Audio driver issue or hardware issue?

March 26, 2019 3:56 PM

Windows 10 desktop, I got a USB mic, it won't go higher than -24 db, and any options to raise the gain are just missing.

The best I've gotten is: from the Sound Control Panel, microphone's Properties window, Levels tab. I set the Levels to 100. Google says there is sometimes a "Mic Boost" option there, but I don't have it. Some google hits talk about sound managing programs like Realtek being installed, but I can't find one. The Device Manager isn't giving me any details about a sound card - it just has "High Definition Audio Device" and "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" listed and neither of them have any information that I understand. I updated drivers for everything.

The sound I'm getting is intelligible but it's peaking at -24 db and the noise level is -48 db. My for-dummies understanding is that I want to bump the gain up as high as possible without clipping, and I want to do that in recording, not in post. This is with the mic six inches away from my face.

Is it really, certainly a problem with the sound card being incapable? Is there a software fix? or is the best fix to just talk louder? Thank you!

posted by Rainbo Vagrant to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Any chance there's a gain adjustment knob hidden on the mic itself?

Any chance you can use a different recording software with a broader range of gain control, possibly Audacity?
posted by churl at 4:32 PM on March 26, 2019

Oh, and any chance it's actually giving you readings from a different mic, such as the built-in one on your computer?
posted by churl at 4:35 PM on March 26, 2019

If it is a USB mic then it is its own audio device separate from any sound card. Sometimes there is a driver you need to manually download/install before Windows will recognize it as an audio device. You may need to poke around in properties, as described in this possibly not spammy tutorial, to pick it as the default sound input. The sound you describe is suspiciously similar to the sound of Windows aiming at some other microphone that you're not near.
posted by range at 4:37 PM on March 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also seconding audacity as an audio probe here. The go-to test is usually tapping on the mic itself -- extremely loud for that microphone if all is well, basically inaudible to any other microphones nearby, and visually obvious on the level meter. Depending on how your computer's onboard audio system behaves it's entirely possible a set of headphones plugged into the PC is being drafted into service as a terrible microphone without your knowledge.
posted by range at 4:47 PM on March 26, 2019

Response by poster: There's no gain knob, there's no other mic, I did set this one as the default sound input, and tapping on this specific mic caps out the incoming sound level like you'd expect.

The mic definitely has a plug-n-play driver installed and I can't find any other driver on the vendor's site.

I'm already using Audacity with its gain at maximum, I think? I did my for-dummies learning on Pro Tools so I might be mixed up.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 5:03 PM on March 26, 2019

Best answer: Very weird. Any other computer you have access to try it with? It would be good to know if the symptom follows the mic or the PC.

Also, do you get a dramatically better result with the mic between 1 and 2 inches from your mouth? If it's a particularly "close-talking" mic, 6 inches of air could be a lot. The ones in the studio I manage are very close-talking and have a pretty major falloff between 3-5 inches (by design), and we advise guests to aim to keep their mouth 1-2 inches from the mic if they can. Some mics have really unforgiving cardioid patterns too, so it's worth knowing if it's a side-address mic like a Yeti or a top-address mic.
posted by churl at 5:24 PM on March 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I don't have another computer, but I do have another old cheap headphones mic, and that one has the "Mic Boost" option available to it lol. Maybe because it plugs into the 3.5mm jack instead of USB.

however, you were right. There's a huge difference going up to 2 inches. Thank you. I really should have figured that out, ugh. I still would love to know why it has less options, but whatever. The mic is a Blue Snowball, if anyone's wondering.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 6:16 PM on March 26, 2019

I've no experience with the Snowball myself, but after a little poking around I did find a video (from 2015, so maybe no longer relevant) that does say there's an occasional glitch where you have to remove the Snowball from your devices via the Control Panel, then unplug it and plug it back in in order to get proper levels.

Also if you've got the original Snowball (not the Snowball Ice), there's a switch on the back of the mic, and the middle position adds a 10 db pad.

But generally the consensus seems to be that the mic is definitely designed to be used very close.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:09 AM on March 27, 2019

Owned multiple Snowballs and can confirm for solo voice recording you want the cardioid switch on 1 and a pop filter about an inch from the mic, then your mouth about an inch from the pop filter. With a lot of experimentation I got best results from aiming my mouth just above center (basically pointed my mouth at the status light) which captured a lot of presence without my breathing getting picked up too much. Have fun!
posted by churl at 1:10 PM on March 27, 2019