Debated on putting this in the nerd forum or here and figured folks might have more experience here. Here's the scenario: as many businesses are doing, my wife is having to go virtual with her fitness training. She does all of her classes outdoors (e.g. parks, parking lots, etc.) so last year I built her a portable sound system. She has a battery-powered PA and I put together a 2U rack in a shoulder bag with a battery/charging system and a wireless headset mic. This works great for outdoors but I'm struggling online.
Last night we did a Zoom meeting in the house (btw, it's online video conferencing like GoToMeeting, Skype, etc if you're not familiar). I'm running the mic and her iPod into a 2-channel Behringer Xenyx USB mixer. I only have low and high EQ options. Her voice sounds almost metallic and she easily overdrives the signal and creates a buzz.
Would I be better off with a newer mixer like the
Xenyx 802 which has onboard compression and a 3-band EQ? Has anyone successfully used Audacity for live streaming? It looks like it's possible and then I would assume I'd be able to use any available plug-ins.
My concern is that this has to be simple. That's why I like the idea of the mixer. But now that I think about it, the 802 also has fx out and I have an old Alesis 3630 compressor. I'd need to bump her up to a 3U bag but I'm ok with that if it works (especially if it improves the audio through the PA as well).
Any "simple" ideas appreciated. She's not the least bit technical so the more one-button this is the better. I'll seriously be doing good if I can get her to remember to plug a USB mixer in.
ETA: I realized Audacity might not work since Zoom has to see an audio source. I use a Mac, and there's a great program that lets you create virtual devices from other devices, apps, etc. So I found an extremely old (2015) Windows app to create virtual cables. I'm going to give it a shot and see if I can get live fx working and routed to Zoom as a virtual device. Still open for any other ideas.