How To Teach Music Lessons Online – All The Studio Gear You Need

This post is a complete step-by-step guide for music teachers who want to learn how to teach online. Now is as good a time as any to master the technology to create online music lessons. You will learn how to get your home studio set up correctly, and transition your face-to-face music lessons online.

This article accompanies our complete video guide on How To Teach Online Music Lessons with Zoom (see below!) If you already have the hardware set up and running, you may just want to find out how to set up Zoom in Music Mode.

Or you may be looking for a simple way to record your keyboard and vocals at the same time. Read more about that here.

Are Online Music Lessons Here to Stay?

My original tutorial below was created right at the beginning of the pandemic. Now we are a year later, are you going back to face-to-face teaching, or keeping your music lessons online? Meet Len Baker, who over the year has created a very impressive set-up to teach piano and keyboard online. He has no intention of going back. Online is the way forward for him. Watch the video to discover why. And below is a list of his studio gear.

Len Baker’s Gear – Everything You Need to Teach Music Lessons Online

✅ Yamaha AG06 USB Mixer: Stream the audio from your keyboard or piano straight into your laptop, mac or PC. This mixer has a useful loopback function too.

✅ Shure MV7 USB/XLR Broadcast Microphone: A super high quality dual format USB/XLR broadcast mic. You can hear it in action in the video above (Len uses one) and you can also read our complete review of the Shure MV7, includes full video review and hi-res audio examples too.

✅ GoPro HERO 8: Fantastic multi-purpose camera that doubles up as a webcam too. Plug it straight into your computer as a webcam, or use it in multiple ways for video creation.

✅ Logitech Streamcam: High quality webcam – an industry standard for vloggers and bloggers. Perfect for face to face or overhead keyboard shots.

✅ Amazon Webcam: Very cost effective webcam – note in the video above Len uses one of these as an overhead cameras for his piano keyboard.

✅ Elgato Stream Deck: A brilliant bit of kit to effortlessly switch scenes in OBS, and other actions.

✅ OBS Open Broadcaster Software: Free open source broadcasting software. Unbelievably good for creating a professional multi-camera experience.

✅ Zoom Conference Software: An easy way to deliver music lessons. You can easily get good quality audio when you adjust the settings and put Zoom into ‘music mode’.

✅ Loopback Audio Routing – for Mac: Only necessary if you need to combine two different audio devices (eg an audio interface and a USB microphone) in Zoom.

✅ Voicemeeter Audio Routing (equivalent for PC): https://vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/

✅ ChordieApp – A useful utility to display a virtual interactive piano keyboard. Display key presses and notes

Video Tutorial – A Guide to the Studio Gear You Need to Teach Online

We will cover the music studio hardware setup you will need whether you teach an acoustic instrument like violin, guitar, clarinet, or an electronic instrument such as digital piano, keyboard or electric guitar.

Get the correct studio gear for live music lessons on software such as Zoom or Skype. The same studio equipment will also work if you want to pre-record your lessons for online teaching platforms such as Udemy and Teachable.

Zoom vs Skype – Which Works Best?

Just a quick aside. Having tested both Zoom and Skype, our own preference is for Zoom. You have much more control over the configuration of the audio settings. PLUS, Skype will only pick up the left channel (or channel 1) of any interface you use. It is mono.

Zoom picks up a stereo signal. This makes Zoom more versatile when trying to broadcast both voice and audio.

We will delve into all the software settings later on in this post. You will find out exactly how to incorporate your studio equipment in Zoom Conference Software. And how to optimise the audio settings. (If you only use the default settings, then your audio will be choppy, so you need to make some tweaks to the settings.)

We will also mention using Skype as an alternative. Bear in mind if you are thinking of using Microsoft Teams, then this incorporates Skype technology.

Pre-recording Video Lessons

If you want to pre-record your music lessons with video, then you will learn how to successfully sync the video and audio later in this post. The same studio hardware will work for both live online and video lessons.

The main focus of this post is to get your home recording studio set up correctly so you can capture both your voice and instrument for online music lessons. We will look briefly at camera setup, but this post is mostly concerned with your audio setup.

How To Teach Acoustic Instrument Lessons Online

Let’s start out by looking at the hardware you might use if you want to teach any acoustic instrument online: eg guitar; violin; clarinet; voice; saxophone; trumpet.

To teach an acoustic instrument online you need a good microphone set up. You could start out by trying your computer’s built-in microphone and speakers. You adjust the input and output volumes in the sound settings or control panel and then you will need to experiment with where is the best place to position your laptop.

But using your computer’s built in microphone is not the best way to teach good quality virtual music lessons.

USB Microphones for Online Music Lessons

You will get a much better result if you upgrade your recording equipment rather than rely on the internal mic and speakers on your computer.

The most cost effective and easy upgrade would be to buy a USB microphone. In another post, we have tested most of the best selling USB microphones so you can check out our video reviews and listen to recordings we have made with them.

Buy a good quality USB mic with headphone output and volume control so that you can directly monitor the sound of your voice and instrument by experimenting with position and settings, you should get a very good result.

We have tested and would recommend either a Blue Yeti Microphone or the Audio Technica AT2020 USB+ or the Rode NT USB. All of them are easy to set up and use and give excellent results for music teachers.

A USB mic will enable you to be much more flexible about where you can position the mic in relation to your laptop. And the beauty is you don’t need anything else, although a microphone stand is a good idea so you can have more flexibility about microphone placement.

All the USB mics mentioned above come with standard fittings so you can use them with a mic stand rather than just the desktop stand they come with.

Nearly all USB mics are just plug and play. So they’re very simple to set up. And then it’s just a case of selecting that microphone as your input and output device in the sound settings or control panel.

Advantages Of using a USB Microphone

Here are some of the advantages of using a USB microphone for your online music lessons:

• Super easy to install and set up – you don’t need any other additional equipment
• You get good sound quality for a reasonable price and USB Mics work very well with Zoom, Skype and other conference software. (We have tested our USB mic with both Zoom and Skype. It works very well.)
• Excellent for easily combining your voice and the sound of your guitar or violin or other acoustic instrument. Can also work very well with acoustic piano, if suitably positioned
• Can be connected to an iPad or iPhone with a suitable powered adapter – so you can use a mobile device if you wish for your lessons.

Disdvantages Of using a USB Microphone

• Not so good for teaching electronic instruments, eg digital piano or electric guitar or electronic drums
• Not as versatile as an audio interface setup

Using an Audio Interface To Teach Online

This solution is generally better than a USB microphone. Upgrade your setup to include an audio interface, and XLR microphone, then you will have even more flexibility and set up options.

If you are buying both an audio interface and mic, then a cost-effective route is to look at some of the all-in-one recording packs from high quality brands like Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Bundle (like the one pictured above) and Presonus. These include mic, headphones and interface.

A simple two channel interface like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 will allow you to connect a good quality microphone to broadcast your voice and acoustic instrument.

You can also use the second input to plug in your guitar (if it has a 1/4″ output) or use it to connect an additional specialist microphone from your acoustic instrument. That way your students should hear a good audio signal from both you and your instrument.

note: Zoom Software will pick up both channels of your 2-channel interface. Skype will only pick up channel 1. Therefore the guitar plugged into the 2nd input will be broadcast by Zoom, but not by Skype. There is a (slightly cumbersome) work around described here on YouTube.

How To Teach Digital Piano Lessons Online

What is the best setup to teach digital piano lessons online? We have made plenty of video tutorials and written extensively about how to record the sound of your digital piano or keyboard. However, if you want to teach online piano lessons with digital piano or music keyboard then you need to get set up so you can broadcast your voice as well as your instrument.

Option 1: Audio Interface, Microphone, Plus Mono Line Output

Here are a few options. With a two-channel interface such as the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, you could plug your microphone into one input and then a mono signal from your keyboard into the other.

Or a better solution would be to invest in a small mixing console. So here’s a simple set up which works very well.

• Microphone: The Audio-Technica AT2020 XLR Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone is a best-selling choice. Or the AKG C1000S is a nice small-diaphragm condenser useful for a range of recording purposes.
• Mixing Console: Yamaha MG06 (without effects) or Yamaha MG06X (with effects)
• Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett Studio 2i2

Option 2: USB Mixer and Microphone

Instead of buying the separate components of mixing console and audio interface, it might be more cost effective to buy a USB Mixer. This is a mixing console with built-in audio interface (it’s like getting 2 bits of kit in 1).

Then you would just need a microphone as above (for example the AT2020) and appropriate audio cables.

Audio Interface or Mixer?

If you are confused about the difference, refer to our detailed post on the differences (and similarities) between audio interface vs mixer.

Use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) with Zoom!

Get a new super power! If you combine the sheer power of OBS with Zoom conference software – or any other platform such as Skype, Teams, Meet – you can really upscale your teaching.

Use multiple camera angles, overlays and more. The video below shows you how to do this step by step. And you can use the equipment you already have. No need to spend hundreds to give it a go.

Teach Electric Guitar Lessons Online

What is the best way to teach electric guitar online? You could try the sound of using a USB Microphone as a simple option. But there are several better tried and tested ways you can connect and record your electric guitar on your computer.

For teaching purposes, you will also need to be able to combine your voice with your guitar. With a simple two channel interface, you could connect a microphone to pick up your voice, and then plug your guitar directly into the second input.

However, it is unlikely you’ll want to simply broadcast the dry signal from your guitar.

One option would be to place a microphone in front of your guitar amp and have another microphone for your voice. The two mics could then be plugged into the audio interface’s dual microphone inputs.

Alternatively you could take the line out from your guitar amp or effects pedals and connect to the line input and your interface. This will work fine if your output is mono.

• Microphone: The Audio-Technica AT2020 XLR Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone is a best-selling choice. Or the AKG C1000S is a nice small-diaphragm condenser useful for a range of recording purposes.
• Mixing Console: Yamaha MG06 (without effects) or Yamaha MG06X (with effects)
• Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett Studio 2i2
• Stereo Guitar Amp: Roland JC-120

If you want to capture a stereo signal from your amp or effect, then you would need to have a small mixing console, like the Yamaha MG06 so that you could combine your voice and the sound from your guitar and effects in the mixing desk.

Again, a more cost effective option would be a USB Mixer instead of the Mixing Console + Audio Interface.

Then take the outputs from the mixer to the interface.

Using a Multi-Channel Audio Interface for Online Music Lessons

Let’s briefly consider multi-channel audio interfaces because another option will be to purchase an interface with multiple inputs to accommodate your microphone and instruments.

Do beware if you go this route that it may take a little more experimenting and set up to get Zoom or other software to receive the outputs from the interface satisfactorily.

You’ll probably have to use the control panel software for your interface to route the multiple outputs or there are other options to get around the issue.

As a more convoluted alternative, it is possible to use software fixes to route the outputs from your interface. Because of the complexity, I would be more in favour of a two channel interface and a mixing console to get set up for online music lessons.

However, if you think that at some point you may wish to record your vocals and the outputs from your instrument at the same time but on different audio tracks in a DAW, then you may prefer to go for a multichannel interface and accept that it can be complex to set up with video conferencing software.

How To Set Up Zoom For Online Music Lessons

Below is a video which details how to set up Zoom Conference Software in ‘Music Mode’. Even if you are using your computer’s internal mic and speakers, you should adjust the default settings in Zoom to optimise your audio stream.

You can now adjust the settings on mobile devices as well as the desktop version. PLUS Zoom recently introduced a High Fidelity Music Mode option too.

How To Use Skype for Online Music Lessons

Skype Communication Software is a very popular choice for teaching music lessons online. Just bear in mind that the audio settings are less configurable, and the input is mono.

Make sure you get your microphone or audio interface correctly set up in the Sound Settings or Control Panel of your computer. If you have the Skype Client installed on your desktop then open it and navigate to Skype-> Audio & Video Settings as shown in the screenshot below

From within the Audio and Video Settings, you can select the correct microphone, check volumes, and make test calls to test the Audio

A USB microphone will work fine with Skype. If you use an audio interface, then you will only pick up an audio signal from audio output 1, so a microphone plugged into the left channel will work fine. If you plug anything into any other channel it will not work unless you re-route the output.

You may be able to do this if you use the control panel software for your interface. Or there are other (quite complicated) software fixes you could experiment with.

How To Sync Video and Audio For Online Music Lessons

Finally, let’s briefly look at how to produce pre-recorded video music lessons ready to share online. The video below shows you how to sync your piano audio and video. The principles are exactly the same for any instrument or voice.

Now that you have your recording equipment set up, whether you’re using a USB mic or an audio interface, you can use that to make a good quality audio recording of your lesson on your computer. You can record directly into software such as Audacity or any DAW.

Meanwhile, at the same time you use whichever camera you have to hand, whether it’s a compact camera, a DSLR or maybe mobile device and record your video. Don’t mute your camera, make sure that it is also recording audio as well as video.

The final step is to combine the good quality audio recording with your video file. I use Camtasia video editing software, which is easy to use and very well featured. But you can do the same thing in iMovie, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or any other video editing software.

Whichever software you use, you need to import the video file and audio file ready to combine. It is worth giving them similar names so that you can match them up. When you have a lot of video and audio files, you’ll get confused if you don’t have some kind of naming system.

Make sure your video editor is set up to ‘show audio waveforms’. Sometimes this setting can be turned off by default.

Now, if you add both the audio and video files to the timeline at the same place, you just need to move the files to line up the audio embedded in the video file with the good quality audio recording you made separately.

The easiest way to do this quickly is to clap three times at the beginning of each take. You then have a very obvious set of audio spikes that are easy to line up. When you have the audio file lined up exactly with the video, you can then silence the audio component of the video file so that all you hear is the separate good quality audio recording.

It should exactly match it with your voice and mouth movements. You can then cut the opening section, which you don’t want to show your students and in most video editors you can then group together the audio and video files to make editing easier as you go through and cut and paste and so on.

The audio and video files remain aligned.

Obviously this is just a quick look at how you get good quality audio for your online music lessons. You’ll need to refer to other resources for details on how to position your cameras, lighting and so on.

What About Live Online Collaboration?

While Zoom is a GREAT platform for online teaching and video conferencing, it is not suitable for live online collaborations. This excellent article looks at whether online band practice is possible, and some of the gear you need https://imp.i114863.net/live-jam.

And here are some links to Live Jamming Platforms. Each has its own guidance on set up and usage. Note setup and success can be tricky! Try Jamulus or Jamkazam or Ninjam.

Now It’s Your Turn!

Well, hopefully we have covered everything you need to get started with your online music lessons.

If you have found this post helpful, do share it – either via social media or email.

And do consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel. We post videos on home recording, studio set up and music making with technology, particularly aimed at beginners.

Good luck with your ‘virtual’ music teaching.

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