Stop Zoom From Lowering Your Music on Mac

You join a Zoom call. Spotify was playing at a comfortable volume. The call connects, and your music vanishes or drops to almost nothing. You didn't touch anything.

It's frustrating because it's invisible. You didn't mute anything or move a slider, yet your music got quieter. Here's what's usually behind it and how to stop it.

Why your music gets quieter during Zoom calls

There are two common causes.

1. Zoom's audio processing

Zoom processes audio during calls, and some of its settings can change how loud things sound. If your music drops when the call starts, Zoom's audio settings are the first place to look.

2. Bluetooth headset mode

When Zoom starts using the microphone in your AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones, many headphones switch from their normal mode to a hands-free headset mode. That mode sounds lower in quality and often quieter, for everything you hear, music included.

It's not specific to Zoom: it happens with any app that uses the headphones' microphone. If the drop only happens with Bluetooth headphones, this is the likely cause. For more on it, see Bluetooth headphones too quiet on Mac.

How to turn it off

Check Zoom's audio settings

Open Zoom's settings and go to the Audio section. In recent versions you'll find options such as:

• Automatically adjust microphone volume: try turning it off
• Background noise suppression: try a lower setting

Test a call after each change to see which one makes the difference.

Use a separate microphone

Keep your AirPods or Bluetooth headphones as the speaker, but pick a different microphone: the Mac's built-in mic or a USB mic. You can set this in Zoom's audio settings or in System Settings > Sound > Input. The headphones then stay in their normal mode, and your music doesn't drop when the call starts.

Use wired headphones

Wired headphones, or a USB headset, don't have the Bluetooth mode switch at all. Sound stays the same before, during and after calls.

Check other apps

Some audio utilities and communication apps lower other audio on their own. If the drop continues, quit audio utilities you have installed and test again. That includes SoundDial: its auto-duck is on by default and lowers other apps, music included, to 30% of their level while a call app such as Zoom is using the microphone, then restores them when the call ends. To stop it, open SoundDial's Settings > Auto-Duck and switch off "Enable auto-ducking", or change "Duck to" (10% to 80%) if you only want a gentler drop. More causes are covered in how to disable audio ducking on Mac.

Set the levels yourself

Once the automatic lowering is off, you're back to the original problem: during a call you usually do want the music quieter, just not gone. macOS only gives you one slider, so turning the music down also turns the call down.

SoundDial gives each running app its own slider in the menu bar. Before a call, drag Spotify down to a comfortable background level, say 25%, and leave Zoom at 100%. If a participant is hard to hear, boost Zoom above 100% (up to 200%) without raising the music; raise it in small steps, since a boost can clip on loud sources. Need silence? Mute the music app with one click while Zoom keeps playing.

If you turn auto-ducking off, SoundDial doesn't change a level on its own: nothing moves until you move it, and after the call you drag the music back up. If you leave it on, set "Duck to" to the background level you like, and the music comes back by itself when the call ends (lowering music during calls). More on how it works: per-app volume control on Mac.

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.