How to Fix a Microphone Sounding Quiet in Playback
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Background
The other day, I was talking to a coworker about microphones. “Yeah, I’ve had this one for a while but I don’t love it.”
“Dude, you should get the setup I have. I knew this guy from college who had a podcast and was an audio engineer. I said to him, ‘I’ll pay you $100 to hop on a call and help me get the best setup for podcasting.”
So I reached out to his friend — Sage Goodwin — and asked if he still recommended the same setup and the answer was yes. So I ordered it a couple weeks later.
- Electro-Voice RE320 Large Diaphragm Dynamic Vocal Microphone
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface
After sharing on Twitter, a couple friends suggested getting a preamp which gives you a bit of a boost (helpful if your mic is sounding quiet). I got this one.
The Problem
I still felt like my mic was quiet. And to be fair, I had this problem with my previous mic setup.
It felt like most audio playback (Spotify, YouTube, etc) could be played at 5/10 of the system volume. But for whatever reason, when I played back videos recorded using my mic, I had to adjust the volume to 8/10.
And who wants to adjust the mic every time they switch between content? Nobody.
Finally, my friend Brent responded to my tweet with a suggestion that covered everything.
The Solution
This 4-min video. This explains the exact problem I was having and explains how to solve it in OBS using a combination of filters. It’s a must-watch if you’re facing this problem.
I’ll also recommend reading Understanding the Mixer which was recommended by my friend Levi who said, “Green is for computer sounds, yellow for voice and red is too high.” Keep that in mind when adjusting your gain in OBS!
Thank you!
Wanted to give a special shoutout to everyone who helped me figure this out: