Music Mode: The Best Sound for Your Instrument in the Classroom

Video-call audio is tuned for speech. Noise suppression and automatic gain control make a voice easier to hear, but on an instrument they can cut off long, sustained notes and flatten the difference between loud and soft playing. Music mode turns them off so your teacher or student hears your instrument the way you play it.

How to turn on Music mode

1. In the classroom, open the menu in the bottom toolbar and choose Settings.
2. In the Audio section, turn on Music mode.
3. Your audio reconnects for a moment with the new settings.

What Music mode changes

• Noise suppression is turned off, so sustained notes and quiet passages aren't cut away.
• Automatic gain control is turned off, so your dynamics stay as you play them.
• Echo cancellation stays on, so the other person doesn't hear their own voice echo back from your speakers.

Using headphones: the best sound

If you're wearing headphones, also turn on Using headphones. In Music mode this switches echo cancellation off as well, for the cleanest sound. Only turn it on while you're actually wearing headphones: through speakers, the other person would hear an echo of themselves.

Stereo

Stereo sends two-channel audio. It only takes effect when echo cancellation is off, which means Music mode with Using headphones turned on, and when your microphone or audio interface records in stereo. Otherwise your audio is sent in mono as usual, even with Stereo switched on.

Tips

• Music mode helps most when you play or sing. For a lesson that is mostly talking, you can leave it off.
• With noise suppression off, background sounds come through more clearly too, so play in a quiet room if you can.
• For microphone, camera and speaker settings, see Adjusting Classroom Audio and Camera Settings, and before a lesson, the Pre-Lesson Setup and Device Check.