Connect a microphone to a computer: how to connect for karaoke

Often, many users need to connect a microphone to a computer. This desire can be caused by a variety of needs. Starting from a comfortable game in a team for experienced gamers and ending with a banal desire to sing karaoke.

Connecting this device is also necessary if there is a need to communicate with relatives or friends through the Skype application.

A computer is a universal device, and almost everything can be done on it. Including connect and configure a microphone for a wide variety of needs.

How to connect a microphone

Models come in many varieties, and they support a wide variety of connectors and formats.

Connection options

The standard input for this device is a 3.5 mm jack, but there are also outputs for USB, where microphones are also connected.

In order to connect the microphone to the PC on the motherboard, there must be a sound card with the necessary connectors.

If we are talking about laptops, then there all the necessary outputs are built-in by default.

Types of microphones

There are three main types of microphones in structure and type of work:

capacitor;
electret;
dynamic.

Capacitor and electret are self-powered, which allows you to increase your own sensitivity and volume level in hardware. Such devices receive sounds in fairly high quality. but Along with the voice, extraneous noise often falls into the passband.

Dynamic apparatuses do not have additional circuits or power supplies. therefore the input signal is rather weak, and high-quality use requires software processing.

Wiring diagram

Usually located on the back of the computer several connectors for connection various devices supporting the miniJack format.

One of them is used to connect the speaker system in the form of speakers, headphones or a music center.
Another is needed to connect a microphone.

IMPORTANT! To prevent users from confusing anything, the connectors are marked with different colors. Green for speakers, pink for microphone.

In many cases, next to these ports are images explaining why this connector is intended.

Via miniJack

There are also front panel outputs for connecting devices via miniJack.

This is done for convenience, if the headset is built into the gaming headphones, and the cable length does not allow you to connect it to the rear panel.

Via USB port

Connecting a microphone via a USB port is technically no different.

After the cable has been connected to the appropriate connector, the computer should automatically detect and add a new device.

Microphone connection for karaoke

IMPORTANT! In order to connect a microphone for karaoke, you need to find out how he has a connector.

Often, such devices have a 6.3 mm output. There may not be such a port on the PC panel, then a 6.3-3.6 mm adapter may come to the aid of the user.

In that case if there is no adapter, try to find a microphone cable that has a different port. Usually they come in two types of XLR - 6.3 or XLR - 3.5.

REFERENCE. XLR is a connector format that plugs directly into a microphone.

Microphone setup

After the cables have been connected, proceed to the software setup. To do this follows go to the sound settings menu. There are several ways to do this.

Easy way

The easiest way is to simply click on the speaker icon, which is located on the quick access panel. In the opened submenu, select the item "Recording devices".
The second option: "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Sound" - "Recording Devices"

Thereafter the setup menu of the connected devices opens on the screen.
If a microphone is connected, it will appear in the Record window.. A green check mark should appear next to the device image. In this case, the device is ready for operation.
If the microphone is working, then the user can talk and blow on it. Next to the name is a scale for the level of received sounds, and after the steps described above, it should change.
If directed speech has not produced any effects on this scale, the device may be malfunctioning.

Trial recording

Another test for the performance of the microphone is the “test recording”.

In order to record from the microphone, select "Start" - "Standard" - "Sound Recording". After that, an application opens that allows you to record audio from the connected device.
For to record, click on the red circle and the inscription "Start recording".
After creating an audio file (usually WAVE format), the user has the opportunity to listen to it and evaluate the performance of the connected microphone by playing back the resulting recording.

Attention! If the computer sees the connected device, however, there is no sound, check the volume on the device itself or in the settings.

Signal gain

Increasing the sensitivity or gain of the received signal may also help.. This is done both programmatically (in the settings on the PC) and hardware, on the device itself.

In order to open more detailed settings of the connected device, select the required model and open the "Properties" menu.

In the tab that opens, you can find out all the information about the microphone model, see the driver version. And also enable or disable this device.

Volume setting

In order to check the operability of the device, as well as to debug the volume, you should at menu "Properties" select the sub item "Listen".

After that, the user will have the opportunity to hear sounds from the microphone in their own speakers or headphones. This will make sure that the device is working properly: it does not distort the sound and does not have third-party sound noise.

Important! If the computer does not see the connected device, check the connectors. It is possible that due to a violation of the integrity of the contacts, the port is faulty. In this case, use a different input.

Then the user should open the sub-item "Levels". Here you can set and adjust the program volume and sensitivity of the connected device. This is necessary for more comfortable use and debugging of the received signal.

There is also the possibility of changing the balance of the received signal to the left or right channel.

Attention! To create different effects, there are many third-party programs. They can both improve the quality of the received signal, automatically filtering the input noise, and modify the received signal. At the same time, they make the user's voice higher or lower, and also give him various treatments in the form of an echo or auto-tuning.

Additional settings

The "Advanced" tab allows you to select the bit depth and sampling frequency when processing an analog signal.

This option is useful to the user only if he has a weak sound card. It does not allow to process a large amount of information in a short time, and during operation with a microphone, distortions or freezes are observed.

In this case Sample rate or bit depth should be reduced.