Mic audio too low

lapua65

I'm confused now...I purchased a cheap USB mic from Amazon and it was awful and sound quality and level were really low. So invested in a more expensive model USB mic and although quality improved the level was still too low. So I trawled the net to find that USB mics were pretty crap. I have borrowed a Behringer UMC22 with XLR mic input and purchased an AKG dynamic microphone and again audio is level is so low. I have downloaded software such as Voice Box to amplify the level and now we have good level but incredibly noisy at peak. I have adjusted the gain and input levels for a while and just do not seem to be able to get to a point where level for voice is high enough without background noise being a nuisance.
Any ideas where this is going wrong? If I use the mic for Zoom or Skype it is pretty useless. I have all the Win10 controls set up for the UMC but it just will not behave.

John_A

What’s the source?  Vocal, instrument?  What’s the volume of the signal and how close to the mic?

edit, sorry see it’s for zoom.  Anything but the cheapest/nastiest usb mic should be just fine

Danny1969

Is it a laptop ?  you sure your not plugging the mic in but the software is actually using the built in mic because you need to tell Win 10 to use the USB mic ?

drofluf

Danny1969 said:

Is it a laptop ?  you sure your not plugging the mic in but the software is actually using the built in mic because you need to tell Win 10 to use the USB mic ?

This could well be the answer. The same thing happened to me - took ages to work out what was happening.

lapua65

No this is on a main PC desktop with the UMC showing as the input device and all gains work in as much as the audio increases as you turn everything clockwise. The level just seems so low. It does seem to be a common issue with MIC levels and win10 but despite the number of questions about it there doesn't seem to be a standard fix. I can add a software preamp but that is just increasing the background noise as well as the volume. If I plug a guitar or aux input i can max the level out with the gain at 50%. Just the mics causing the problems.

TheBigDipper

Does your PC have a built-in mic? If so, is that also too low or is it better than your USB mic and/or dynamic mic into audio interface? 

Also, can you turn up your audio interface input to the point your dynamic mic is clipping? Making the red light on the unit come on (I'm assuming there's a red light that shows you when your mic is too loud for the A/D converter).