Microphone is EXTREMELY soft - I've tried everything

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KuJaX

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I am trying to help someone with their microphone problem and I swear we've tried everything.

He uses Skype and has always been extremely soft. By soft I mean that I have Klipsch 5.1 speakers, setting "50" hurts my ears and I have to take it to "90" just to hear him, but I CAN hear him. To rule out the microphone, I had him plug it into his laptop and Skype me, and I could hear him just as if I was on the phone with him with my speakers set to "50", so the microphone is definitely fine.

We've gone to the extent of purchasing a ~$10 sound card on Newegg for testing. He got it installed, installed the drivers, and we set it as the primary device in the sounds and audio controls within Windows. Now we went to properties within there and put a check mark on all of the items (Play Control, Wave, MIDI Synth, CD Digital, Line-In, Microphone, ETC) and all of them are at the top of their bars. We did the same for the "recording" end of the play control panel properties, all to the top and nothing set to MUTE.

He can hear fine through his speakers with this new sound card, but again, the microphone is so very weak. I CAN heard him though, which is a good sign.

Installed is the Realtek audio panel from the onboard sound application and he said he went through there and checked everything and made sure nothing was low, but everything set to high.




Is there a simple application that will overule ANY type of programs, software or drivers that may be controling the microphone sound volume? What would you recommend that we try? Even if it may be something dumb, we may have missed something and any comments or suggestions are appreciated!
 
Try different sound drivers. I remember when I updated to Beta OpenAL creative drivers, my microphone did the same thing. It was barely audible. When I rolled back to my old drivers it worked fine again.
 
Is Skype the only app with issues? I think there's a built-in audio setup wizard, try running through that and playing with the gain to see if you can get it to a good setting.
 
Zero82z said:
Is Skype the only app with issues? I think there's a built-in audio setup wizard, try running through that and playing with the gain to see if you can get it to a good setting.
Click to expand...

No Skype isn't the only application with issues. Even during the Skype setup wizard his sound speakers were "10" quality or something and his microphone said "3".

BTW: This issue was around with the onboard sound, that is why i had him purchase a cheap PCI sound card.
 
phide said:
What kind of microphone?
Click to expand...
It is something hooked onto the headset also. I do not believe this makes a difference though because it worked just fine on the other system.
 
Didn't read the whoel thread, but did you try enabling the +20 decibel boost in sound properties?
 
Pipo said:
Didn't read the whoel thread, but did you try enabling the +20 decibel boost in sound properties?
Click to expand...

The boost isn't even available.
 
Soft microphone, eh? Maybe it's time to respond to one of those "Liquid Cialis" spam emails you've been getting :p
 
saber07 said:
Those are for your penis, not a microphone.
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the info!

Back on topic, let me get the situation straight. Your buddy has a microphone, which works on other computers, but not his computer. On his computer, it doesn't matter which soundcard he uses, the microphone is always super-quiet.

Does that sound about right? If so, try going into "sound recorder" and talk into the microphone. See what the waveform looks like. If it is something like THIS, the problem is in the output stage. If it's flat, or nearly flat, the problem is input. I would assume the problem is input, but using sound recorder, you should be able to more quickly change options and see your results, thus making the diagnosis process much quicker.

Have you tried using a different microphone on his computer?
 
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