My microphones don't record my voice as loud as I speak

Hello all,

To create a video tut I needed a screen capture app and a microphone to record my voice at the same time. I barely could find a headset and attached the microphone cable to the Windows 10 x64 machine. I think I've installed the microphone properly because Google can recognise the words I say when speaking, correctly.

The problem is that the microphone doesn't record my voice as loud as I speak and after sending the video tut, the viewers must increase volume to the top to hear me, which is very embarrassing.

I worked on the Sound -> Microphone menu settings and tried much to fix the issue so that my voice is normally audible afterwards:



But no acceptable success yet, unfortunately.

One thing: When I increase the Microphone volume on the Level tab to 100, the microphone records the voice loudly but there is an annoying matter with that! It adds too much background noise.

I borrowed an HP Laptop model 250 G1 to test its built-in microphone. But uninterestingly, this shows the same problem as explained above as well!

I don't know what else to do with the microphones. I don't know if there is a specific video recorder app I must use instead or not, either!

What would you do if you were me, please?
When I see videos on YouTube, the sound of the speaker is quite fine. I, too, would like to record my videos this way.

Thank you for your time.

Microphone boost the the mic pre-amp, use that first. Levels is the amp inside the ADC, use that last.

Right click on the levels (the one that said 50 in your jpg) will give you the db level instead of %.

Start off with the Realtek default value, 20 db mic boost, 0 db level. Watch the signal levels --- don't let it clip. You may want 20 db boost and + level. Or you may want 30 db boost and - level.

Sometimes you need to reset the microphone by changing the bitrate to something else (and then switch it back to original value). You may want to toggle exclusive mode enable/disable to see if it makes a difference.

Microphone boost the the mic pre-amp, use that first. Levels is the amp inside the ADC, use that last.

Right click on the levels (the one that said 50 in your jpg) will give you the db level instead of %.

Start off with the Realtek default value, 20 db mic boost, 0 db level. Watch the signal levels --- don't let it clip. You may want 20 db boost and + level. Or you may want 30 db boost and - level.

I tested Boost in +10, +20 and +30 and each one with dozens of records from - to + of Microphone (in dB). The result on a phone for all is noisy. You can't be sure which one is less noisy. It's not very clear. But it was a point to know, thanks.

BTW, I didn't understand the part "Watch the signal levels --- don't let it clip."!

reset the microphone by changing the bitrate to something

Where is that bitrate, please?

toggle exclusive mode enable/disable

Also, where is this mode, please?

tomyfr said:

BTW, I didn't understand the part "Watch the signal levels --- don't let it clip."!
Where is that bitrate, please?
lso, where is this mode, please?

There is a signal meter that goes up and down when the microphone picks up sound. Do a sound check with your normal speaking voice and see if you are maxing out. You have to leave a few empty bars on top of the signal meter because when you get excited, you speak louder. When you max out, your audio get distorted.



Bitrate and exclusive mode is in the LAST jpg you posted.

Yeah, got it, thanks.

I did more tests but can't get rid of that background noise when playing the video!! How to reduce it to the lowest level if not possible to remove it in your point of view, please?

Among the recent tests the following were "rather" fine:
1) Levels: Mic: -4.5, Boost: +10, Disable exclusive mode, 16 bit 96000 Studio Quality
2) Levels: Mic: -5.1, Boost: +10, Disable exclusive mode, 24 bit 192000 Studio Quality
3) Levels: Mic: -1.2, Boost: +10, Disable exclusive mode, 24 bit 192000 Studio Quality

Do you have any extra suggestions, please?

You disabled sound effects in jpg 4 --- which disabled the noise suppression option in jpg 5.

You should re-enable the exclusive mode if it is not causing you problems. Bitrate is largely meaningless. Sometimes problems are solved by changing the default values to some other value and then toggled back to the default value. So if they are not causing you problems, stick with the default values.

Thanks so much. It was a very beneficial point.
Up to now, most of the problems are solved. And I'm using the following settings and the result is good, but not great. :) (The General and Listen tabs are as before)



Increasing Boost more than that will lead to more background noise, somethings like ShShShshShSh..., even though Noise Suppression is marked.

Do you think there is any other thing we can make the quality even better by that, please?

Now that you solved your problem, then you can safely turn the bit rate up to 24 bit.

Headset mic should be at the corner of the mouth, not directly in front of the mouth.

You can move the desktop PCs down to the floor, so that PCs fan noise would be further away from your headset. Turn off your heating/cooling in your house during taping. Move your wifi router, fluorescent light and other electric equipment that can cause electric noise away from you.

Thanks so much for all your replies. I will the rest too and make the thread solved. :)
I wish I could give you more reps.