Over the years, the number of devices and peripherals that we can use in our Windows 10 device has been growing greatly. This is something that increases the functionality of the PC, which improves the work we carry out daily with our team.
These devices we are talking about, can refer to all types of environments and types of work: multimedia, Internet, storage, etc. In this way, what we achieve in being able to perform a greater number of tasks with our PC, while increasing its functionality. Whether through a webcam, an external hard drive, a printer, speakers, or a microphone, these are items that we use daily.
Moreover, due to its widespread use, some of these elements already arrive integrated into the equipment itself when purchased. This is something that happens, for example, with the webcam or microphone that we already find in most laptops. Well, in these lines we will focus on one of these “add-ons” that we usually use for certain tasks on the PC. This is none other than the microphone, a device that we use for a good amount of tasks.
To say that current microphones can be used to communicate with other users via the Internet via Skype, for example. Also if you are regular players on the PC platform, so you can configure the microphone on Steam. But you can also use it to give orders to the team, or even to write texts in Docs. From all this it follows that little by little the functionality of this element, often forgotten, has increased considerably. For all these reasons, we are going to show you how to configure a microphone in Windows 10 in the best way.
Set up a microphone in Windows 10, in a few steps
At this point we should know that in desktop computers, these are usually connected to the computer through a USB port. On the contrary, as we mentioned, in most laptops, this is an element that is already integrated. However that does not mean that it is activated, something we can do ourselves by hand.
Do not forget that the creation of your own videos, whether one theme or another, from the PC, is something increasingly widespread, for which the use of the microphone is key. Therefore, to activate a microphone in the equipment, the first thing we do is connect it to the same via USB. Obviously this is something we save in case it is integrated input. Then we look at the audio icon that is located on the right side of the Windows taskbar, where we click with the right mouse button.
Then, in the menu that appears, we click on the option "Open sound settings", which gives us the way to the Windows 10 Settings application. Once in this window, we have to locate the section called "Input", Where we found the microphone.
At the same time, in addition to selecting the input device that we wish to use in this case, we can also test its operation. It is worth mentioning that at the same time we can adjust some additional parameters in this regard, for which we recommend you click on “Device properties”. This will lead us to another section from which we can test the operation of the microphone, modify its default name, or disable it.
Adjust microphone settings to maximum in Windows 10
But the adjustments we can make in this regard, do not end here, since this is an element that still allows us to customize it a little more. For all this, what we do is click on the "Additional device properties" link in the window mentioned above.
It should be mentioned that, as with other functions of the operating system, Windows 10 allows us to access them in several ways. Therefore, to reach this additional properties window, we can also do it from the System Control Panel. Once we are in this, we click on the "Hardware and Sound / Sound" section.
A new window will appear, where we have to place ourselves in the “Record” tab to double click on “Microphone” so that we can access the same window that we found previously from the System Configuration application. Well, it is possible that one of the main functions that we can carry out from this section, is found in "Levels". We say this because from here we will have the possibility to amplify the power of the decibels of the microphone. It is clear that this is something that will be of great help in some specific uses.
Likewise, it is worth knowing that, in the case that we are advanced users and want to customize the quality of this component, it is best that we place ourselves in “Advanced options”. And from here we will have the possibility to specify to the system the sampling rate of the input audio through this element. This is something we do through the drop-down list that appears in the "Default format" section.
To say that depending on the type of use we are going to make of this microphone, we will need more or less sound quality. Therefore this is a good opportunity to get the most out of this device. Of course, also from here we can enable automatic Windows audio enhancements or prioritize their use in applications.
In the event that we want to deactivate this component, either for reasons of functionality or for security, from here we can also do it. It is enough that we place ourselves in the “General” tab, where we already find an option that allows us to disable the use of the mentioned microphone.
Date update on 2019-11-12. Date published on 2019-11-12. Category: windows Author: Oscar olg Fuente: islabit