Multiple audio input / ouptut feeds in Zoom meeting

[GrahamCriddle]

Hi

We run a Zoom session from within our church service so people can connect into it remotely.

The audio input for the Zoom session comes from our PA system (so those on Zoom can hear what is going on) and the audio output from the Zoom session is fed into our PA system (so that those on Zoom can contribute as well). For most of the time, those on Zoom have their audio muted so that they don't speak over what is being sent from our service.

It would be really helpful if the person operating the Zoom computer could "tap into" the audio input / output feeds so that they could hear what those on Zoom are hearing and so that they could speak to those on Zoom without interfering with the main service output.

Does the above make sense and, if so, is it possible to achieve?

Thanks, Graham

[YaBoiB]

Hello @GrahamCriddle, 

 I do not think that this is possible even with an AV Engineer and an AV Manager because on the Zoom side, we only use one (1) video stream (asynchronous) and one (1) audio stream (asynchronous), but it is a great idea. Can you please fill out the form on the zoom.us/feed so that our Engineers and Product managers can review the idea and see if this is something we can incorporate into a future build of the product? 

Thanks, 

Brandon 

[YaBoiB]

@GrahamCriddle, 

 On second thought. I believe that this is possible/plausible with a Device Software like OBS possibly. I did some research and found a similar question posted in another forum here. I also reached out to my colleagues in the AV department to see if anyone has attempted something like this in a Zoom meeting before. Let me get back to you with their feedback as soon as possible. 

Regards,

Brandon 

[YaBoiB]

Hello @GrahamCriddle, 

 Luckily, I got some instant feedback from my Zoom team members. One Events Engineer stated that "to listen to Zoom you would need to solo that channel or route it to a monitoring bus that the sound engineer can hear. 

To talk to Zoom without talking to the room, you will need to send their talkback mic to the bus/aux that you are feeding to Zoom. 

All of this should happen on your audio mixer. 

I hope that this helps. 

Brandon 

[GrahamCriddle]

Thank you so much for looking into this and for the research you have done - really appreciated.

I’ll follow up and see whether any of these ideas work in our context.

One of the challenges I expect to come up against is that our audio mixing desk is quite a long way away from the computer running Zoom so we may have some physical constraints.

Thanks again, Graham

[Ray_Harwood]

Hi, Graham,

My friend Brandon ( @YaBoiB ) covered some good stuff as always, but I wanted to add a couple of things I use. 

I have a RØDECaster Pro system that I use, connected to my PC over USB.  With it, I can feed in microphones (it has 4 XLR ports with separate volume sliders), which might help, but it also has headset ports and speaker ports. Depending on the size of your church, it could "do everything" if your needs are small, but also provide some additional capability.

Another option I use frequently is to have another small -format PC (like a BeeLink or Intel NUC), and get a low-cost license for an audio level meter.  This would actually give you easy visual indication of how even/loud/quiet the sound is.  I use software from YouLean, which you configure to "listen in" on the PC's audio... then have the PC join your Zoom session (with an unpaid account is fine).

[YaBoiB]

Thanks @Ray_Harwood. 

@GrahamCriddle, physical distance should not play a major part unless you cannot find the cable distance needed to connect the devices and systems. 

I would listen to Ray since he is in the "Event Arena". I just have a ton of experience with the product but I do not hold events as part of my duties at Zoom. 

Thanks,

Brandon

[townsendwc]

@GrahamCriddle 
This is now supported if I understand your question correctly.
Here is where it is mentioned in our release notes from January.

[dwilliamhood]

When I was using the RodeCaster Pro, I had the option to select multitrack for the audio. I'm now using the Mackie DLZ Creator and the multitrack option is not available. Does anyone know if there's a fix?