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Free Mic Test for YouTube: is your microphone level right?

Test your microphone in 13 seconds before you record: stay quiet for 3 seconds so the test can hear your room, then talk for 10. You get your voice level, the peak, any clipping, the background noise and a recording to play back, with what to change. It runs in your browser: nothing is uploaded.

Updated · Built by Kevin Tabares, long-form YouTube editor at Umbrella Creators.

Test your microphone

Your voice stays on your device. Your browser will ask for the microphone. The sound is measured here, in this tab, and the short recording is only kept so you can listen to it. Nothing is uploaded.

How to use it

  1. Sit where you record, with the mic and gain you normally use, and press Start the mic test. Allow the microphone when your browser asks.
  2. Stay quiet for 3 seconds: the test measures your room. Then talk for 10 seconds the way you do in your videos, and laugh or raise your voice once.
  3. Read the result and play back the recording. Change one thing (gain, distance, room) and test again.

How it measures: the browser's echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain are turned off, so the test hears the raw mic. The room level is the median of the 50 ms levels while you are quiet; your voice level is the level that only 5% of the 50 ms windows pass while you talk, and the peak is the loudest single sample. The targets in the result (voice about -18 to -12 dBFS, peaks under -6 dBFS, room under -60 dBFS) are the rule of thumb I use for the raw files I edit, not an official standard.

FAQ

How loud should my mic be for YouTube?
As a rule of thumb in my edits: your normal speaking voice around -18 to -12 dBFS on the meter, and your loudest laugh or shout peaking no higher than about -6 dBFS. That leaves room so nothing clips, and the editor can bring the final video up to YouTube's loudness later. If your voice sits below -30 dBFS, raise the gain or move closer to the mic.
Why is my microphone so quiet?
Usually the gain (input level) is set too low, the mic is too far from your mouth, or you are speaking into the wrong side of it (many USB mics pick up from the side, not the top). Raise the gain in your audio interface or in your computer's sound settings, get within a hand's width of the mic and run the test again.
Why does my mic sound distorted?
If the test finds clipped samples, the signal is going over the top: the gain is too high or you are too close for your loudest moments. Lower the gain until your loudest laugh stays under about -6 dBFS. Clipping cannot be fixed later in the edit, so it is worth getting right before you record.
Does this test record or upload my voice?
It records only so you can play it back, and the recording stays in this browser tab until you close it. Nothing is uploaded or saved anywhere. The test turns off your browser's echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain, so you hear the raw mic the way a recording app gets it.
Is this the same as what OBS or my recorder will capture?
Very close. OBS, Audacity or a camera read the same mic at the same gain; the only difference is the filters you add in those apps (noise suppression, compressor, gain filters). If the test looks good and your recording sounds different, check those filters. For a recording you already have, use my background noise checker and clipping detector on the file.

Who made this

I'm Kevin Tabares. I've edited long-form YouTube videos since 2015 (1,277 videos and 152.2M+ views tracked on YT Jobs) for channels like Rex & Alexa, Puff and Mud. A mic set too low or too hot is the most common problem I find in a new client's raw files, so I built this to catch it before you record. If you want an editor for your channel, get in touch.

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