ZOOM Audio Setup for Musicians

Have you tried playing or listening to music in a ZOOM video chat only to be deeply disappointed by the audio quality, and a little bit emotionally damaged by the whole experience? ​

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Maybe you tried playing through an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, and it sounded like garbled...crap? There used to be no way around this. But that just changed.​

ZOOM made a significant update a few days ago, which is a game-changer for musicians. ​

You can now enable your handheld device to capture what ZOOM calls "original sound." ​

"Original sound" is the sound that enters your phone before ZOOM scrubs it of anything that might interfere with the human voice, like a guitar, piano, or vocal harmonies. This technology is incredible for conference room meetings but terrible for concerts.

This is HUGE news for our community. It means that music collaboration, open mic's, anything that we want to do musically online together just got easier. 

Setup Original Sound on iPhone

I have not tested Android yet, but I imagine it is the same.

You must have the most recent version of ZOOM on your device, otherwise it won't work.


  1. Open the ZOOM app on your iPhone or iPad
  2. Click the Settings button > Meetings > scroll down to "Use Original Sound" > Toggle it on. That's it!
  3. Once you join a ZOOM meeting you will need to toggle it on by tapping the three dots (settings), and it should say "enable original sound." You will have to do this for every call.

Setup Original Sound on Desktop

I created a video on how to do this for desktop. It takes a little more tech know-how, but is totally worth it if you have an audio interface and some nice microphones.

Keep writing!


-Rigel

P.S. Not a member yet? We would love to have you! Try it out for a week.


–Rigel Windsong Little Deer Thurston
Founder - Songwriter - Teacher


100 Days of Songwriting is a motivational and inspirational community that helps songwriters get into the habit of writing.

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