5 Ways to Make Your Mic Sound Better on Windows

Quick Tips

• Several factors can affect your microphone’s performance and can be either hardware or software related.
• First thing first, ensure that you’re placing the microphone properly and have its onboard settings configured well.
• There are plenty of Windows settings you can change to fine-tune and make the mic sound better.

Basic Fixes

• Place the Microphone Properly: One of the first things to ensure is that your microphone is placed properly. The position of your microphone can affect the sound quality of your recordings. The best position for your microphone is about 6 inches away from your mouth. Additionally, ensure the microphone is not pointing directly at your mouth, as this can cause distortion.
• Use Pop Filters: A pop filter is a mesh screen between the microphone and the user. As such, using a pop filter can help minimize the impact of breath sounds and sibilance.
• Adjust the Gain: Most microphones have a dial or knob on them indicating the gain level. Gain refers to the microphone’s sensitivity, controlling how loud or soft the input sounds should be. Adjust it and simultaneously test it using the Sound Recorder app on Windows 11 to find the sweet spot.
• Increase the Mic Level in Windows: In case your microphone doesn’t have a knob for gain, you can use Windows to adjust it on a software level. Thankfully, Windows offers a native way to easily increase the mic volume.
• Close Apps Using Your Microphone: It’s also advisable to close any background apps that could be accessing your microphone. You can do that easily by opening the Task Manager and closing any unwanted applications.

Fix 1: Adjust the Microphone Format

If you’re using a high-end microphone, it’s possible to record in a higher format for better quality as well. You can essentially increase the bitrate of your recording, thus, resulting in an improved audio result. Here’s how you can do that.

Step 1: Right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and click on Sound settings.

Step 2: Under the Input section, click on the arrow next to your microphone.

Step 3: Click on the drop-down menu for Format to select a different recording format.

Step 4: Windows typically offers options like ’16-bit, 44100 Hz (CD Quality)’, or ’16-bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality)’. You may have other options depending on your audio hardware. Just select the highest format available.

Step 5: After selecting the desired recording format, click Apply and OK to save the changes.

Fix 2: Enable Exclusive Mode

Additionally, it’s important to enable exclusive mode for your microphone on Windows as well. Exclusive mode grants the microphone exclusive access to the audio device, preventing other applications from accessing it simultaneously. This, in turn, reduces potential conflicts and resource sharing, resulting in a smoother and more stable audio experience.

Step 1: Right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and click on Sound settings.

Step 2: Scroll down to the bottom and click on ‘More sound settings‘.

Step 3: Switch to the Recording tab in the popup window.

Step 4: Right-click on microphone and select the Properties option.

Step 5: Now, switch to the Advanced tab.

Step 6: Check the box next to ‘Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device‘. Also, check the box next to ‘Give exclusive mode applications priority‘.

Step 7: Once done, click on Apply and then OK.

Fix 3: Update Microphone Driver

It’s also possible that your microphone is in perfect condition. However, a faulty driver is why you can’t use it to its best ability. Outdated or incorrect audio drivers can cause microphone issues. To update your audio drivers, follow these steps:

Step 1: Right-click on the Start button and select Device Manager.

Step 2: Click on ‘Sound, video and game controllers‘ to expand it.

Step 3: Right-click on your microphone device and select Update driver.

Step 4: Choose ‘Search automatically for drivers‘. Windows will now automatically search and update to the latest drivers.

Once the process is complete, reboot your PC and try and use your microphone post that.

Fix 4: Turn on Microphone Enhancements

Using Windows, you can further tweak the quality of your microphone using some enhancements. These enhancements can be used to suppress the noise in the background as well as subdue the echo.

Step 1: Right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and click on Sound settings.

Step 2: Under the Input section, click on the arrow next to the microphone.

Step 3: Click on the drop-down menu for Audio Enhancements, and select the enhancement of your choice.

For most users, it will be Device Default Effects. However, if you’re using an expensive microphone, you’ll also get options for Noise suppression and Acoustic echo cancellation.

Fix 5: Use Third-Party Apps

If you don’t have any Microphone enhancements available, fret not, you can also use third-party tools. If you have an NVIDIA RTX GPU, download the NVIDIA Broadcast tool for Windows. It offers various features such as Noise removal and Room echo removal. It further allows you to fine-tune the strength of these effects to ensure the final output doesn’t sound too robotic.

Alternatively, you can also try using Krisp AI. It uses artificial intelligence to remove background noise from your microphone. It works similarly to NVIDIA Broadcast, except it works across all platforms. While it has a paid version, try out the free version for up to 60 minutes of sound recording daily.

FAQs