Are you interested in finding methods to enhance the sound quality of your microphone? Are you having trouble improving the sound quality of your microphone?
It would help if you strived to get the highest possible sound quality when utilizing your microphone. This is true whether you are on stage at a live event, in the recording studio, producing a podcast, or developing audiovisual material for social media.
Because of this, we have compiled a tutorial that will teach you how to increase the sound quality of your microphone so that you may get the highest possible quality of sound. It is possible that you are not maximizing the potential of your microphone because you are not familiar with How to Make a Microphone Sound Better. Let’s get started with this!
Potential Reasons for Why Your Microphone Doesn’t Sound Good
A wide range of circumstances may cause audio input that is of poor quality. One, many, or all of these variables may be to blame for your bad mic audio.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the following factors to understand this difficult predicament better.
Reason 1: Physical Microphone Damage
If your headphones have taken more than one serious tumble, the microphone may have suffered apparent or invisible damage to the naked eye. Conduct a mic test to see whether or not the microphone on your headset is still functioning correctly.
Reason 2: Problems with Device or Application Settings
Input sound quality is also heavily influenced by the device’s settings and application. If you want to increase the sound quality of your microphone, you may need to conduct some research and experimentation.
Changing some of the internal settings will allow you to accomplish this goal. You may improve the sound quality of your microphone on any platform by taking the appropriate steps. We have the cheat sheet you need on your computer, Apple computer, Xbox, PlayStation 4, and even Discord and Streamlabs.
Reason 3: Too Much Background Noise
When you use your headset in a location with a lot of people or noise around you, there is a good probability that the microphone on your headset may take up all of those noises.
This is particularly important to remember if the microphone on your headset does not come equipped with its noise-canceling technology.
This is problematic for microphones with a high degree of sensitivity. There are occasions when these sounds in the background might even make it difficult to be heard.
Reason 4: Diaphragm Size
The mic’s diaphragm is a very thin membrane that sits in the center of the device and is responsible for converting sound waves into mechanical data. The diaphragm’s size directly correlates to the amount of audio data it can take up.
The sound quality on the other end of the call or recording is improved due to this change. On the other hand, the producers of headphones cannot fit enormous microphones inside the headphones. Because of this, the vast majority of them make use of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
Reason 5: Problems with Bluetooth Connection
Even though Bluetooth is now the standard connection that most devices utilize, a few issues still need to be handled with it. These include:
- Bluetooth Codec Transmission – Your output audio quality may suffer if audio data is lost during Bluetooth codec transfer.
- Outdated Firmware – When you don’t routinely update your device, you risk problems with the firmware’s compatibility. Because of this, the performance of your device as a whole, including its connection to Bluetooth, may suffer.
- Physical Obstructions – There is a potential for substantial connection troubles if there are significant impediments between your headset and your smartphone. Materials with a high interference potential include metal, concrete, and plaster. These materials may disrupt Bluetooth communications.
- Overcrowded Frequency Bands – The majority of the time, they are brought on by other devices using the same frequency bands as your Bluetooth device. Connectivity through WiFi, microwave ovens, power connections, and similar technologies are a few examples.
A Step-By-Step Guide to How You Can Make a Microphone Sound Better?
Follow the step-by-step guide to make your microphone sound better:
Step 1: Get Your Microphone Close to Your Face
It should be okay to place it anywhere from a few inches to a foot away. This indicates that you will also want a pop filter to lessen the popping and hissing that occurs when particular characters are spoken.
Step 2: Keep Your Microphone’s Gain Relatively Low
Gain adjustments may be found on the body of certain microphones, while others may need the gain to be adjusted via software. As a general rule, this will assist in getting rid of background noise by lowering the sensitivity.
Step 3: Use a Noise Gate and Compression
These effects may be applied straight to the video using OBS Studio and SLOBS. Although I’m unfamiliar with Xsplit, I’m willing to assume that it also has those filters.
These will enable your microphone to cease transmitting when the sound level drops below a specified threshold, and they will also allow the volume to be kept at a decent level even while you are speaking at a high volume.
Step 4: A Boom Arm is Helpful for Ideal Microphone Positioning
In addition, a shock mount may assist in reducing or eliminating vibrations caused by the surface to which the arm and microphone are mounted.
Step 5: Audio Meter Levels Reaching the Yellow Area
When you test your microphone, you want to ensure that the levels on your audio meter reach the yellow portion of the scale. You will be able to view this meter beneath your microphone device while you are using OBS.
The audio will move between the meter’s green, yellow, and red portions as you talk. The high green area is where you want to aim to have your game and music most of the time.
Your opinion is desired in color yellow. You don’t want anything to go into the red since it means the volume is becoming too high and might start clipping.
Bonus Part: 5 Ultimate Tips to Improve Your Sound Quality
Tip 1: Utilize the Proximity Effect to Your Advantage
Audio engineers face one of the most frustrating problems: the proximity effect. However, you don’t have to fear the proximity effect. The closer someone is to their microphone, the more bass frequencies you hear.
This is known as the proximity effect. You don’t want your bass frequencies increased, making this an issue. If you use EQ to remove the low frequencies, your music will sound hollow. You can get around the proximity effect by making use of it.
Use a near mic on your kick drum, snare, bass guitar, or rhythm guitar if you want a big, muscular sound. Instead of placing the mic close to the instrument, go for a more sensitive one that may be placed farther away. Additionally, understanding how to properly EQ sound sources may significantly impact the final sound.
Tip 2: Find the Best Microphone Placements on the Stage
Mic placement is one of the most important aspects of your live sound. Before post-production, engineers relied only on mic placement to ensure a clear recording.
Always keep “bleed” in mind while setting up your stage mics. Let’s imagine you’re in front of a guitar amp with a saxophonist. Both instruments should be mic’d, so neither guitar nor saxophone sound is “bleeding” into the other.
To keep your channels clear, you may use bi-directional microphones on your instrument and a cardioid microphone on your guitar amplifier. It will be much simpler to mix your live performance if you have your mic placements exactly perfect.
Tip 3: Obtain the Cleanest Sound Possible Before Mixing
Before mixing, make sure your levels are perfect. During a live performance, the objective should always be to make as few adjustments to the mic placement as feasible. This is related to the topic of mic placement, which we’ll get to in a second. It also has to do with the microphone you use.
Mics for various instruments provide diverse results. If you want to record guitar amps, bass amps, kick drums, or snare drums, for example, dynamic microphones are generally the ideal choice. It is possible to record powerful bass frequencies without distortion using dynamic microphones.
On the other hand, a condenser microphone is likely to provide the best sound for voices, acoustic guitar, and wind instruments. Instead, using ribbon microphones to record voices and instruments will provide the greatest results if you’re trying for a more natural, vintage, warm sound with a smooth mid-range response. Your final sound will, therefore, be largely determined by the microphone you choose.
Tip 4: Learn Your Microphone’s Features and Capabilities
The characteristics and features of each microphone are unique. Therefore, each microphone must be treated individually. For example, some microphones have a greater sensitivity range than others. Depending on the frequency response of the source, certain microphones are better at picking up high and midrange frequencies, while others are better at picking up low frequencies.
To acquire better sound, you should know the frequency response and response curve of the microphones you’re using so that you may choose the one most suited to the sound source you’re attempting to mic. A lack of high-frequency gain is a common problem with dynamic microphones, which typically have a flat frequency response in the midrange.
Other than being more durable than other microphones, dynamic microphones also have another advantage: they are less susceptible to damage. In addition to being less sensitive than condenser or ribbon microphones, Dynamic microphones are ideally suited to a wide range of loud noises, such as kick drums, thumping bass guitar amps, and forceful vocals.
However, condenser microphones provide a smooth low and mid-frequency response and a sharp and clear high-end, ideal for singing or instruments.
Compared to dynamic microphones, they’re more prone to breakage and have a higher threshold for noise. With them, you may get a clearer sound from a greater distance while maintaining the purity of your voice.
They shouldn’t be utilized with powerful sound sources to minimize distortion and clipping. Ribbon microphones are both costly and delicate. Thus they should be treated as such while being kept and handled. They can also provide a clean sound if you like a more vintage sound.
When utilized as overhead mics, they’re fantastic. To capture live drumming, ribbon mics are the best option. A superb-sounding drum kit may be achieved with only a pair of ribbon overheads and a single dynamic mic on the kick. Because you’ll be aware of the microphone’s limitations, you’ll be able to utilize it in a way that maximizes its performance.
Tip 5: Listen to the Sound Source Before Your Microphone
You must first listen to your source to ensure you get the best results from your microphone. If you don’t know how much signal is coming out of your sound source, you won’t be able to amplify it properly, and the mic location and EQ will change based on what you want to mic.
Before determining how to set up the mics for a singer, you should always listen to what they have to say. Depending on the singer’s tessitura, vocal style, and singing register, their vocal strength might vary greatly. It would help if you determined where the instrument produces the greatest noise for wind instruments to mic them.
For trumpets and saxes, place the mic near the instrument’s bell, for example. It is best to place the microphone around the mouthpiece or the instrument’s center for flutes. In the end, you’ll know how to adjust the gain at each level after listening to the sound source. Consequently, you’ll get performance with crystal-clear audio free of noise and distortion.
Start low and gradually increase your volume levels while setting up your sound system. Adjust the gain of your audio system in tiny amounts to prevent destroying any of its components. To put it another way, the input strength of each amplifier stage must be adjusted correctly to avoid signal distortion or clipping.
The Bottom Line
Ideally, these pointers have provided you with a better understanding of how to enhance the sound quality of your microphone. Check out the rest of our site if any of these recommendations caught your interest! Some of these ideas are covered in-depth in a number of our articles.