How To Set Your Microphone Gain / Mic Levels

Setting up your home recording studio for voice over made easy. In this video we will go through the best tips to get your home recording studio sounding as best as possible.
Whether you’re working in a DIY vocal booth, or a professional studio, microphone levels are something to be aware of when you’re recording professional voice over. The three tips covered in this video will help you get the best recording quality in your home studio.
These tips include microphone proximity, microphone gain, and setting your levels properly on your interface. The distance to the microphone is especially important for voice over artists who are working in small home studios or vocal booths. This is because reflections, or sound leaving your mouth, hitting the walls in the room and coming back to the microphone can be a significant indicator of an amateur recording setup and will often make clients overlook your recordings. We will cover microphone proximity, microphone gain, and how to get the best voice over tone in your recordings.
Table of Contents:
0:00 - Intro
0:14 - Distance To The Microphone
1:07 - Setting The Gain
1:30 - Clipping or Peaking
1:43 - Recording Too Quiet
2:15 - Distance To The Microphone
2:27 - Eliminating Reflections
3:02 - Controlling Proximity
3:34 - Wrap Up
_________________________________________
Helpful Resources
www.voices.com/blog/which-mic...
www.voices.com/blog/how_to_pi...
www.voices.com/blog/microphon...
www.voices.com/blog/tips-pres...
www.voices.com/blog/pop_filters/
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[@voices]

What's your favorite vocal warmup? "meow now brown cow"

[@crafty4722]

Mine is: meow

[@elijahangel2473]

Does anyones else’s microphones sound muffle at high gain?

[@TalesByMax]

Q E Q R for 30 seconds, Hold an E at the highest pitch and then O and the lowest pitch. Fake exaggerated yawning, Sometimes I'll put my thumb in my mouth and push against my masseters to make give a good stretch to my clenching muscles.

[@KyokujiFGC]

I would add that the 6 inch rule is primarily for condenser mics. There are dynamic mics like the SM58 that you'd want at like 3 inches or less because it's basically built to let people eat it without clipping. 6 inches with one of those is generally going to be way too quiet.

[@voices]

Absolutely, well said! We typically recommend using condenser microphones for voice over, with a couple exceptions. - Randy

[@bintimedia439]

This was very helpful! Thank you so much. How you explained not recording quiet just cleared up a lot for me. I turned down my gain thinking it would limit the noise...it did but like you said, there was an issue in post. Thanks again!

[@voices]

Great to hear this was helpful for you!

[@ithinkaboutthings9052]

Very helpful, especially the bit about adjusting gain and the extra noise that I was trying to fix in post. Clear, concise and to the point!

[@voices]

Thank you so much, I'm glad this was useful! - Randy

[@sgtjonmcc]

Perfect, short quick simple to the point thank you!

[@voices]

You're so welcome! -Randy

[@MariaDrangel]

This is so useful! Thank you so much!

[@voices]

We’re happy that it was useful for you.

[@TheINFJChannel]

You're a good teacher, thank you. -Sadie

[@voices]

Thank you so much!

[@BuildLessons]

Very helpful thank you!

[@voices]

Glad it was helpful!

[@michaelfaugno7410]

Great Video. Thank you!

[@voices]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JorgeGarcia-nl2ds]

Helped a lot, thanks king

[@voices]

Glad to hear it -Randy

[@delha7891]

Excellent video. Have explained using limiter for vocals in any video.

[@voices]

Randy here, glad it was helpful! We have some videos planned for dealing with compression and limiting. For now, I'd recommend our Voice Over Ear Training video. I hope this helps.

[@NMRobertRamirez]

Thank you! Great explanation!

[@voices]

Thanks, Robert.

[@NMRobertRamirez]

@@voices Quick question... I have tried multiple microphones for my youtube video lessons. Every time, I get an interference noise. Is there a specific microphone you would recommend?

[@voices]

Hey Robert, it really comes down to budgeting. The Rode NT1A or Audio Technica AT2020 are some of the popular ones.

[@voices]

@@NMRobertRamirez We've written up the best microphones for voice actors. You can view our 2021 list here: www.voices.com/blog/which-microphones-are-best-for-voice-actors/

[@kintubeats]

well explained!!

[@voices]

Thank you! -Randy

[@JulioSerrano2015]

Thanx!! I just subscribed to your channel 😎

Great video thanks 👍

[@voices]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@voiceoverstartup9200]

Good advice!

[@voices]

Thank you!

[@kevinglennon2770]

This was the best video on the topic I've seen yet - really well done, man. And you got KILLER tone on this video. Question: how did you mic yourself for the main content? I don't see a lapel/lav, and you talk about the 6-8" rule, but there's nothing in frame. Curious how you nailed that.

[@voices]

Hey Kevin, Randy here. Thanks so much for the kind words, I really appreciate it! I actually have a Rode NTG3 shotgun mic just out of frame above my head (around 8-10" in front of me). They do such a good job at picking up directly what's in front and rejecting reflections and other sounds from the room. They are great tools, unless you have to move around a lot. I hope this helps!

[@anotherguycalledsmith]

Thank you very much, this was exactly what I was looking for ;-) You have a pleasant way of explaining things - a good reason to subscribe to your channel…

[@voices]

Thank you so much for the kind words. Glad it was helpful!

[@user-sq1lh1vo5e]

Hi! Such a great video! But I have my USB atr2500x microphone that has no gain adjust knob so how could I set the gain (In Pro tools ).

[@voices]

Hey there! Because your USB mic has no gain knob built into it and won't be running into a preamp, you'll have to make some of those adjustments after recording. For a simple Gain change in Pro Tools, Go to the "View" menu, scroll to the "Clip" sub menu. You will see the options for "Clip Gain Line" and "Clip Gain Info" toward the middle of the menu. Alternatively, you can experiment in moving the microphone around in your setup, changing the distance or angle is it set up at to get the right amount of volume you're looking for. Happy recording, Andrew

[@Mostafa_Shalchi]

What about shutgun mic? I have a Zoom SSH6 and I really dont know which is the best distance and gain to record

[@voices]

Shotgun mics are great! You can get away with the mic further away, but in the interest of avoiding room noise, I would still follow the same 6-8 inch rule.

[@onzkicg]

Thanks will give this a try. I always operate on 2” I thought that’s the rule of thumb. Regarding the direction- you u need the lips to be straight axis on capsule or which position? Thanks

[@voices]

You don't always have to be direct to the microphone. As you turn slightly off-axis, you will lose some of the high frequencies. This can be desirable if your voice is sounding a bit bright or shrill. Make sure to try a few options to see what works best for you in your space. Hope this helps -Randy

[@NasTimeAdventures]

Simple enough for a complete novice like me to make some sense of. Thanks so much.

[@voices]

That's awesome feedback! Very happy to hear this was useful for you.

[@ithinkaboutthings9052]

Same here. Too many tutorials for “beginners” are too insider for an actual novice.

[@soupyowls2545]

Hi there, great video! I have a USB condenser mic for streaming (hyperx quadcast) I have applied various filters including sound gate and a compressor but the issue I'm facing is my audio almost sounds like there is an echo. I believe the main cause is the gain on the mic so I lowered gain to zero on the mic itself, - 5db on recording software and upped volume of the mic to 100%. If I lower the gain anymore the mic will start to sound too quiet so a bit unsure as to what to do. Any help is much appreciated.

[@voices]

Your microphone might be picking up sound from your computer speakers causing a series of echos or feedback. Make sure your speaker volume is off. I hope this helps!

[@mahoneypirate]

Great video! I have a microphone question. I have a rode mic plugged into my focus right amp. I can't hear myself through my headphones when i record. I can when i listen back. In one of the videos you talked about hearing things in real time, Obviously, I can't. Suggestions?

[@voices]

Ahh yes, depending on what Focusrite unit you have, there may be a 'Mix' knob. This should control how much direct sound you're hearing through the box verses how much processed sound from the computer. If that fails, you should be able to find an option called 'input monitoring' in your software. Hope this helps! - Randy

[@danmagoo]

Thanks for this video. Two questions, please, if you get the chance: (1) What recording level, or range of levels of dB, are you shooting for? and (2) As between raising the pre-amp gain, and raising the recording level in Windows, which is the preferred or generally cleaner way to adjust? and which should be kept low, by raising the other? (I am using the Motu M2, recording into Windows with a Shure SM7B and Cloudlifter.)

[@voices]

Hey Dan, great questions. We recommend for auditions to record as loud as possible on the pre-amp without clipping. Having your peaks somewhere around -3 or -6dB is a great place to shoot for so that you can focus on your read without having to worry about clipping. In post, we recommend normalizing your audition file to -1dB. This will ensure that you're coming in nice and loud and matching the competition. Getting the levels right at the preamp is the focus. Boosting in post also brings up the noise floor of the room, so we want to get as loud at the source/preamp as we can to maintain the best signal to noise ratio. I hope this is helpful!

[@danmagoo]

@@voices Great info! Thanks so much for the quick and very helpful reply.

[@voices]

Happy to help.

[@hawahawalol]

I used to be able to make my mic further but ever since I have a monitorrizer I can't push my mic forward anymore. Do I need to reduce the gain? It is a usb mic though. Due to that my recording has scratchy voice

[@AngelJD]

Like to ask about faders. Should they be set at default to 0 or something else when setting up the gain for my microphone? I'm using the Audient iD14 version 1 as the interface and a sE V7 microphone.

[@voices]

Just to be clear, does your microphone have controls on the body? If not, I would recommend setting your gain low on your interface and slowly working it's way up (towards 0dB) while watching your meters in your software. You'll want to shoot for a nice strong level while being careful not to peak. - Randy

[@Dio5123]

I love you bro

[@ThisHandleIsInteresting]

If you have the gain down and you’re far away when yelling, the regular talking is gonna sound much louder than the yelling when up close. I imagine the gain is turned up as you back further away. Otherwise it’s picking up less of the detail in your voice from afar.

[@sSnowcube]

The main question I have when it comes to mic gain is how to properly set it on Windows. Since you have the microphone volume in the audio settings on the computer, AS WELL as the gain knob on your interface/preamp. How does that work? Do you set it to 100% then adjust your gain knob on your interface after? Or do you use some other number and then set your gain knob? I'm just confused. (I use a Focusrite iTrack Solo and an AT2035.)

[@voices]

Ahh that's a great question. This term is called gain-staging and it's really tricky when there are other gain options added in the signal path. I think a general rule of thumb would be to take advantage of the gain on your interface first. Chances are, the gain in your interface is cleaner than the gain on your computer's sound-card, so I would recommend setting the computer gain low. Hope this helps! - Randy

[@dez4578]

@@voices do u set the gain while ur vocal effects are on or off?

[@JuicyPolarBear]

Im just trying to find out how to turn down the gain on the rode nt usb.

[@voices]

Hey there, Randy here. From Rode: "Any necessary level adjustments to set the ideal recording level can be made from within your recording program or within system preferences". Hope this helps!

[@JRoseBooks]

Thanks for this video! I'm looking at buying a nice Uhuru Condenser XLR mic for recording KZbin videos, but now I'm concerned the mic will have to be in the shot. What do I need to look at to figure this out? I'd appreciate any wisdom you can give.

[@voices]

Hey there! With a mic like that, you'll definitely wan to get it as close to the source (your mouth) as possible. If you really don't want the mic in the shot, you could look into a lav mic that would clip to your shirt, or a shotgun style mic that pics up sources that are further away a little better. Hope this helps! - Randy

[@JRoseBooks]

@@voices VERY helpful, Thank you!! :)

[@redd7855]

I’m using a Sudotack ST-800 Microphone and the microphones clips and distorts the audio by itself on a certain dB. Adjusting the gain on the computer doesn’t change anything. Distance mattered but I had to be like 5 feet away from the mic to actually record louder audio. Is there a way i can adjust the gain using software?

[@voices]

Interesting question. I'm not too familiar with that microphone. I'd suggest reaching out to the manufacturer.

[@JarvisBaileyVA]

I need to consistently remind myself of this.

[@voices]

You and I both. -Randy

[@Chaos_Entertainment]

Im having problems with my microphone where my voice is cutting off. I messed with the threshold and attenuation and now all my videos where im speaking cut off when i soeak a little loud. what did i do wrong? im using the el gato hd60 game capture app.

[@voices]

Interesting, it sounds as though you may have a noise gate on your track that's acting a little too aggressively. Sometimes noise reduction can also cause this. I would try disabling any plugins or effects to see if that helps -Randy

[@VinayKumar-bs5xf]

I live near very crowded area can you tell me some software for noise suppression i already use rtx voice and krisp software but they killed my vocals pls help

[@voices]

Hi! You can try RX Spectral De-noise and RX Voice De-noise from Izotope. Try putting up some blankets as well. We also have a video on noise reduction that may help! You can watch it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5KkdJd7ja6kgM0

[@blackwellalex9512]

Hello, how easy does this work?

[@nashkadesrosiers1237]

Great video! My issue is hissing/white noise when I try to record. I lower my microphone's gain on my presonus amp to get as little noise as possible but then I lose the richness of the tone - any thoughts?

[@voices]

Hey Nashka, this is interesting. May I ask what kind of mic you're using?

[@nashkadesrosiers1237]

@@voices I have a Blue Microphone Cardioid Spark Condenser Microphone

[@voices]

It looks like my response never posted, but if this is a duplicate, I'm sorry. Sometimes one of the best and simplest upgrades is just the microphone cable. That can make all the difference sometimes. If you're doing anything really quiet, you'll probably still need to boost the gain quite a bit, but you can try to balance it by getting nice and close to the mic. I hope this helps!

[@jayadevanpattali]

sir, I have a problem facing. Here My mic is blue baby bottle and audio interface is presonus. Here if I am keeping the gain -8 also I am getting some noise with the raw vocal . How to solve it?

[@voices]

This could be a number of things. It could be your interface not receiving enough power from the USB port (or hub), it could also be ambient noise in your room.

[@johnt.6107]

I have built myself a room for voice recording with foam in it(wich is covering everything from sealing to the middle of the room) . The sound has really improved through this and I try to always follow the six inch rule, but I don't know if it is me being to critical with myself but I still hear a slight echo if someone is becoming more loud, or accidentally going slightly more away while recording. I would like to know how to avoid this and why voice actors seem mostly not to be following the six inch rule and it still sounds flawless in the shows?

[@voices]

Great question. Small rooms are troublesome for voice recording. This has to do with room modes -feel free to look that up because it's a loaded topic. The short of it is that foam is really good at reducing mid to high frequencies, but it does almost nothing for low end. Most of the reverberations you are likely hearing are in the low end. When you see people in larger studios (like Pixar, etc.) they are typically in large, heavily treated rooms which suffer less from room modes than smaller booths. If you're limited to a small space, you may want to test out a shotgun mic like the Sennheiser MKH416 or something less expensive. This polar pattern will help reject many of the reflections in the room and allow you some more freedom to move when recording. I really hope this helps! -Randy

[@johnt.6107]

@@voices Thanks. Yeah it does explain the problem. The box is 2meters high and wide with 1,5 broad. I hope that doesnt count as small space, because there is much time and money in it. Until now i usually used one cheap mic wich i had to come really close to to not get room sound on. Because of a going project i cant use another mic because of the quallity change. I plan to use my two Yeti mics now more, but i am still worried that this problem might happen with them too. And if not i would like to know one thing: i have multiple choices to increase the recording volume, by setting the mic itself of course, then by increasing the recorded volume in my recording program (audacity) and also by increasing the mics recording volume in the blue programm. Know i wanna know wich of these should i use more often, because i sometimes had the incident that if i increase it manual, it gets background noises, but maybe i can decrease that by only using the increase features of the two programms. I would like your opinion on that.

[@voices]

@@johnt.6107 It's difficult to speak to the quality of each gain option, but you could certainly do some testing. My instinct would be to use the Blue software, as they've probably calibrated the software to work best with the microphone's gain. I hope this is helpful - Randy

[@johnt.6107]

@@voices Yes you give me hope. I plan a audioplay with multiple people talking at one point so the side by side mode of the yetis is most useful to this. Is it possible to lower the background noises by aplying a little more bass? I just tryd it and it eather improved or im crazy. Thanks again for the quick reply.

[@BrianStollery]

When you say "adjust the level on the preamp" do mean "adjusting the gain level"? Thank you for your video!

[@voices]

Yes, correct! Sorry I wasn't more clear.

[@BrianStollery]

Thank you!

[@ledouu]

Is there a rough guideline to follow when setting your db. Is -6db okay?

[@voices]

t's a balance as you're trying to get the audio as loud and punchy as possible without having to worry about clipping while you're working hard! If your peaks are coming in around -3 to -6 you'll be in good shape, especially if you normalize to -1 before exporting.

[@ledouu]

@@voices thanks appreciate the quick feedback 👍🏽

[@bread5788]

If i send you a link to my stream, could you tell me what i need to fix?

[@voices]

I'd recommend to visit our blog voices.com/blog for additional audio recording tips.

[@1aspwlf47]

How do you set GAIN for singing? Cuz obviously they say to make it go MAX ( when singing loudest note 10db and when normal singing 18db.... is that exactly right or no? how is that possible because you can’t exactly sing always making it stay in between them sooo...... Should I sing loudest note and set it by that OR sing my normal loudness and set it by that

[@voices]

For singing, I would recommend setting your gain based on your loudest part. You always want nice strong levels without peaking, so find a loud spot in your song, make sure you're not peaking, and you should be good to go. Hope this helps - Randy

[@ronnieblanchet4072]

Good work! SOLI DEO GLORIA (To The Glory Of God Alone) Father, Son & Holy Spirit -Ronnie

[@killerxqueen9922]

do you have a tips for avoiding "mouth sounds" I have a pop filter-the kind that goes directly over the mic and I still hear it sometimes and have to do alot of editing. I think I have permanent dry mouth :/

[@voices]

Hey there, thats actually quite common. The pop filter is really only designed to stop large air bursts (plosives) from hitting your mic. The sound of your mouth moving will be unaffected. If you're dry, try a sugar-free gum to stimulate the glands. If the saliva is clicky, it may require some acidic fruit to help. Green apples do wonders! Hope this helps - Randy.

[@killerxqueen9922]

@@voices Thanks! I've heard of using green apples but I thought it sounded wrong, I'll definitely try it now :)

[@samnishanthv2636]

Can u tell me which software ur using

[@voices]

I use ProTools to record audio and iZotope RX9 to clean the audio. -Randy

[@nictegki]

I'm a Spanish speaker, is there any chance I can get hired with no experience for reading text? I love reading out loud. How can I start?

[@chaosblow4838]

didnt quite understand why you shouldnt stay as close to the mic as possible, is it to avoid clipping?

[@voices]

Great question. You'll have to consider the proximity effect. The voice sounds significantly different when it's recorded at different distances. Recording extremely close to the mic works really well for a very intimate sound. It will sound like someone speaking directly beside your ear. This is generally a little unnatural for commercial or narration reads, where being around 4-8" from the mic tends to sound a little more natural. Hope this helps!

[@chaosblow4838]

sure does thanks :>

[@PapiGamingChannel]

Hey Randy can I ask you a question?

[@PapiGamingChannel]

When I recorded a voiceover, using a Shure mv88, when I played back in post, it sounded good, so I exported the video and uploaded to KZbin... then through my phone or iPad the video Audio I can hear easily but when I watched the same video on my smart tv KZbin app, my audio was really really quiet. Why does this happen maybe I don’t understand the dB or the EQ

[@voices]

Interesting! So it's playing back correctly on your phone and iPad but not on your TV? That's really strange. It sounds like it may be an audio codec issue. KZbin supports MP3, WAV, AAC audio in MOV container, and FLAC audio. I know some iPhone recording apps use MPEG-4 filetype. This would be the only thing I can think of. I hope this is helpful!

[@PapiGamingChannel]

@@voices do you have access to both a smart tv and a mobile? Maybe I can send you the link to the video in particular and you can listen to it on both devices, then maybe you can determine from that?

[@PapiGamingChannel]

@@voices kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3-VqKithKZ7q6s Just the first 10 seconds (the intro) is where I hear it fine on my phone but really quiet on the smart Tv

[@voices]

I don't, have a smart tv unfortunately. Check out KZbin guidelines and see if this helps support.google.com/youtube/answer/4603579?hl=en

[@johnlau5216]

Remember, social distance = 6ft, mic distance = 6in

[@ThisHandleIsInteresting]

Okay, but what gain level should the mic always be at? 😑

[@voices]

It's going to be different on every mic, every person, and every preamp. You'll have to experiment to see what works best with your equipment.

[@ThisHandleIsInteresting]

@@voices Gotcha.

[@emilsoberbro36]

so yeah that distance rules appply to all microhpones yeah??? wronnnngggg.....

[@voices]

You're right, omni directional, and some other polar patterns will require a different set of rules. Those microphone types however, are rarely used in voice over.

[@josuesadambi9520]

Traduisez en français

[@dobbatron]

Tbh 'record as loud as poss without hitting the red' isn't great advice....it's not tape and not all daws, meters etc look the same. Numbers are more accurate/measurable. During your pre-read/warmup set you gain so your levels are hitting between -18 and -6dB at the very peaks. DAWS don't need a 'hot' signal to make great recordings and these levels will give you enough space (aka headroom) to do your eq, compressing, limiting etc properly without hitting 0dB.

[@voices]

Randy here, thanks for the comment. We follow this practice as it's important that people understand signal to noise ratio, especially for those recording with inexpensive equipment. Boosting in post is totally fine in most cases, though in a lot of cases it raises the noise floor to an inappropriate level. Many of our talent are recording in less than idea conditions, so good levels upfront is advised. In an ideal world, everyone would have a space where they can record with less gain.