How To Make Your Mic Louder

If you’re a streamer or run a podcast, good mic sound quality can make or break you. Mic issues can also turn simple things like videocalls or recording your voice into a nightmare. 

Thankfully, there are simple ways to fix your volume. Of course, the solution may depend on your OS / the version you’re running.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to make your mic louder in Windows 10.

How To Make Your Mic Louder?

There are several ways to adjust microphone volume.

The solution largely depends on the reason your mic is underperforming. This could be anything from hardware malfunctions through software issues to badly set up settings. 

If you’re having a hardware issue, there’s usually nothing you can do except replace your device. But before you go there, there are a few things you can try.  

Below, I’m going to cover the most common reasons for your volume troubles. I’ll also give you a step-by-step solution for each one.

Let’s tune in. 

Increase Microphone’s Sensitivity

It’s possible that your sensitivity is turned down, and your device simply isn’t registering your voice properly. If that’s the reason your microphone is quiet, here’s what you need to do: 

• Open your Control Panel 
• Find the Sound tab and open it 
• Click on Recordings
• From the drop-down menu, pick the mic you use and click it
• Modify the Sensitivity levels 

Important: Make sure you don’t turn it up too much. An overly sensitive mic picking up on small background noise isn’t any better than a low-volume one. 

Increase Microphone’s Input

Another way of increasing microphone volume is by simply boosting its input. If your mic is registering your voice, but nobody can really hear you, this is worth trying.

Here’s how to increase your input in a few easy steps: 

• Right-click the Sound icon on the right side of the taskbar
• Select Sound Settings 
• Under Input, find your mic and click it 
• This will give you access to a slider you can use to control your microphone. Slide it all the way to the right to boost your input.

Change Microphone Volume Using Settings

If tweaking the sensitivity and input didn’t work, you might need to go deeper. You can also turn up microphone volume through your computer’s Settings. 

To do that, follow these steps: 

• Open your Start menu and click Settings 
• Choose System
• From the options on the left, click Sound 
• Under Input, pick the device you use (this only applies if you have more than one mic) 
• Select Device Properties 
• Use the aptly named slider to turn up microphone volume

Once you’ve done this, you can also test your mic to see if it worked. Just click Start Test and begin talking. You’ll see the exact level your computer registers your voice at. 

Boost Volume Using The Control Panel

The control panel offers another proven way of making your mic louder. 

If you prefer this straightforward approach, here’s what you need to do: 

• Start by opening your Control Panel
• Select Hardware and Sound
• Click Sound 
• Navigate to the Recording tab
• Right-click the mic you use and hit Properties. Or select the microphone in question and click the Properties button below
• Navigate to the Levels tab
• Use the slider or type a higher number in the text box to increase the value 
• Click OK to apply your changes 

Note: If you hit 100 in the first slider and are not satisfied with the result, use the Boost slider below to get higher microphone levels. 

Other Alternatives Of Making A Mic Louder

Tried all of the above with no luck? No worries – sometimes issues persist and require out-of-the-box thinking. 

Let’s go over some lesser-known ways to boost microphone volume. 

Give apps permission to use your mic 

Sometimes the reason your microphone is quiet is that you’re simply using an app that doesn’t recognize it. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s worth looking into – plus, it only takes a minute. Just do the following: 

• From the Start menu, select Settings > Privacy 
• Under App Permissions, choose Microphone
• Click Change and enable Allow apps to access your microphone
• You’ll get a list of apps. Pick the ones you want to give access to
• Enable Allow desktop apps to access your microphone 

Update your drivers

It’s easy to miss an update – we’ve all been there. And while it’s not usually a big deal, sometimes it can lead to performance issues. 

If you’re wondering how to fix a quiet mic, a simple driver update often does the trick. Here’s how to do it: 

• Go to your Device Manager
• Select Audio inputs and outputs 
• In the expanded drop-down, right-click your mic and choose Update Driver 
• Next, select Sound, video and game controllers 
• Right-click your sound card and click Update driver 
• Reboot your PC to let the changes take effect 

Use a microphone-boosting app 

As a last resort, you can use a third-party microphone volume booster. 

• Voicemeter is a free virtual audio mixer that works with different sources
• Audacity is a free open-source audio editor that works great as a booster
• EXPStudio is another free audio mixer/ mic booster that supports various formats

Each of these supports different features and comes with its own list of pros and cons. Ultimately, either one can be used to tackle a low mic volume issue. 

Wrap Up 

Between streaming, telecommuting, podcasts, online gaming, and just talking to friends, mics have become an integral part of each setup. So it can be quite inconvenient when yours decides to act up.

Now that you know how to boost mic volume, that inconvenience is a thing of the past. You can make yourself heard at meetings, run your stream with confidence, and never worry about volume issues again.