Question / Help Increasing Mic Volume Past 100%

Kappaccino

New Member
Just a quick question. I don't want to increase the volume on my physical mic any more to avoid peaking, but I'm not satisfied with how loud my mic is during my stream. If I go to Advanced Audio Properties for my mic, and I increase the volume past 100%, will the sound start to go wishy-washy? Do I lose any audio quality if I boost it past that? Thanks!
 
Don't do it that way, what you'll want to use is a compressor.

Compressors can help increase your clarity by bringing your peaks closer to your valleys, compressing your dynamic range, smoothing out difference in input level. When you do this it allows you to add "make-up" gain, which raises your RMS level/perceived loudness.

I have no idea what your levels are currently like so I will give you some rough settings, to start with I'm at work

Add a compressor filter to your mic,

Threshold - -24dB
Attack - 5ms
Release - 15ms
Ratio - 2:1
Output Gain: Start with +6dB

The settings explain.

Threshold - The level where an input signal will begin to get gain reduced
Ratio - The amount of gain reduction. A 2:1 ratio means for every 2dB the signal passes the threshold, it will only output 1dB.

A Compressed 0dB signal with a threshold of -24 and ratio of 2:1 will output at -12dB, before taking into account the attack time

Attack Time - The time, in milliseconds, it takes the compressor to go from 1:1 to 2:1 after the input passes the threshold. The longer the attack, the slower the compressor ramps up to full gain reduction. Longer attacks can add "punch" to your voice but you'll have less GR, shorter attacks control your peaks better as you will be closer to full GR but can make your voice mushy.

Release Time - The time, in millisecond, it takes the compressor to go from 2:1 to 1:1 after the input level drops below the threshold. For vocals you want a shorter release time so the compressor doesn't GR for longer than it needs to, longer release times can lead to a strange pumping effect where the beginning of a word is quieter than the end, this is because the GR from the previous word is still in effect.

Output Gain - The amount of make up gain, compression lowers input levels, so you make up the difference with gain

There's many many ways to set up a compressor and I can't explain in text. Lots of info on the internet though
 
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