in every meeting there is one question about the Trainers’ set up. I am posting this because when I hear the question about set up posed to a TRAINER the answer usually is $$$$$$. I have been Zooming classes for seven months. I started using a borrowed microphone. It is an awesome mic, but it wasn’t GREAT for movement classes because it, the computer, or Zoom would decide what was “noise” and needed to be canceled, sometimes my voice and/or the music would get silenced. Students need to hear both. I just want to share about my set up because it might help someone get online. Once online and teaching one can upgrade from there.
Some Nia teachers work in studios so they have a lot of equipment available to them. Some Nia TRAINERS are the same. But some Nia teachers, especially ones just starting out might want to keep it simple (less expensive) at first. It is a HUGE investment to spend $400 on a microphone. That was the cost of what one trainer shared she was using — and that didn’t include all of the equipment needed to make it work.
We are all doing it differently and we all have different needs, so I am not here saying anything is better than the other, I am saying that if you are new and you want to jump on Zoom and start teaching and you don’t want to invest in an expensive microphone and all that equipment (mixing boards, cables . . . I don’t even know) it requires, there are other options.
I am borrowing a laptop and a monitor with a camera in it. I am using my ION Block Rocker. I bought a wireless mic. And my husband bought me a cable so the computer can be directly connected to the router (all the way across the house) and not use wireless.
First of all, connect directly to the internet . . . in other words avoid using wireless if you can. If you can’t then try to make sure your device is in “line of sight” of your router. I found doing that made a difference.
The wireless microphone I purchased came with a splitter. The splitter connects the wireless microphone transmitter to the computer AND it has a place for the AUX cord for my speaker. My speaker is wireless, but I want to eliminate any factors that can cause lag so I connect via an AUX cord. The speaker is also battery operated, but I plug it in. My music is playing from iTunes via Zoom directly to the students, the speaker is for ME to hear the music.
For Nia I used a big monitor with the camera. It is easier for me to see my students when I am moving around the studio (ie. living room with white curtains as back drop). For the yoga and stretch classes I teach I use laptop and its camera. Since I am more stationary in yoga and stretch I can see my students fine on the laptop.
Since I am not teaching a lot of classes right now the Kimafun Wireless Microphone I bought works great. As time goes on and needs change so may the equipment, that is usually the case, but for now, I am just sharing, in my opinion, to start out you don’t have to spend a lot of money. It is kind of like teaching, starting small . . . keep is simple with the option to expand as you go.
What are you using? Do you have any advice for new teachers? Do you have any advice for teachers new to online/Zoom teaching?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I do hope it helps someone!
Mic on Amazon
Posted in Online Classes | Tagged: affordable wireless mic, Block Rocker, Kimafun Wireless Mic, new Nia teachers, new to online teaching, Nia, Nia trainers, Nia training, online Nia, online stretch class, online yoga, wireless microphone, Zoom | 18 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 22, 2020
Well, many of us are still teaching classes via Zoom. In my area indoor exercise is not allowed and even when they thought they were going to allow it they had restrictions on indoor cardio and dance. And Nia is a cardio dance exercise. Because it is full of playfulness, taps into many types of movement forms, energies, and challenges and satisfies the BMES we don’t like to call it just a cardio dance exercise, but when classifying it for indoor activity purposes, that is what it is. So many of us are still doing it online. Some have moved outdoors, but that gets into all types of possible liabilities and issues I am not ready to take on just yet . . . so I continue to try to improve my delivery of the virtual class.
In my last “Zoom” post I wrote about how at the point of class starting my mic and music failed. That was a bummer. Then I had a great week and then it failed again. Some of it, I know is user (me) error, but sometimes I think it is internet or software error. As an example, last week I used a different USB port for my microphone and speaker and in doing so the transmitter was hanging and I think was not plugged in all the way. But then when we were doing our little chat after class, I couldn’t hear one of my students, the other students could, but I couldn’t. I didn’t do anything to fix it, but she exited the meeting then came back on and I could hear her. So it is crazy.
My students continue to be kind and understanding so I continue to try.
Lately I am using iTunes directly through Zoom. Zoom allows the host to share the screen and in this case the “screen” is just audio. This eliminates the issue of the music cutting out as would happen when I used a speaker and a microphone to pick up both my voice and the music. My fans would create background noise and interfere with music transmission.
Here is the advanced screen where you can choose to just share sound.
The Kimafun microphone I got (box shown in my “struggles” post) came with a USB converter that allows me to plug the transmitter into it so it feeds directly into the computer/Zoom and it allows me to have a speaker attached so I hear the music that is being played through Zoom to my students.
I still have to rely on my students telling me if they can hear me and the music, but that will always be the case. I record myself and the music to test it, but it really boils down to what the students hear. So whoever shows up first gets to set the volumes because I adjust according to what they say.
I still feel I need more practice with the microphone. I usually teach without a microphone so I am used to projecting my voice and allowing myself to exhale with all the lovely sounding techniques that Nia encourages, but that gets LOUD with the microphone in my face. The recommendation I saw said to keep it two fingers away from your face and I am using three. Next week I am going to try four. Part of the issue is that it moves around as I dance so the set up changes. I readjust it when I remember. For the most part it is working out, but I will keep in mind that I need to keep trying to improve.
So . . . what do you do when you are teaching a class? Or, if you don’t teach, what experiences have you had in regards to sounds when in a Zoom class or meeting?
This is the basic screen share screen
Zoom reminder and “stop” sharing
Posted in Nia, Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: BMES, cardio dance exercise, exercise classes online, iTunes, Kimafun microphone, Nia classes online, Nia students, Nia Technique, screen sharing, virtual exercise class, Zoom classes | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 24, 2020
Wow. My day did not go as I had planned. How about you? I am teaching classes via Zoom and I am borrowing an amazing microphone from my husband’s office, it is great. It picks up sound incredibly well. But as the days continue to be so hot, I cannot function without a fan blowing directly on me. That is one of the things I miss (aside from my students!) when teaching from home – AIR CONDITIONING! Whew! It is hot. There is no way I can teach without a fan. I think the way Zoom is and the way the microphone is, it picks up the fan noise, but not so much the motor noise from the fan, but the air. I think they both work to keep that noise from transmitting and so it cuts out. So while I am instructing, my voice cuts out. When we are dancing the music cuts outs. It makes it difficult for students to follow. So, I broke down and bought a wireless headset mic.
I was taking a class from a friend and she was using a wireless headset mic and she told me what it was so I did some research. I researched for a few days and then with free returns available, I decided to get it and try it. It arrived Friday evening and I played with it all weekend.
I did tests, of all types, on Zoom – tests with music, without music, with speakers, with iTunes, with CDs, with fans, without fans . . . just all types of tests. It worked great. I was fully prepared and so excited to teach Nia today.
My students “arrived” and we said hello and then I pressed play and my sound kept cutting out. Now, to me it is very important for my students to have good sound, that is why I am doing all this – and they did, but if I don’t have sound, I have nothing to teach too . . . . or worse, my sound was out of sync – to them . . . so I was instructing “off music”. It is very difficult to dance with instruction that is “off”. Sigh.
It was so bad, we restarted and I ditched my new toy for the old way.
I have not given up yet, but I was pretty deflated today. I had been so excited, I had done so many tests, I had spent so much time, I was ready to wow my students and make it great and so (insert sound of air being pushed out of a balloon). But, my students are very kind and understanding, they always have been. So their kindness made me feel a lot better.
As I said, I have not given up. I think I may have found a way to keep my sound from cutting out, but we will see.
I just thought I would share a portion of my day with you because I know that sometimes I can write it out and it helps. I typed this out, then “sat on it” debating about posting it . . . people like positive and people certainly don’t want to hear that a class they are being asked to pay for has sound problems. But, I also feel it is ok to be “real” and share struggles. And . . . I can get “over” it with the combination of sharing and my students being so understanding. Also, this is not to say everything is bad, this is just me sharing a bump in my journey in this odd new reality.
How was your day? What did you do? Care to share, whatever it was?
Posted in Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: bluetooth, deflated, Kimafun wireless microphone, Nia class, Nia online, sharing, technological difficulties, wireless sound, Zoom | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 27, 2020
I am confident that somewhere on the Zoom website it tells me all the information that I keep discovering and sharing with you. But I haven’t looked at everything they have on their site and I haven’t joined any of their training sessions, which I am sure . . . probably would have informed me of my new discovery. Since my students have confirmed that they want to continue taking classes online I figure there might be other people that will be continuing to use Zoom even as areas begin to re-open. Where you live is dictating what phase of re-opening you are experiencing. I live in one of the “strictest” counties in California. So we can’t do what some areas are doing. So . . . as I continue to discover stuff on Zoom I will continue to share it. My latest discovery could be something I just noticed or it could be a change with the latest version of Zoom, I don’t know, but I really appreciate it. And I am sure it has an official name or description, but I’m gonna call it “small screen set-up”.
Some of you are familiar with Zoom and some are not, so I will explain a little bit. When you join a Zoom meeting you have the option to allow your device’s camera to transmit a video. I’ve talked about “non-video participants” before in a post. There are a gazillion reasons why one might not want to have their camera on so it is truly up to the individual. If you choose not to have the video on it can be just a black screen or you can upload a picture so that participants will see that instead of a black screen with your name. I have a picture showing when my video is off.
What I just discovered . . . . so excited . . . is that when I have my video settings screen open I can still see myself even when my video is off. So, this is very important to me because I encourage my students to join a class early – before the actual start time! I want them to be able to say hello to their friends AND be able to set up their device so they can see and be seen if they so choose. But sometimes I am still readying my space so I want them to be able to join the meeting and ready their camera, but I am still getting mine set up. I used to start the meeting and start transmitting and just shuffle around on screen, but now I can have my picture up and still see what the camera sees and what the class will look like.
Could be that I hadn’t noticed this because I only really needed it once or maybe twice. I like to try to sign on and be all set up when students show up but even though there isn’t a lot going on right now, a couple of times I was not able to be that timely so this is cool!
If you use the Zoom application then you have access to your video settings and you can do this. I wasn’t sure if it only worked because I was host, but it works even if you are a meeting participant.
So . . . how do you Zoom?
Posted in Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: Nia on Zoom, online video, Stretch on Zoom, video participants, video settings, Yoga on Zoom, Zoom, Zoom classes | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 25, 2020
Teaching online is different than teaching in person. As you can imagine. If you have taken an exercise class online, especially from your same teacher, you have probably noticed some differences. I thought I would just share some of the things I am doing different.
-I am facing my students. When teaching Nia I like to face away from my students because one of the thirteen principles I was taught when I attended my White Belt training about 12 years ago was “Teach what you sense.” So it is easier for me to teach to my left arm (as an example) when I am actually USING my left arm. Now when I instruct students to use their left arm I am using my right. So I am not using sensation to teach as much. When I had taught yoga in person I often faced my students, but pretty much always faced away when doing twists. It seems twists really twist people’s brains.
-I am moving “smaller”. For Nia, the space I am using is large enough to move around fully, but if I use the whole space it can take me off camera. So I try to stick to what the camera can see. Staying in camera might have me focused on that at times. Sometimes I might go out of view a bit, but hopefully that is on a repeated time of a move and students know by then what the choreography is – and this is in regards to Nia. With yoga I make sure students can see head and feet and I am not moving enough to move out of frame.
-I am quieter. I used to be loud and make all kinds of sounds, while dancing, but since I am in a house where someone is working, I don’t make as much noise. I do hope my students do. I sometimes felt they didn’t make noise because they didn’t want to be the only one, but now that they are home, I am hoping they are taking advantage of the benefits sounding provides. I do make sounds, but not as loud.
-I point more. It is kinda like in Zumba where I point or make a hand signal because I am not sure they can hear me (and again I don’t want to shout all the time). I talk less
-I “check in” differently. In-person I would ask how people are doing and encourage them to answer. That allowed me to know how they were doing and (instructor “trick”) forced people to breathe. Now I try to be very conscious of the pose/stretch because I don’t always want them moving their head or arm to give me a thumbs up. And we mute people because we are all doing this in our homes where there is other stuff going on. I have to restrict my “check-in” to in between poses/stretches. So I am not getting to use the “trick ’em into breathing” instructor thing.
-We start standing then go to the earth. In stretch and yoga we used to start one way and then switch off. We would move up and down (or down and up) to enable us to retain that ability. But with the devices it is easier to start up and then when it is time to get down – stop and adjust the device, then get down. If I start yoga in corpse pose then I don’t instruct on any poses that I may need to see so we just leave the camera “up” and then when we get up it is set fine, then we do our standing poses then adjust and get down.
*****Update 05.26.20*****
I forgot one of the most important ones, I kind of said it when I said I point more, but that is for Nia.
-I don’t always demo the pose or DO the pose/stretch. When I have my face on the floor or in my lap, no one can hear me. When I am talking and my voice is too muffled for people to hear they look up to see what I am doing and they are not doing the pose. So I don’t always do the pose/stretch. I didn’t always put my face down when teaching in-person classes either, but online there are a few more poses/stretches I don’t do just so I can instruct. And, honestly, sometimes I forget. This morning while I was talking to my lap I realized I needed to be up and not folded over – AND, I realized I didn’t include this change in the post.
**********
I am very grateful to my students who have joined the Zoom classes. They have helped me keep teaching and I love that. I hope to continue teaching online so I imagine these changes will change and adjust over time.
What have you noticed is different on your Zoom/online classes? What changes have you seen in the way your instructor teaches?
Posted in Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: 13 principles, exercise classes online, in-person classes, Nia Classes, Nia White Belt, Online Classes, stretch class, teaching online, yoga classes, yoga students, Zoom, Zoom classes, Zumba | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 13, 2020
There are so many settings on Zoom I honestly cannot remember them all. But I love settings . . . or more accurately I love to go through and make sure I have things set the way I want them and not the way the makers of the device, platform, or application wants them. So when I get a new phone I look through everything. The issue arises when there is an update because most of the time that entails new settings. And in some cases the update changes the settings you have so time consumingly set. Most often than not there are device settings AND there are application settings so there are a lot of settings . . . but I totally digress. Sometimes when I first use a device or application I don’t know what the setting is. So I usually leave it as is. A couple of weeks ago, after I had taught a class I was wishing there was a setting that would allow me to only see the people who had their cameras on. As I was falling asleep that night I had an inkling that there might just be such a setting. And there is!
When I teach a live class I want to see the people I am teaching. Teaching live and recording a video are two different things. Both have their purposes and both are great teaching tools, but when I teach live, I want to see my students. I like to be able to teach off of what I am seeing. In yoga for instance there can be many things that one may need to be reminded of while resting in a pose, but I don’t like to go through the entire list, I would rather look at the students and guide them with the cues they need. In a live Nia class I can see if we need to/want to stay in a move longer and not move on or if they need more or different verbal cues to help them get the move. I like to interact with my students. I do miss not being able to hear them, but with so many different venues (living rooms, garages, decks, patios, bedrooms, offices, you get the picture) they get muted so everyone can hear instruction and music. Now with that being said, I know there are just as many reasons why the camera is not turned on as there are people. So I completely understand when people don’t turn on the camera.
BUT . . . . . .when there are 25 people in a class and 5 have on their cameras and 20 don’t, it makes it difficult to see the 5. The rectangles are so small. And when teaching a class I have the camera and monitor far away so it is difficult to see. After class two weeks ago, I was wondering if there was a way to “turn off” the people that are just black rectangles. And there is! Yay. If you click the “Hide non-video participants” box the only people you will see are the ones that are transmitting a live video that way you can concentrate on the students you can see AND I could actually see them because their rectangles are large enough. YAY. This setting is found in settings, under video and you can get to it by clicking on the ^ next to “Start video” in the left-hand corner of your user screen.
At first when I did this I was worried that if someone who is showing up in the 25th spot turned on the camera I wouldn’t be able to see them because the transmitting ones “pushed” that spot off my screen (silly me) but when I thought about it I realized it doesn’t work that way. If someone in the 25th spot turns on their camera they become one of the video participants (and so there rectangle moves from the 25th spot) and I can see them.
So . . . just another setting on Zoom that might be helpful. I realize that we are all using Zoom differently so we are all needing different settings, but the more we share the more we can really deliver quality online classes to our students.
Do you keep ALL your students on your screen? Do you like to see your students?
Posted in Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: focus on students, movement classes online, Nia online, non-video participants, online exercise class, online yoga, virtual yoga, Yoga, Zoom, Zoom your way | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 11, 2020
I have not been feeling very bloggy lately. Sometimes when I have an idea I don’t have the energy to write it. And when I have the energy I don’t have any ideas. I have been wanting to share something regarding online classes so I thought I had better write it up so I can have it ready for Monday. Last month I taught a Nia live stream class and I was told the sound was good. The students could hear the music and me. Now keep in mind I do not have a studio nor equipment made especially for streaming classes. I am pretty much like most of the other dance exercise instructors that decided they needed to live stream classes. For Nia I am in my living room, most often having to try to not step on a cat. I am very lucky that we do have a laptop that I can use. And since my hubby is working from home he was able to lend me his home monitor and brought his work monitor home. Also, I am borrowing the office microphone. It is not a headset microphone, but it is super cool. For music I use my Block Rocker. I don’t know what they hear, I experimented with recording it before the actual class, but that was just a test . . . I don’t know what it sounds like when I do the actual class, but for the first class they said it was ok. But in between classes I have been visiting with people on Zoom and I had adjusted my mic volume and forgot. So my second Nia class had audio issues. They couldn’t hear me. There are so many things it could have been, so I went through everything and I just wanted to share some settings with you that might help your sound quality in your classes.
I know that Zoom has a lot of videos and instructions on many things. I get e-mails from them all the time saying they are holding classes regarding how to do this and how to do that. So they probably have some information out there regarding this but maybe not because they were originally designed to be a meeting platform. With what is going on in the world we all took it over and we are using it for everything.
The first thing I had to make sure wasn’t causing sound issues was the mic cord. So we got new ones to take care of that in case that was an issue. Then I went into the Zoom settings. Every time I use Zoom it needs an update so every time I update it I check my settings because I am afraid that they will be changed with the update and that is where I discovered I had turned down my mic. I had turned it down for a Zoom visit and didn’t turn it back up for the class.
So, I think the best way to get the best sound is to turn up your mic AND . . . go into advance settings and make sure you disable “Suppress Persistent Background Noise” and “Suppress Intermittent Background Noise” I think that having them on auto confuses the system when teaching. Originally I had both of them on “auto” because I was thinking . . . I don’t want the jackhammering outside my house to be heard, but then I thought what if the system is thinking my music/voice is background noise. Because my students had said that the music cut out once or twice. So I think, it either considers my voice or the music as “background noise”. Because, remember this platform was not designed for music and voice, and especially not designed for either/both to be directed at it from three feet away.
Turn up the mic and speakers in the “Audio” section of “Settings” – Open settings by clicking on arrow next to audio in lower left hand corner
Now I am not sure how it sounds when the music isn’t louder than the background noise and there actually is background noise (like the jackhammer). But if you disable the suppressions it might give your students a more consistent sound. The last two classes I taught with the new cord and the adjusted settings, the students had said the music didn’t cut out and they could hear me fine.
If I were in an uncarpeted space, I would change the “Echo Cancellation” to “Aggressive” because I have taken classes that sound so “tinny”, and I would hope that the change in setting would help that. But in both spaces where I teach I have carpet.
I also have “Enable Original Sound” OFF because Zoom’s site states if your mic HAS auto enhancing capabilities then the sound from it will be enhanced, but if it DOES NOT, then you don’t want to use it. This might actually be the key to better sound as it allows the “Audio Processing” to work.
So, I think having music and talking as one does in a live streaming dance exercise class turning the suppressing settings to “Disable” are a good bet.
So have you taken any Zoom classes? How do they sound? What do you think?
Posted in Nia, Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: Audio Processing, cardio online, live stream exercise class, noise cancellation settings, Online Classes, teaching from home, THX microphone, virtual dance class, Zoom | 23 Comments »
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