Spoke words come through fine but no music or singing

[AC22]

I am having trouble when zooming our church services. The spoken word comes through clearly but as soon as the music and singing starts the audio stops working. I have tried to alter a variety of settings but cannot find out why. 
This has only started happening since around July as before that all services where heard ok.

Anyone any suggestions please?

[Eliot]

hi ac22,

Is your setup:
All the microphones feed into one audio mixer. The microphones include:
(1) microphone for the pulpit and
(2) microphones for the music and singing
Audio mixer controls selection of microphone inputs for outputs.
Outputs of audio mixer are:
(1) audio amplifier to power speakers and
(2) Zoom computer audio input
 suggestions:

Verify that mixer is set to send audio from microphones for music and singing to Zoom audio input.
Verify that zoom audio is not muted.

thanks,  eliot

[AC22]

Thanks for your reply. At the moment I am not using an interface from the mixer to my laptop (but have recently purchased one for future use. ) I record via a camera and mic next to the speakers. This has worked well until the windows 11 update. Now the spoken word is fine but music and singing won’t work. 

[Eliot]

I am stumped. The only questions I can think of -

1. is the speaker next to your microphone actually playing the music and singing?

2.  does the microphone pick up any sound at the time of the music and singing?

3.  is it possible that the zoom audio (microphone) has been muted at the time of the music and singing?

4.  this may be related to noise suppression by the mike or zoom.  what level of background noise Suppression is selected?  please see

Configuring professional audio settings for Zoom Meetings – Zoom Support

thanks,  eliot

thanks,  eliot

[AC22]

I have discovered that it’s a Windows 11 problem.  I too was stumped but realised I had upgraded to Windows 11 around the same time that the problem began. I  tried on an old laptop which was still working with Windows10 and bingo , no problem with spoken words or music. 
Microsoft haven’t offered any solutions yet….

[Eliot]

hi ac22,

The issue with music and singing being suppressed is due to background noise suppression.

According Office Hours Worldwide panelist, mickey macachor:

Zoom's primary use case is for meetings which is primarily human speech. Thus, the noise suppression facilities built into Zoom is designed to consider music as noise. There is a feature in Zoom called "Original Sound" that allows one to defeat the noise suppression though.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360046244692

According to support article:

“Note: If you enable Original Sound for Musician in a meeting, all noise suppression is disabled. If you disable Original Sound for Musicians, the client reverts to the noise suppression setting that you chose in client settings, meaning it could be Auto / Low / Med / High.

Using original sound for musicians in a meeting – Zoom Support

The problem is that the noise suppression setting is not being disabled by selecting original sound for musicians. 

The workaround is configure your zoom client:

1. first set background noise suppression to low for Zoom optimized audio.
2. second select original sound for musicians.

original sound for musicians options are:

• High-fidelity music mode: This disables echo cancellation & post-processing, while raising audio codec quality to 48Khz, 96Kbps mono/192kbps stereo. Professional audio interface, microphone, and headphones required.
• Echo cancellation: Prevents the creation of echoes between mic and speakers. Disable only recommended when using headphones to isolate audio or when playing instruments.
• Stereo audio: Encodes mic audio in stereo. Requires a stereo-capable microphone or audio interface.

thanks, eliot

[phcorrigan]

I'm having the same issue. Original Sound does not solve it. Actually, none of the standard fixes solve it.

BTW, I have been doing music over Zoom for almost three years with no problem. I also have no problem with other audio applications, only Zoom. I've only had this problem since I moved to a new system running Windows 11. 

[AC22]

I have finally fixed the problem by downloading my Asus app which has a noise cancelling facility which works. It’s crazy that I couldn’t do it without this app. Everything is being heard now so I’m very happy after 7 months of frustration.

[Eliot]

hi ac22,

that is great news!

which asus app are you using and what settings are you using in zoom such as original sound for musicians?

thanks,  eliot

[_NG_]

I followed the advice to download MyAsus app on my laptop. It showed an alert that the speaker drivers needed to be updated. As soon as I clicked to implement the upgrade, the problem with hearing music through Zoom ended. I had fiddled with sound settings (such as "original sound") and don't think that affected it. The issue was the need to go through the app and update the drivers.

[Miki24]

Thank you! This helped us. We could not figure out what to do till we read here about downloading the Asus App and changing the sound settings. 

[Cindilou2]

I am having the same problem with windows 11, please help!

[phcorrigan]

Before enabling Original sound for musicians, click on Zoom optimized audio under "Audio Profile," then set Background noise suppression to "Low," then switch back to Original sound for musicians.

[AP2023]

Nothing works for me.  I adjusted all the settings (for musicians, background noise, etc etc) but while Zoom plays back my voice it will not play back musical instruments or any non-vocal sound like a clap or a whistle.  The sound comes out for a second, very garbled, and stops.  I have a Windows 11 Dell laptop.  Have started music lessons online and my instructor too is stumped.  Please advise.  Thanks.

[Esther8]

It seems this is an issue with more than I expected with no solutions.  I sometimes attend a religious meeting on zoom, and I can hear the speaker well and I can also hear the answers of any participants that are either at the Hall or on zoom well.  However when it comes to the songs, I cannot hear a thing.  I don't have this issue on my tablet and I didn't have this issue on my previous laptop.  This issue only started when I got my new laptop in early December.  I have tested the speakers and microphone on my laptop and they work fine, however when I have done the test through the zoom settings the microphone works fine but the speakers do not work properly.

It would be great if the zoom technical team could come up with a solution to this glitch.

As an after thought I have an ASUS Vivobook laptop, so was wondering if this is a common denominator with everyone else that is having this same issue.

[BirdsFly24-]

Same here, only on my laptop. I have an ASUS Vivibook and cannot hear songs. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Zoom many times but no improvement. I have tried all the suggestions in this thread with no success. 

[_NG_]

I found the solution was to download the MyASUS app on the laptop (from the Microsoft store) and after sign-in there, go to the home page of that app (the navigation to the app home page was on the bottom right of the landing page), then respond to an alert to update the speaker drivers by clicking to update them.

[phcorrigan]

This may help: https://open.substack.com/pub/patrickhcorrigan/p/setting-up-zoom-audio-for-musicians?r=1okigy&utm_ca...

[Eliot · Accepted solution]

hi @AP2023 

Zoom support article recommends disabling or uninstalling MaxxAudio on Dell.

Resolution

• Disable the audio control maxxAudio, Bang & Olufsen, LG Smart Assistant software, or any similar software on your computer or uninstall it then restart the computer.
• Update any audio drivers on your computer.
• Disable audio enhancements on your computer.

Music and singing audio issues on Windows 11

https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0065231

@storyhub (Community Champion | Customer) posted a new reply in Zoom Meetings on 2025-05-20 07:20 PM :

Re: Stop Hijacking Our Microphones: Fix Zoom’s Audio Control Problem

As an audio and broadcast engineer I can tell you that computer audio can be very complicated. There are lots of audio settings! Try the following In windows 11. Check system > sound > properties > general audio. Make sure it is set to don't allow.

please also see:

Configuring audio for music and singing

Configuring professional audio settings for Zoom Meetings

please also see:

Configuring audio for music and singing

Configuring professional audio settings for Zoom Meetings

Please let us know if these suggestions fixed your issue.

Did my response answer your question? If so, please don't forget to mark the reply as an accepted solution.

thanks,  eliot

[AP2023]

Wow,  please give me till tomorrow evening to try these out and get back to you.  I so appreciate your help. Thank you! 

[AC22]

Thanks Eliot. I finally drilled down into my laptop settings and it was an easy fix in the end. I just turned off enhanced audio and it is now working well. Trouble is it occasionally resets but at least now I know how to fix it.

many thanks for everyone’s help with this.

[AP2023]

Hi Eliot,  I tried everything you suggested that are  in all the links you shared.  No luck.  Zoom plays back my voice,  but any sound that is non-vocal either  begins to play, very garbled, for half a second and stops,  or does not play back.  My music instructor recommends I switch to Google Meet.  I'll let you know how that goes. If that works well then there is some problem with Zoom that is a mystery to all.  Thank you. 

[Eliot]

hi @AP2023 

so sorry it did not work for you.  @AC22 reported it worked.

let us know how you make out with google meet.

i would like to do some more research, please let me know your setup in terms of pc/laptop make and model, operating system and version, i.e. windows 11, internal microphone or external microphone make and model, any audio mixer make and model, zoom workplace app and version.

thanks,  eliot 

[AP2023]

Hi Eliot,

So appreciate your efforts.  Mine is a Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 laptop, three years old.  Windows 11,  Version 24H2  (OS Build 26100.4061).

Internal microphone.  I updated Zoom (free personal version) to its latest version.

I hope this helps.  Will let you know how Google meet goes next week.

I can also record how the zoom audio sounds and attach it here if that helps? 

Thank you!  

[storyhub]

As an audio and broadcast engineer I can tell you that computer audio can be very complicated. Here is insight to setting up original sound.
https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0064198
Note that original sound has to be turned on in 2 places. Don't forget to click the Original Sound for Musicians button to toggle this on or off in the top-left corner of the meeting window.

[Eliot]

hi @AC22 

glad it worked for you.

thanks for the update.

eliot