How do I set my microphone level for YouTube?

The steps at a glance

A good level is decided before you press record. Work from the mic outward, one link of the chain at a time:

1. Know the numbers to aim for.
2. Put the mic in the right place.
3. Set the gain at the source.
4. Check the computer and the recording app.
5. Run the free 13-second mic test.
6. Quiet the room.
7. Make sure the mic is not on one side only.
8. Record a test take and check it in your editor.

Step 1: Know the numbers to aim for

Digital audio is measured in dBFS, decibels relative to full scale. 0 dBFS is the most a recording can hold; anything louder is cut flat, which you hear as distortion, called clipping. So every level is a negative number, and the goal is a voice well above the room and well below the ceiling:

These are the targets my mic test uses, an editing rule of thumb rather than an official standard. OBS, a free recording app many gaming channels use, points the same way: its documentation puts the alignment level at -20 dBFS, “chosen to be near the average audio level for speech”, and the permitted maximum at -9 dBFS, and its mixer guide says speech should sit in the upper part of the yellow zone and only reach the lower end of the red.

Recording louder buys nothing. The loudness of the finished video is set at the very end, when the whole mix is brought to about -14 LUFS (how to normalize audio for YouTube). A hot recording only adds the risk of clipping; a very quiet one forces the editor to raise the hiss along with the voice.

Step 2: Put the mic in the right place

Distance is the one setting that improves the voice and the room at the same time. Get within about a hand’s width of the mic and speak into the front of it: plenty of USB mics are side-address, so talking over the top of one sounds distant whatever the gain. Moving closer raises your voice and lowers the room in one step, something no software setting can do.

Then keep that distance for the whole session. Leaning back halfway through a recording changes the level and the tone, and the editor has to chase it for the rest of the video.

Step 3: Set the gain at the source

Gain is the amplification applied to the mic signal before it becomes a file. OBS’s own guide is clear about where to start: “Always start at the device in question”, which for a microphone means the physical knob usually labeled Gain, on the mic itself or on the audio interface it plugs into.

Talk at the volume you use in your videos and turn the knob until the voice sits in the -18 to -12 range. Then laugh, shout or make the loudest sound you will make on camera, and check that the peak stays under about -6. If the loud moment clips, lower the gain and accept a slightly quieter voice: the editor can raise a clean voice, while a declipper only patches short, light clipping.

Step 4: Check the computer and the recording app

After the knob, the signal passes through the operating system and the recording app, and each can raise or lower it:

• Windows: OBS’s guide gives the path: Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Sound, the Recording tab, your mic, Properties, Levels. Right-click the percentage to show decibels and leave it at or around 0.0 dB.
• macOS: Apple menu, System Settings, Sound, Input, select your mic and drag the input volume slider. Apple suggests lowering it when the source is too loud and raising it for someone speaking softly.
• OBS: leave the mic fader alone until the source is right, then fine-tune. The small input level indicator at the left of the meter shows what arrives from the interface: light green from -50 to -20 dBFS, yellow from -20 to -9, red from -9 to -0.5 and white above that. OBS notes that it reads after your filters, so turn filters off while you set the gain.
• DaVinci Resolve: if you record narration straight into the timeline, the Voiceover tool on the Cut page lets you pick the mic interface, and can switch on Voice Isolation and the Dialog Leveler while recording for a poor room (Voice Isolation needs DaVinci Resolve Studio). A clean, unprocessed take still gives the edit more options.

Calling and meeting apps often move the level on their own with automatic gain. For a recording you want a fixed gain that you set once, so check that nothing between the mic and the file is adjusting it for you.

Step 5: Run the free 13-second mic test

Open my free mic test for YouTube in your usual recording spot, with your usual mic and gain. It listens to 3 seconds of silence to read the room, then 10 seconds of you speaking as you would on camera; laugh or raise your voice once during them. It reports your voice level, the peak, any clipped samples and the background noise, and lets you play the recording back. It turns off the browser’s echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain, so it hears the raw mic the way a recording app does, and nothing is uploaded.

Change one thing at a time, gain, distance or room, and run it again. Thirteen seconds per try makes it practical to test before every session, not only on the first day.

Step 6: Quiet the room

The room reading in the test is the floor every pause will have. Switch off fans and air conditioning for the take, sit farther from the computer, and surround yourself with soft surfaces: curtains, a sofa, a wardrobe full of clothes. For a recording you already have, the background noise checker measures the floor and finds hum, and the room echo checker estimates how echoey the room sounds.

OBS has filters for what is left. Its Noise Suppression filter defaults to RNNoise, and OBS itself says it is “generally not effective at large amounts of background noise” but can reduce PC fan noise; with the Speex method, a stronger setting “can distort other sounds (like your voice)”. Its Noise Gate closes below -32 dB and opens at -26 dB by default; OBS suggests a close threshold just above the noise and an open threshold slightly below your voice. Whatever a filter cuts is gone from the file, so set filters gently, and see how to remove background noise from a YouTube video for what can still be done in the edit.

Step 7: Make sure the mic is not on one side only

Most voice mics are mono. Recorded into one channel of a stereo track, the voice plays in one ear only, usually the left. OBS’s guide describes the sign, only the first of two meters lighting up, and the fix: Downmix to Mono in the Advanced Audio Properties. To check a file you already recorded, open it in the audio channel checker.

Step 8: Record a test take and check it in your editor

OBS’s advice before going live works for every recording: record a session the way you normally would and listen back to the file. Thirty to sixty seconds is enough, with game audio running if you play while you talk. OBS suggests the voice in the upper yellow and gameplay toward the lower end; record the mic on its own track if you can (how to record gameplay for your editor).

Then check the file itself. The audio clipping detector lists every clipped moment. A clipped peak has lost the top of its waveform: a declipper can rebuild a short, light clip, and anything longer means recording that part again (how to fix clipped audio). If you record on a wireless mic, the audio dropout and click detector finds the moments where the sound cuts out for a few milliseconds. In Premiere Pro, Window, Audio Meters shows the level while the clip plays, and Adobe’s advice is to adjust if the peaks reach the red zone or the level drops too low; the Fairlight page meters in DaVinci Resolve show the same. Keep the project at 48 kHz, the sample rate YouTube recommends for uploads and the default for new DaVinci Resolve projects.

How I handle levels on client recordings

Most of the gaming work I edit starts the way the recording guide describes, with sources kept separate and handed over untouched, so the voice sits on its own track and its level can be judged and fixed without moving the game audio. Evening out takes, compression and the final loudness are then the edit’s job, part of my sound design and mix work.

Mic level FAQ

What dB should my mic be at for YouTube?

Aim for a speaking level between -18 and -12 dBFS, loud moments such as a laugh or a shout under about -6 dBFS, and a room that stays under -60 dBFS while you are silent. These are the working targets of my mic test, not a published standard. OBS’s documentation points the same way: -20 dBFS near the average speech level and -9 dBFS as the permitted maximum.

Should my mic peak at 0 dB?

No. 0 dBFS is the ceiling of a digital file and anything above it clips. Keep peaks under about -6 dBFS while recording; the finished video is brought up to YouTube’s loudness later, in the edit.

Should I record with automatic gain on?

No. Set the gain once and leave it fixed for the whole take. Automatic gain keeps moving the level: it can turn the quiet moments up, room noise included, and pull your voice down when you get loud, so the editor inherits a level that changes on its own. Calling and meeting apps often enable it by default, so check that nothing between the mic and the file adjusts the level for you.

What is gain staging?

Setting the level at each step of the audio chain in order: the mic position, the gain on the mic or interface, the input level of the operating system, and the fader in the recording app. Each step should pass a healthy level to the next, so no step has to boost a weak signal or squeeze a hot one.

Should I use noise suppression in OBS?

Gently, if at all. OBS says its Noise Suppression filter helps with things like PC fan noise but is generally not effective against a loud room, and a strong setting can distort your voice. Whatever a filter removes is gone from the file, so a quiet room and a close mic come first.

Sources

• OBS meter zones, the -20 and -9 dBFS levels, the input level colours, the Windows path, Downmix to Mono and the test recording: OBS Knowledge Base, Audio Mixer Guide (April 3, 2026) and Audio Mixer Technical Details (February 13, 2022); filters: Noise Suppression Filter and Noise Gate Filter (January 12, 2022), all read October 20, 2026. OBS as free and open source software: the OBS Studio home page, read October 20, 2026.
• macOS input volume: Apple Support, Change the sound input settings on Mac, read October 20, 2026.
• Premiere Pro meters and gain: Adobe Help, Monitor volume levels and Adjust audio gain in Premiere, last updated January 7, 2026, read October 20, 2026.
• DaVinci Resolve Voiceover tool and the 48 kHz default: Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual (Cut page Voiceover tool; Voice Isolation, Studio Version Only; Project Settings, Fairlight), read October 20, 2026.
• Upload sample rate: YouTube Help, YouTube recommended upload encoding settings, read October 20, 2026.
• Voice, peak and room targets and the mic position tips: the rule of thumb published on the mic test for YouTube page.