If your microphone isn’t clear or doesn’t pick up any sound at all, you need to fix it right away. These are the six most common mic issues on Windows 10—and the solution to each problem.
1. The Mic Keeps Cutting Out or Isn’t Recording at All
There could be several issues if you get no sound from your mic at all. It could be because of an improperly configured sound setting, or maybe because your microphone has its gain control set to mute.
Privacy settings could also be an issue—where an app isn’t allowed to access your mic. Some Security Suites could also block access to audio data. It’s also a possibility that the app itself you’re using has its voice chat volume set to zero.
And if you’re sound is cutting out or is choppy, it could be an issue of damaged cables or ports. The best way to check for this is to plug your mic on another port or device. You can check out this in-depth guide to solve spotty or no audio from your mic.
2. There’s Too Much Background Noise
There are times you can’t escape a noisy environment. Whether you’re in a meeting in a coffee shop or your neighbor is having the loudest party ever, background noise can be more than an annoyance. So if you’re in an important meeting or interview, here are a couple of tools to mitigate it.
Use a Noise-Canceling Mic
Since 1935, noise-canceling microphones have been used in military and commercial settings. They work by placing the mic diaphragm between two ports—one directed towards your mouth and the other put a bit more distantly.
When ambient sound enters both sound ports, they reach the diaphragm almost simultaneously, thus reducing their volume. But when you speak into one port, the other, ambient-facing port will not capture your voice as much. This allows you to be heard much clearer over environmental sounds.
Newer technologies use two microphones instead of two ports. It then uses built-in digital signal processing to cancel out ambient sounds. Some newer technologies, like Clear Voice Capture, use algorithms and AI instead to filter out noise.
Use an AI Background Noise Canceler
However, if you don’t have a mic with built-in noise-canceling technology, you could download apps that do the job for you. One such popular app is Krisp. The team behind this app recorded 20,000 different noise sources and 10,000 voices which totaled over 2,500 hours of recordings.
They then used and trained a neural network to remove background noise effectively. What’s impressive about this app is noise removal is done on your system. They don’t send data to their servers to process your audio.
Krisp is free for up to 240 minutes a week. If you want to use it more than that, you need a subscription. But if you have any NVIDIA RTX GPU, you can use NVIDIA Broadcast for noise removal. It’s a free app NVIDIA created that eliminates background noise using their powerful RTX GPUs.
3. You Get Distorted Audio
If you find your audio getting distorted, your voice or recording might be too loud. This happens when the sound signal received by your mic (or any other component in your system) is too strong. When that happens, the details of your sound source are cut off and aren’t recorded.
To avoid this, you can move your mic away from you or your sound source. And if your microphone has a physical gain control, you can adjust it to lower the volume it receives.
4. There’s Excessive Wind Noise
Sometimes, your workstation can be a bit too hot. Naturally, it’s normal to have a fan or air conditioning vent pointed in your direction. However, the blowing air can be picked up by your microphone. As the air enters and rushes past your mic, it disturbs the diaphragm within causing the familiar tell-tale wind noise.
To avoid this, all you need is a microphone windscreen. Mic windscreens diffuse wind as it hits the microphone. This causes the air to move around the foam and not causes any vibrations. At the same time, it still allows soundwaves to penetrate as normal, without any drop in quality or volume.
5. You Can Hear Popping Sounds
When you’re making sounds like “p” and “b”, you’re also creating a significant rush of air towards your mic. When this rush of air hits your mic’s diaphragm, it results in a short distortion that kind of sounds like a small explosion.
The easiest way to solve this is to move away from your mic. You could also set it pointing upwards or downwards. This way, the mass of air coming from your lips will go over or under it. But if you can spare a few bucks, you could also get a pop filter.
This inexpensive equipment clips onto your mic stand and sits between you and your mic. It absorbs and diffuses the rushing air, thus preventing it from hitting the microphone diaphragm. You can even see it at work because it will silently shake for a bit when you make a plosive sound.
6. Your Microphone Quality Is Poor
If you’re using the built-in microphone of your laptop, you can’t expect top-notch quality. After all, the manufacturer had to make many compromises to fit a tiny microphone into your device. Entry-level headsets and headphones might also suffer from the same problem.
The best way to get excellent audio quality is to invest in a proper microphone. If you’re primarily using it for meetings and other vocal recordings, you should consider a condenser microphone. But if you don’t have the budget for it, you can also use your phone’s built-in mic.
Smartphone mics are designed to pick up voices for conversation. So even if you won’t get the best audio quality out of it, it’s still miles away from your laptop’s built-in mic. DroidCam is one such app that lets you use your smartphone both as a camera and a mic. It’s free to use, so it’s perfect if you don’t want to spend on gear.
Good Audio Saves the Day
When you’re in a meeting, the people you’re talking to can sit through a poor-quality video. They can even choose not to watch your video feed and still be able to communicate. However, if you have poor audio, then holding a meeting can be difficult.
That’s why you should have good audio quality. The solutions above cost little to none. But if you’re planning to go beyond meetings and create videos, you should consider investing in a high-quality condenser microphone.
