Microphone test : 3 ways to do a mic test

Almost everyone who is into podcasting or in general sound recording business faces this problem at some point of time. The mic is not recording anything! The worst part is, this is mostly realized in the middle of the recording or at the end of it. It is just a waste of time. This can be easily avoided by doing a microphone test or a mic test.

Why to you need a microphone test ?

With work from has become a new normal. Everyone attending online meetings using Google Meet , Gotomeeting , Zoom and many other services.

It is essential to test your microphone online or offline before you enter the meeting to save yourself from panic and embarrassment once you log in to your online meeting.

a mic test is also very essential if you are recording a podcast or any important live audio. If your mic is not working then you will lose all the audio and nothing will get recorded. Hence it is always recommended to do a mic test before starting to record.

Before you record your podcast or interview via Skype, testing your microphone is a must. You will first need to verify that your microphone is working. If you are doing a remote podcast recording , then this is even more important.

Mic test is applicable for type of microphones USB , XLR , Dynamic or condenser. It does not matter what type of microphone it is.

How do I test my microphone ?

There are three main ways to test your microphone. One is online method and other two are offline methods.

• Online mic test : Here you can take an online mic test over the internet using various online microphone tester websites.
• Offline mic test by using a software tool : Here you can take test your microphone offline without internet using offline microphone tester tools or software such as Audacity
• Offline mic test using windows : here you can use default windows microphone test facility to test your mic and ensure that it is working fine. you can test the mic test playback using your speakers.

Online Mic test : Test your microphone online

Online method of testing the microphone is probably the easiest one and should get the job done for the beginners.

If you are using skype or a similar program and you find your mic is not working, then it becomes difficult to find where the problem is. Is it with the application, it with the mic settings or the connections?

Testing the mic with online method can give a clear indication about the health of the mic and its connection with your PC.

When you use online mic tester, mike is trying to communicate to the browser. This is the most direct method that can be used for testing.

How to use an online mic test ?

Testing the mic online is easy.

Below is the list of various online mic testers or you can just Google online mic test and you would find many options. All of them do the same thing.

• https://www.onlinemictest.com
• https://www.vidyard.com › mic-test
• https://www.speakpipe.com › voice-recorder

In order to test your microphone online , you can follow the following steps. These steps will work with most of the online mic tester websites. Testing your microphone online is very easy , just follow the below steps.

Steps for online mic test

1. Go to the website of your choice ( https://www.onlinemictest.com / https://www.vidyard.com › mic-test / https://www.speakpipe.com › voice-recorder )
2. There will be a play button, click on that.
3. It may ask you to allow the access to your microphone, this is essential for the site to perform the test. You can click allow.
4. Speak into the microphone.

If everything goes well you should see a waveform on the screen, the ups and downs will match the volume of you speaking into the microphone. If you see the waveform, your mic is working fine.

If for some reason, if you do not see the waveform, you may have to check your mic settings or the connection of mic with your PC. Few other things you should check are

• the volume of your mic
• if you have selected the correct mic
• the mic is not on mute.

If you are only interested to know if your mic is functioning or not. Then online mic tester is efficient.

Offline microphone test

There are many ways to test the mic offline as well. You can use the recording tool itself or you can use the windows mic tester feature.

Use Recording software for a Mic test

The best tools to use for testing the mic offline are the same once you use to record. Audacity, Adobe audition and Garage Band for Mac all can be used to test the mic.

You can setup the mic in the tool of your choice, hit the record button and speak into it. You will see the waveform getting captured. You can also check the sound level also to ensure that volume is sufficiently high but not too loud to trouble the listeners.

Ensure that the highs and lows are close tot the top and bottom line of the waveform boundaries but not exceeding those.

Test your microphone using Widows 10 default Mic Tester

Windows also has a default mic tester. You can right click on the volume icon in your task bar at the right bottom of the desktop.

Click on Open Sound Settings. You will find a dropdown to select your microphone. Select the microphone that you want to use. There is a feature below this to test your microphone. Speak into the microphone and the blue bar should move to the right depending upon how loud the sound is.

If you do not find your mic or the bar is not moving, then you can use the Troubleshoot button to identify the problem.

Professional microphone test

Professionals and microphone manufacturing companies would like to test their microphones in far more detail. A dedicated software and hardware is generally used for this purpose following are some of the measurement functions that are used to test the microphone and rate the same.

• Sensitivity: Sensitivity the is output from the mic for a given input. Sensitivity, the ratio of the analog output voltage or digital output value to the input pressure, is a key specification of any microphone. A high sensitivity microphone isn’t always better than a low sensitivity microphone. Sensitivity tells something about the characteristics of the microphone but not necessarily about its quality.
• Signal to noise ratio: Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is technically the ratio of the power of the signal level to the noise power that corrupts that signal. Therefore, the higher the ratio, the less noise will be apparent in the overall microphone signal. Noise is an inherent issue in the world of audio. Maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio is critical to getting a clean audio signal from your recordings. Ideally, we want no noise in the mic signal and, therefore, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or infinity.
• Directivity: This is the ability of the mic to capture the sound coming from all directions. A large diaphragm microphone will generally capture sound from wider direction whereas a shotgun microphone has a very strong forward directional response. Those that uniformly pick up signals coming from all directions are referred to as omnidirectional.
• Distortion: When a signal passes from input to output, any change in that signal (i.e., the signal’s waveform) can be regarded as distortion. Any microphone will produce distortion when it is overdriven by loud sounds.

All these things Indicate the quality of sound produced by the microphone.

The software tool generally comes with a calibration setup as well to ensure that the background noise is cancelled.