{"id":18118,"date":"2015-08-27T01:55:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T00:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=18118"},"modified":"2023-04-12T01:33:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T00:33:56","slug":"windows-10-and-quiet-microphone-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=18118","title":{"rendered":"Windows 10 and Quiet Microphone Level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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AntLion ModMic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note that this is a very old post.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been using Windows 10 for almost a month now and I\u2019m very impressed with it. I\u2019ve not had a single crash, and every piece of software I have works on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something I want to start making more use of is speech recognition and speech-to-text (for dictation purposes). I looked around for a decent headset (headphones + microphone), but I couldn\u2019t find one I liked. To be honest, their appearance put me off more than anything, with the boom microphones just looking like flat strips of plastic. I was really after something like my Sennheiser HD 205 phones, but with a mike fitted. And then I thought: why not fit a separate mike to my Sennheisers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some searching I came across the AntLion ModMic<\/a>. I checked out the reviews and decided this was the way to go, and a little more searching revealed that it is distributed by several companies in the UK. I chose LimeXB<\/a> because they had the lowest price).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I\u2019d fitted it \u2013 and it fits well \u2013 I started testing it. The first thing I noticed was that the sound level from the mike was very low. Windows could pick it up, but it was advising that I either speak up (which could have resulted in my lungs being expelled from my body, since I was already shouting), or move the mouthpiece nearer my mouth (which at that point in my testing would probably have meant inside it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been through all this before with Windows. It\u2019s not an actual fault with either hardware or software. It\u2019s a settings issue. And I discovered that Windows 10 has a setting I\u2019ve never seen before which fixed the problem immediately. Here\u2019s what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click Search <\/strong>and type \u201csound\u201d, then press enter. This opens up the Hardware & Sound<\/strong> app. Alternatively, open the Control Panel<\/strong> and select the app from there, then click on Sound.<\/strong> This dialog box (or similar \u2013 you may see different devices listed) appears:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Click the Recording<\/strong> tab and you see this (again, you might have different devices listed):<\/p>\n\n\n

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Double-click the Microphone<\/strong> device and this dialog appears:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Now click the Levels<\/strong> tab and you will see this:<\/p>\n\n\n

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You\u2019ll probably find first of all that the Microphone<\/strong> level is set to less than 100% (mine had defaulted to 80%). Set this to maximum. The interesting one is that Microphone Boost<\/strong> slider \u2013 I\u2019m sure I never saw that in Windows 7 or earlier versions, though I\u2019ve not really bothered with using a mike much in the past. Set this to maximum, too. Then click OK<\/strong> to close all the dialog boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should now find that your microphone is ultra-sensitive. You may even have to adjust the boost to a lower setting as it might be too sensitive, but you can do that as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m just getting to grips with Windows 10\u2019s speech recognition. Even without any training (the computer needs to learn how you speak) I can open, close, and manipulate various apps. And dictation (which IS going to need some training) looks like it could be great fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you pin microphone levels to the task bar?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but they’re already pretty much there. If you look at the end of the task bar, you’ll see the speaker icon. Right-click it and you’ll get a menu like this (note that I have my task bar on the side of my screen):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Task bar speaker icon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you select Recording devices<\/strong> it takes you straight to the dialog box with the Recording <\/strong>tab I discussed above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n