How do I get better video pictures and sound when using Zoom?

How do I get better video pictures and sound when using Zoom*?

Videoconferencing services like Zoom, Teams, Jitsi (etc.), are a great way to join in online events, but how do you get the best sound and video? Here are a few things that can improve how you sound and appear online.

A lot of people use their laptop computer for videoconferencing. This is often on a desk in a 'home office' area, and is usually optimised for using the laptop (typing on the laptop keyboard, browsing the web, playing games, or streaming TV or movies), not for video or sound. When you use a videoconferencing services then what the laptop's video camera sees and what the laptop's internal microphone hears become very important - but you probably didn't think about optimising the laptop position, or the room, when you set up the home office. Some things to consider:

Windows

A window in front of you provides light during the daytime, but not when the curtains are drawn at night. 

Having a window behind you causes reflections on the laptop screen, but not during the night when the curtains are drawn.

Windows also reflect sound, as well as letting sound into the room from outside. 

So the ideal is to have a plain wall in front of, and behind you, with any windows on one side.

Curtains

If you put curtains behind you (either by hanging them across a plain wall, or by turning the laptop around so that you are in front of a window), then the pattern on the curtains can be distracting. if the curtains are plain, then it can look like a theatre, and people will expect the curtains to open at any moment and the show to begin! Even worse, it might appear that you live inside one of those passport photo-booths that you find at stations and airports! 

Hanging a bed-sheet behind you will look like you have hung a bed-sheet behind you. It is almost impossible to prevent sheets from showing every fold, wrinkle, mark and imperfection - it looks cheap and tacky. And black silk sheets do not look cool on video!

So the ideal is to not have curtains behind you. A plain, light-coloured, neutral (white or off-white) wall is fine. 

Doors

Doors in the background tend to get opened at the wrong moment, creating a distraction, changing the background and probably altering the lighting as well. 

Doors let sound in when they are open, and still let some sound through when they are closed. If you have something noisy behind a door (kids, washing machine, elderly relatives, pets...) then you can get doors which are designed to let less sound through than the basic two sheets of veneered or painted hardboard with a flimsy cardboard filling that you find as the interior doors in most ordinary houses. These doors are described by the amount of sound that they cut out - so a Google search for '40dB Doors' will produce lots of links to doors which cut out quite a lot of sound. Numbers of 'dB's higher than 50 are for use in recording studios, and will be expensive.

An open door behind you lets people see into the rest of your house. Do you want to show them your house?

So the ideal is to have a plain wall behind you, with no door (or window) in it. Doors that are on either side (and so not visible) are fine.

Bookshelves

Bookshelves (and fireplaces, nooks, spiral staircases, pot plants, lava lamps and other 'interior decoration' features) tend to be distracting. They will also be closely examined by some people, and any political incorrectness or even a hint about an innocent but mis-interpretable hobby could be used against you. 

So the ideal is to have a plain wall behind you - light neutral colours (white or off-white) is best. 

However, bookshelves in front of you will help to absorb sound - which is good! If you have to use up those curtains that you bought as a potential background, then put them in front of you (where the laptop video camera can't see them) instead, because they will absorb sound very nicely and make you sound better.

Floor

Although you shouldn't be able to see the floor, it can still affect the sound. Anything hard, like wood, tiles, marble, etc. is going to reflect sound, and this makes the audio sound as if you are in an echo chamber (or the bathroom!). Carpets or rugs are good, because they absorb sound. The idea is to have only one path from your mouth to the microphone - if the sound can bounce off any hard surface (like tiles or a wood floor, or a gloss-painted wall) then it will give echoes and reduce your intelligibility (even more than usual!). 

Art

Pictures, photos, murals and the kids' school-work tend to be distracting when they are behind you, plus some people will look at them and either comment, or worse, not say anything now but store it up for potential future use against you.  

Lighting

If there's a light in the middle of the ceiling, and the laptop is on a desk against the wall, then there is probably a bright glaring reflection of that light in the laptop screen. It also means that the laptop video camera will see you in shadow. But don't just turn it off!

Instead, provide some lighting in front of you, ideally off to one side. Most home offices will probably have a table light of lamp, but anything with a concentrated source of light (like a bulb) is going to look harsh, so turn it so that it points upwards  and bounces off the walls of ceiling instead. This will probably not be enough light (and video cameras tend to perform really badly in poor light, producing a grainy, multi-coloured fog) and you will need to add some spread-out light... Ring lights, intended for doing make-up, can be a good solution, and they are very cheap on-line. The small ones (about 15cms across) are not ideal, but the middle-sized ones (25-35cms) are better, whilst the larger ones (50+cms) can be too large in many home offices! You will probably find that you will use the lower light settings - the bright settings are often way too bright! 

Microphone

Laptops do not typically have studio quality, professional microphones inside them, despite what the marketing blurb might claim. Adding a better microphone can improve the sound a lot. The easiest option is to buy a 'USB Podcast' microphone - these will plug into the USB socket on the laptop, and will often include a stand or arm, plus a 'pop shield'. Pop shields are those round objects that you always see between people's mouths and microphones in recording studios. As the name suggests, they reduce the popping sound from when you say the letters 'p' or 'b' or 't' or 'f', and they can improve the perceived quality of your sound. 

Video Camera

Low-cost (and particularly older) laptops do not typically have high resolution video cameras in them - your mobile phone probably has a better video camera, but interfacing a mobile phone to a laptop is not always easy. Professional Podcasters tend to use sophisticated digital cameras which look like photo cameras, but which can be very expensive. Probably the most cost-effective solution is to buy a modern laptop - but to choose one with a good video camera. This might sound simple, but you will find that laptops do not always make it easy to find out how good the video camera is - you may need to look closely at the detailed specifications on the manufacturer's web-site. Amazon does not even let you filter laptops by video camera resolution... Beware - the screen resolution (1080p or higher) is not necessarily the same as the camera resolution (1080p or higher). 

* ...and any other videoconferencing services like Microsoft Teams, Jitsi, etc.