Configuring Microsoft Teams for High-Fidelity Audio with Professional Web Presenters

1. Device Settings (Most Important)

• Before joining the meeting, or via Settings > Devices > Microphone, select your USB Ingest device (e.g., “Blackmagic Design”, “USB Capture HDMI”) rather than “Same as System”.
• Camera: Select your web presenter hardware.
• Noise Suppression: Set to Off.
• High Fidelity Music Mode: Turn On (found under “…More” > Device Settings). This is designed for high-quality audio feeds, supporting 32kHz sampling at 128 kbps and disabling echo cancellation/automatic gain control.
• Automatically adjust mic sensitivity: Turn Off. You want your external mixer to handle audio levels, not Teams.
• Speaker: Select your computer’s audio output (e.g., headphones) to hear participants.

1. Meeting Options (During the Meeting)

• Mute all on entry: On. This prevents unintended noise from other participants.
• Spotlight the Presenter: Use the “Spotlight” feature to ensure the web presenter’s feed is what everyone sees and hears, helping Teams prioritise stream quality.

1. Advanced: NDI Ingest (For Professional Production)

If you are using a dedicated production computer (OBS, vMix, Tricaster), NDI is superior to USB ingest for professional workflows.

Admin Level: Enable “Local Broadcasting” in the Teams Admin Center for your account.

• Teams Level: Go to Settings > App Permissions > Production Capabilities > Toggle On.
• Usage: During the meeting, you can then enable “NDI-out” to get high-quality video and audio feeds into your production software.
• Practical 365
• 1. Best Practices Summary
• Avoid Bluetooth: Do not use Bluetooth audio devices, as they cause latency and lower audio quality.
• Wired Connection: Use a wired Ethernet connection for the computer, not Wi-Fi.
• Disable Voice Isolation: Turn off “Voice isolation” and use “Background noise only” if music is being played.
• Microsoft Learn +4

Using NDI (Network Device Interface) with Microsoft Teams allows you to extract individual participants, the active speaker, or screen shares as high-quality, low-latency video feeds for professional production software like OBS or vMix. [1, 2, 3]

1. Prerequisite: Admin Activation [4]

Before you can see NDI options in your Teams client, a Microsoft 365 Administrator must enable the broadcast policy for your account: [5]

• Location: Microsoft Teams Admin Center > Meetings > Meeting policies.
• Setting: Select your policy (e.g., Global) and toggle Broadcast production with NDI and SDI hardware to On.
• Propagation: It may take up to 24 hours for this change to appear in your local Teams app. [3, 6, 7, 8]
  1. Enable NDI in the Teams App [9]

Once the admin policy is active, you must manually enable the production tools in your specific Teams client: [10]

• Navigate to Settings > App permissions.
• Look for Production Capabilities (or “Network Device Interface (NDI)”) and toggle it On.
• Important: If prompted, follow the link to download and install the NDI binaries required by Teams. [1, 8, 11, 12]
  1. Activating NDI During a Meeting

NDI is not active by default when you join a call; you must start the broadcast for each session: [4, 9]

1. Join your Teams meeting.
2. Select More (…) in the meeting controls.
3. Go to Streaming and select Broadcast over NDI.
4. All participants will receive a notification that broadcasting is active. [1, 3, 8, 11, 13]
5. Pulling Feeds into Production Software

After starting the NDI broadcast, your production software on the same local network will see multiple separate NDI sources: [1, 14]

• Individual Participants: Each person with an active camera appears as a unique NDI source.
• Active Speaker: A dynamic feed that automatically switches to whoever is currently talking.
• Large Gallery/Together Mode: Specialized layout views are available as separate streams.
• Screen Sharing: If someone shares their screen, it appears as its own NDI source. [1, 14]
  1. Critical Audio Note

Teams handles NDI audio differently than video. While video can be isolated per person, Teams typically provides a single pre-mixed audio stream for all NDI participants. You cannot currently isolate individual caller audio via the native Teams NDI output; you will receive the full meeting mix on every NDI source. [1, 14, 15]

A Mix-Minus is essential for professional remote production; it ensures your Teams guests hear everything in your program (your mic, videos, music) minus their own voices, which would otherwise cause a distracting echo for them.

Mix-Minus in vMix

vMix handles this elegantly using its internal Audio Buses. [4]

1. Enable an Audio Bus: Go to Settings > Audio Outputs and set Bus A to Enabled.
2. Route Audio to the Bus: In the vMix Audio Mixer, click the “A” button on every input you want your guests to hear (e.g., your host microphone, video playback).
3. The “Minus” Step: Ensure the “A” button is OFF for your Teams/NDI input. This removes the guest’s own audio from that specific mix.
4. Send the Mix back to Teams:
   • Go to Settings > Outputs / NDI / SRT.
   • Click the Cog icon next to Output 1 (or whichever NDI output you are using).
   • In the Audio Channels dropdown, select Bus A instead of Master.
5. Teams Configuration: In Teams audio settings, select NDI Webcam Audio as your Microphone. [5, 6] Mix-Minus in OBS Studio

OBS does not have built-in named buses like vMix, so you must use the Monitoring Device and a Virtual Audio Cable (like VB-CABLE).

1. Set Monitoring Device: Go to Settings > Audio > Advanced and set the Monitoring Device to your virtual cable (e.g., CABLE Input).
2. Assign Sources: Open Advanced Audio Properties (right-click anywhere in the Audio Mixer).
   • For your Host Mic and Media Sources: Set “Audio Monitoring” to Monitor and Output.
   • For the Teams/NDI Guest Source: Set “Audio Monitoring” to Monitor Off (or “Output Only”). This is your “Minus” step?they are now removed from the monitor mix.
3. Teams Configuration: In Teams audio settings, set your Microphone to the corresponding virtual cable (e.g., CABLE Output).
4. Check Your Own Monitoring: Since your “Monitor” is now being sent to Teams, you cannot use it to listen yourself. You may need a second virtual cable or an Audio Monitor plugin for independent local monitoring. [7, 8, 9]

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