Internet Platforms

Cleanfeed

Cleanfeed is a platform that was designed for better audio quality in online teleconferences. You can use Zoom for video conferencing while simultaneously using Cleanfeed for audio. The Cleanfeed website is here. A guide to how to use Cleanfeed alongside Zoom and to optimize for music is here. While you don't have as much control in Cleanfeed as you might in another platform such as Jamulus, in which you can control for room reverb and other audio specifics, Cleanfeed is comparatively user friendly, and is really simple to set up and work with, even for people who are less comfortable with technology. I recommend reading the guide that Karen Siegel of the C4 vocal ensemble is developing here.

Cleanfeed works with the Google Chrome Internet browser only, and external headphones may be necessary. While I had heard that a USB headset works best, a test revealed that a headset with a standard analog headphone connection like you have on your earbuds may work best.

In July 2020, Karen hosted a test of Cleanfeed with about 26 choral singers and conductors that I helped to organize. As host, Karen emailed individual links to each participant to her Cleanfeed room on the day of the test. Once in Zoom, singers "Join With Computer Audio," but then "Leave Computer Audio" (small upward arrow near the microphone icon on the lower left corner of the screen). Singers then linked to the Karen's Cleanfeed room for audio, while remaining in Zoom for video. Each singer could control their own volume level, which helped us to manage clipped or distorted audio for high or loud pitches. Karen also had a board in her host room that allowed her to see and control each participants level.

Here are Karen's takeaways from the test:

• 26 people were able to successfully connect without any problems (100% of participants; according to the company, 32 is the max.)

• The consensus was that the sound quality was pretty good, better than Zoom for sure. Specific areas where it is superior to zoom are the ability to pick up/hear high notes and short sounds, with all voices heard equally at once (no selection for a single speaker).

• Singers can adjust their own levels, and the host of the session can adjust everyone's levels.

• In my experience as the host, the audio quality was fairly poor. This suggests that a separate computer should be used as the host and server, with no one relying on the sound from that computer to participate in the session. This may depend on the power of the computer being used as the host and server, though.

• It might be useful to have a dedicated sound engineer who is not singing or conducting, to adjust levels. This person would have to be the host of the session.

• Scot Hanna-Weir (Santa Clara University) identified a solution to the problem of some people's sound coming in only the left or right channel—select "mono mix" from the settings.

• Mary Hopper (Wheaton College Conservatory, past ACDA president) shared that USB headphones can be a problem with Cleanfeed; headphones that plug into the headphone jack are more reliable.