My Skype Setup (And how I use it)

[@smellytele9629]

Great tips, thanks! Fellow guitar instructor (20 years now). We had to scramble to get online lessons set up for our music academy when the mandatory social distancing started. One thing I've found that I'm going to keep doing even after we get back to face to face lessons is creating a Google Drive folder for each student. I upload lesson materials and content to each students' file and that way they can access it any time they need to. This can be anything from links to pdf's to videos. Thanks for posting your vid!

[@mightybrightmichael]

I am learning from you, thank you very much. You are speaking into a mic and the sound is good. Do you use a mic when teaching?

[@tejayrogers5406]

Yes I do!

[@robertshamansky1912]

Great info, thanks!

[@mikenash4216]

Hi, thanks for the video. Do your students need to take a feed from their amp to their laptop?

[@tejayrogers5406]

Mike, thanks for watching. I am actually planning to update this video. My set up has changed a bit over the summer. To answer your question: No. I just listen to my students' audio through the whatever microphone their computer uses natively. Yes, it is low quality audio but it is good enough that I can tell if they need to tune their guitar. I have found that you get the best results (From a learning standpoint not an audio quality standpoint) and use of time if you keep the technical stuff on the students' side as minimal as possible. Dealing with an interface, DI or amp mic on the students' side would be a big time killer.

[@mikenash4216]

@@tejayrogers5406 Cheers.

[@alejandromaidanaable]

Hi from Argentina, I want to find the way to send via Skype the sound of my E-drum, is that possible ? to perform an online class with my teacher, Thanks and great job !.

[@tejayrogers5406]

Alejandro Maidana, what kind of e drum are you using? Is it software on your computer?

[@alejandromaidanaable]

@@tejayrogers5406 Hi I'm using an Alesis Surge Mesh and in my laptop I have Ezdrummer connected with a USB cable (printer cable) to the e-drum module. The idea is to send the sound through Skype and hearing with my headphones. Currently, I have to use an external speaker making too much noise in the apartment :)

[@tejayrogers5406]

@@alejandromaidanaable What you would need is way to mix your audio. Most computers only have one input for one microphone. I am guessing the USB port on your drum machine is strictly for updates/backing up data. Not designed to send audio to your computer. It does, however, have a main output which can be sent anywhere. There are two ways you could do this. You could use a small mixer to mix your drum machine, voice, etc and then use the mixer's main out to send the mixed audio to your computer. Or you could get ahold of an audio interface (Which would come with a mixer software) and mix your audio digitally on your computer (This would be the more powerful option but likely more expensive and a bit more of a learning curve). In Skype you have the option to choose where your audio comes from in your audio settings. If you had an audio interface you could choose it as your audio source and your mixed sound would go through. Drum machines and all. How to get this all set up will take some learning and will be very different depending on what you go with. Read your owners manuals well. Hope this helps.

[@alejandromaidanaable]

@@tejayrogers5406 Man, I really really appreciate your time to answer my question. I took note, I guess this is the only way to do that so I will do a research to see the different options. Once again, thanks !

[@tejayrogers5406]

@@alejandromaidanaable No problema compa. De que parte de Argentina es? Tengo amigos en Buenos Aires.

[@alejandromaidanaable]

Hi from Argentina, I want to find the way to send via Skype the sound of my E-drum, is that possible ? to perform an online class with my teacher, Thanks and great job !.

[@tejayrogers5406]

You could use a small mixer of some kind. I use a Rodecaster Pro. You'd still have trouble with delay, though. It's pretty hard to perform or jam over the internet.