Even the most tech savvy person can have trouble with delivering optimal audio quality during a virtual event.

In fact, 40% experience audio problems while webcasting, or live streaming. This can be detrimental when making a first impression, or even embarrassing and unprofessional.

Here are some preemptive solutions, and suggestions to ensure better audio quality.

Connect an external microphone:

To improve speech intelligibility, we recommend using an external microphone. If you prefer a desk top microphone you can use something like….

If you want to use a headset you could use something like the Sennheiser SC70 USB headset.

Zoom has a simple interface in the Microphone section. They even have automatic microphone adjusting built-in, make sure you check the box if you don’t want to worry about making adjustments during a meeting.

Testing an external microphone:

Establish a minimum and maximum distance when you speak. It’s not uncommon for attendees to move back and forth, or speak louder then softer making speech less clear. Moving too close to a cardioid microphone can cause the proximity effect which increases low frequencies as you move closer. This can make speech sound muddy, muffled, and unclear. This may be especially important if you are recording a webinar, teaching a class, or giving a lesson.

More details for testing in the virtual meeting platform Zoom can be found here.

How to fix static/clicking

The culprit could be a smartphone, make sure attendees turn off their cellphones, establish meeting etiquette early on .

How to fix echoes

Could be coming from an attendee. Mute them or privately message them and ask them to reduce the speaker output or move their microphone away from the speaker to reduce echo.

Internet connection, Zoom has a test meeting you can join to test internet connection. It is best practice to use this feature before a meeting, attendees are encouraged to use this as well https://zoom.us/test

How to fix audio buffering

Typically due to a very weak Wi-Fi signal or poor data service. 

First steps would be to close any applications that might be using up a lot of bandwidth (this includes streaming services, and video applications. You can run task manager on your computer and make sure your computer is not downloading anything in the background, or force quit applications from there.

Second steps would be to physically move closer to the source of Wi-Fi, or better yet, plug in directly to the internet via an ethernet cable.

At this point it would be best to try and load other media to see if it is still slow.  If buffering issues continue, restart your computer.  This should remedy the situation.

If you are still having issues in regards to audio, or video, don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.