Welcome back, in today’s video I’ll be showing you how to improve your microphone
sound quality on a Windows 11 PC or laptop.
The methods in this video should work for any type of microphone, including wireless
ones that might be part of a headset.
Some of the customization options will differ depending on each microphone and its connection
type, so don’t worry if it doesn’t look exactly like it does on my screen.
We might be able to add things like a mic boost or change the input quality level.
Remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe if the video helps, let’s get
into the methods.
We’re going to start by checking that we have our microphone setup correctly.
You might have the wrong mic selected which is why it doesn’t sound as good.
If you’re confident yours is setup as it should be then feel free to skip ahead a little
to get straight into the ways to improve the quality.
To check, we’re going to look in the sound control panel and we need to go the main control
panel first.
You can get there by searching for it in the search bar.
In the control panel, click on hardware and sound.
Now click on sound and it should open a separate window.
In the new window, first go to the recording tab, it should be the second option.
You should see all of the microphones and sound input devices connected to your PC in
here.
If you don’t see your device in here, right click on an option and choose show disabled
and show disconnected devices.
To enable your microphone in here, right click on it and then click on enable.
You can set it as the default sound input device in here too with the button at the
bottom of the window.
If you still don’t see your microphone on the list, then click on the card now to go
to a video of mine showing you ways to fix a microphone that isn’t working in Windows.
Leave this window up for now, as we’ll be coming back to it a little later on.
We’re now going to quickly check that there are no issues with the input sound on our
PC.
Feel free to skip this if you think yours is fine, but it might be worth checking before
we begin customizing the settings.
To do this, we’re going to run the recording audio troubleshooter.
This can be done by going to the main settings page by searching for it and then in the settings,
click on system from the options on the left side, but you should be in here by default.
In the system settings, click on troubleshoot and then on the next page, choose other trouble-shooters.
Now click on run next to the recording audio troubleshooter and choose the device you want
to use and allow Windows to look for any possible problems.
Now that we have looked for and ruled out any issues with our microphone, we’ll now
move onto the methods to improve the quality.
The first method will be to look at the customization options within the main settings page so head
there first.
In the settings, click on system from the options on the left but again you should be
in there by default.
In the system settings, click on sound from the list of options.
In here, look for your microphone in the input section and click on it once to customize
some of the settings.
Within here, you can change things like the quality format, which could potentially improve
the quality if you increase it.
You can also edit the input volume for just this microphone.
Reducing the microphone input volume might help reduce any background noise that it picks
up, so try a few different levels.
I highly recommend trialling all of the options, especially for the quality format to see if
it improves sound quality and of course, some will be down to personal preference.
There might be more customization options back in the sound control panel that we left
open before.
If you’ve closed it, the method to get there was the control panel, which can be accessed
by searching for it.
Then hardware and sound, and then sound.
Now make sure you are in the recording tab and double click on your microphone.
There will be various different tabs in here that will allow you to change more settings,
but this will differ depending on your microphone.
The levels tab allows you to change the volume and might include an option to boost the sound.
Have a look to see if there are any other tabs that let you adjust certain settings
that could improve the quality.
A quick thing to mention is that it’s worth checking on the microphone itself for any
options to change the quality.
For example, you might be able to turn down the sensitivity which could reduce background
noise.
The next method to improve microphone sound quality is to try and update the device drivers.
There’s a chance that the correct drivers aren’t installed, and we can check for any
driver updates too.
To do this, we need to go to the device manager.
You can get there by searching for it in the search bar.
In the device manager, look for the section called audio inputs and outputs and double
click on it to expand it, it should be near the top.
In here, look for the microphone you want to update the drivers for.
Double click on its name to bring up the properties window.
Now go to the driver tab, which should be the second option.
In here, find where it says update driver and click on that if you can.
Now choose the automatic option, which should be the top option of the two available.
If there are any drivers that Windows finds, it should install them automatically.
However, it might say that the best drivers are up to date.
The next method to improve your mic quality is to use a piece of software called Audacity.
There are other similar options when it comes to software like this, but Audacity is widely
used and its completely free.
Click the card onscreen now for a video of mine that will show you how to safely download
and install audacity as well as set it up so that you are ready to record.
Once you have audacity set up with your chosen mic, you can simply hit record to start the
recording and then stop once you’re done.
One of the most valuable tools in Audacity is the noise reduction feature.
Click the card onscreen now for my video showing you how to remove background noise from audio
in Audacity.
After removing background noise, some of the other things you might find helpful are a
few of the other options in the effects tab.
Things like the compressor, bass boost, treble boost and the limiter are some of the tools
I use to improve the quality of my microphone.
There are also plenty of other options within audacity in the effects tab to fine tune the
quality of your mic.
Have a play around to see what suits your voice or sound the best.
It is possible to edit the sound of your microphone live with some software, but this is a little
more complex.
I’ll leave links to some of the software that can do this.
Follow the instructions on the websites to learn how to install and setup the software.
Those are all of the methods I have within Windows 11.
Of course, there are a few things you can do yourself to potentially improve your mic
quality at home.
Try and remove as much background noise as possible before doing it within Windows 11.
Turn off any devices that may make background noise or hum such as the AC or fans.
You could also try moving the mic further away from you when you speak, that could possibly
improve the quality.
Also, you could maybe use things like a sock or a sponge to cover the mic to act as a pop
filter and windshield.
Try recording in a place that has few hard surfaces, hard surfaces will cause echo.
And finally, the best way to improve mic quality is to invest in a better microphone.
I know this defeats the object of the video but there are plenty of good cheap mics out
there, reviews might help you find the best one.
And so those are my methods to try and improve the sound quality of your microphone on a
Windows 11 PC or laptop.
Click the card on screen now to watch a video of mine showing you ten easy ways you can
speed up your Windows PC.
Those methods should work on nearly all versions of Windows.
Help support the channel by visiting the store – the link is in the description and at
the end of the video.
If you have any questions, then let me know in the comments below and if you did find
today’s video helpful remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe for more
tips in the future.
Be sure to stick around to see some of my other videos that you might be interested
in.
Thanks so much for watching and I will see you in another video!