Equipment Setup
Guitar
Voice
Keyboards
Strings
Percussion
Brass
Woodwind
Initially MTO recommend doing a few online lessons with your basic set up before investing in additional equipment. Devices with built in microphones and cameras are quite effective on modern equipment, and there is probably a benefit to keeping it simple so that less can go wrong technically. For Piano lessons, MTO would recommend a separate cam, which can be placed above the keys with a boom stand. This is necessary, so that the teacher can see your hands, and you can see the teacher on your device.
A fast and reliable computer with a good webcam – This can be a desktop, laptop or iPad/notebook. I don’t recommend doing this with your smartphone. Zoom recommends that your computer has at least a 1 Ghz processor and a minimum of 256 MB of Ram for Windows machines and for Mac, at least a 2 Ghz Intel processor (Dual Core) and a minimum of 4 GB of Ram. But remember, these are minimums. The faster your system is, the more reliable your connection will be.
A fast and reliable internet connection – You must have a high-speed connection which can be on a wired or wireless network. Realize that a wireless network can occasionally be sketchy. If you happen to be far away from your modem or router, you may find that the strength of the wireless signal severely diminishes. If your learning location is on a different floor and far away from the router, we would recommend purchasing a high power smart repeater and range extender (MTO does not endorse this product, this is purely for reference).
If after your lesson you find that you microphone and speakers on your device are not up to the job, you can purchase external hardware to enhance your audio/visual experience!
An external microphone that can be closer to your instrument, whilst still being able to see the video conferencing with the teacher. Many users have given feedback that Yeti Bluetooth microphone is great for 360 degree sound capture, but something similar would be fine. (MTO does not endorse this product, this is purely for reference).
Good speakers or headphones – Unless your laptop has very good internal speakers, MTO would suggest that you get good external speakers or headphones. This is a necessity to really hear differentiation in tone and clarity.
A HD webcam will provide a much better visual experience, and there are many to choose from, again many MTO users have given feedback that the Logitech C920s Pro HD webcam has excellent clarity for a HD visual experience. (MTO does not endorse this product, this is purely for reference).
