Hearing high pitched noises from your microphone from time to time, as expensive and fancy as it may be, is not an uncommon issue.
It’s irritating, though, especially if you find out that your mic has been making high pitched noises after hours of recording.
Your first thought might be that the device is broken and it’s time to get rid of it, but don’t pull the trigger so fast!
You need to try certain methods for adjusting the settings and hardware to fix the issue before giving up on your microphone.
Go through the steps one by one to find out the issue with your mic and solve it, hopefully saving yourself from spending a big buck on a new microphone.
How To Fix High Pitched Noises From Microphone
Step 1—Check The Cables
When you hear a high pitched noise coming out of your microphone, the first thing to do is to check the various cables that connect it to your computer.
If you’re using a Bluetooth microphone, you can skip this step, but most normal mics have at least one USB cable for connection.
Analyze the condition of the cables and make sure they’re not undergoing any damage.
Broken cables with holes or rips exposed to the outside environment might have air leaking through them, causing the high pitched noises.
You may have to change the wires for new ones.
Also, make sure the cables aren’t passing by, touching each other, or running across the computer’s power supply on the ground.
Step 2—Check The Grounding
Grounding is necessary for every computer to ensure that static electricity discharge doesn’t happen, especially during speeches.
However, ground looping can occur if grounding is poorly done, which is the connection of various wires and gadgets over the same ground.
That can generate unwanted high pitched noises, affecting the audio quality.
To avoid this issue, ensure that you’re using a balanced set of cables.
Using a DI box can also eliminate the chances of ground looping that causes the hum and buzz noises.
Step 3—Solve RFI And Electromagnetic Interference Issues
Radio Frequency Interference or RFI can also affect your microphone’s performance.
RFI is the disturbance that occurs in the pattern of radio waves that somehow affects the electrical circuitry of your microphone.
The issue usually occurs due to your device overloading with residual electricity from other computer components.
It could also happen because of twisted cables, but we’ve covered that in the previous sections.
Try to shield the wires with covers and filters to eliminate the issue to some extent.
Unplug unnecessary cables and use separate power sources.
If you can’t solve the problem, you may have to invest in a condenser microphone.
These types of mics don’t easily pick up radio frequencies and are made to avoid them.
Step 4—Solve Audio Feedback Issues
More often than not, the high pitched sound that suddenly comes out of the mic when you’re talking is the case of “feedback.”
It occurs when the calibration or the arrangement of the audio system isn’t correct.
An audio system usually consists of three basic components: a microphone, an amplifier, and a speaker.
If all these devices are present and connected, feedback might occur.
First, let’s learn how an audio system works.
When you speak into a microphone, it transmits your voice into the amplifier.
The amp takes the signals that it received from the mic and enhances their amplitude.
Then it will send the amplified signals to the speakers.
The speakers will transform the electrical signals and convert them into sound, which the audience will hear.
Now, if the sound that the speakers produce somehow reaches the mic and it picks them up, it’ll go through the amplifier and speaker again, and a loop starts to happen that goes on and on.
The sound starts as low noises and ends up being a high-pitched screech that only an external interference can put an end to.
When you first hear the sound, quickly turn off the mic, cover it with your hand, and distance it from your mouth to break the acoustic feedback between the mic and speakers.
To prevent the feedback from happening again, move the microphone away from the speakers as far as you can.
Also, position the devices so that they aren’t in line with each other, so the mic doesn’t catch the sound getting out of the speakers directly.
It shouldn’t be facing the speakers, and it would be best to place it behind them.
Step 5—Update Drivers
Next, you need to check the audio and sound card drivers and ensure they’re not outdated or corrupted.
- Right-click on the Windows Start logo and choose Device Manager from the menu.
- Locate the Audio Inputs and Outputs in the list and click on the arrow next to it to expand.
- Right-click on the name of your connected microphone and select Update Driver.
- Now choose Search Automatically for Drivers and go through the steps to complete the process.
- Restart your computer after the update is over and see if the problem is resolved.
- If the issue continues, right-click on the mic’s name again, and this time click on Uninstall Device.
- Restart your PC and let it find and install the latest driver again automatically.
You can also use a third-party application to automatically update all your drivers, skip over the long process, and find the correct drivers every time.
Driverfix, AVG Driver Updater, and Driver Booster are all excellent programs to get the job done.
Step 6—Check The Volume Settings
If the volume settings on your microphone are set too high, it may be causing the high pitched noise.
Setting the volume on an audio device too loud can cause it to bounce back and result in annoying high pitched sounds.
To avoid this, lower the volume of your mic using the volume mixer.
Also, if you’ve tweaked the default microphone settings to enhance the results, turn them back because, more often than not, the changes act opposite to our expectations.
You can also ask Windows to troubleshoot the sound problems and get back to you with the results:
- Head to Settings and select the System Settings menu.
- Choose Sound from the left menu bar.
- Select your microphone under the Input section and then click on the Troubleshoot button.
- Wait for Windows to run the process and report back with the results.
Step 7—Solve The DAC Or ADC Issues
DAC or Digital to Analog Converters and ADC or Analog to Digital Converters provide functions for the microphone.
The DAC can convert digital input codes into analog output signals.
The ADC can provide analog signals over input voltages and then convert them into digital representations.
As you can see, they provide contradictory functions.
They should be well-isolated from each other, or their signals will interrupt each other and cause issues like high pitched noises.
Always make sure the DAC and ADC don’t share the same power supply to avoid distortion.
Step 8—Solve Power Supply Issues
The high pitched noise might be because of a faulty power supply.
Since it’s providing electricity and power for your computer, mic, and audio interface, if there’s an issue, it will cause sound problems.
Step 9—Move Your Mouse Away
When you play a recording and hear a high pitched noise in the background, it could be because of your mouse.
This problem usually happens for laptop users.
If you’ve connected your mouse close to the microphone, it could be elevating the pitch of your microphone.
Either unplug the mouse or connect the microphone to a different port.
Step 10—Get Rid Of Old Or Defective Hardware
If you’ve tried all the mentioned fixes and you’re still getting high pitched noises from your mic, it may be a warning sign that the hardware inside it might be defective and damaged.
That can especially be an issue if your microphone is old and wear and tear have gotten to it.
In some cases, if the gear of the microphone is defective, you may be able to replace it.
The damage may be irreversible, in which case, your only choice is to replace the mic.
High Pitched Noises From Speakers Causes And Fixes
Sometimes, your microphone can cause the speakers to make high pitched noises, as well.
Try the following methods to solve the issue if you’re getting that noise from the speakers connected to your computer.
Microphone Interference
If you’ve placed your microphone too close to your speaker, the acoustic feedback from it can be causing the high pitched noise.
If it’s a standalone microphone, move it away from the speaker.
If you can’t move it, or if this doesn’t solve the problem, disable or mute the microphone:
- In the Windows search box, type in “Settings” and open the app.
- Click on the System option and then choose Sound from the left menu bar.
- Scroll down and click on the Manage Sound Devices link in the Input section.
- Click on your microphone’s name under Input Devices and then hit the Disable button.
Outdated System
Your next step should be to ensure no outdated files are causing the issue by updating your Windows System.
- Open the Settings app and select the Update and Security option.
- Hit the Check for Updates button, and Windows will tell you if any new releases are ready for install.
- If there are, click on the Download and Install link, wait for the system to install the update, and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Sound Card Issues
If you uninstall and reinstall the sound card, it may also help fix the high pitched noise issue.
- Right-click on the Windows Start button and then choose Device Manager from the menu.
- Locate the selection for Sound, video, and game controllers from the list and click on the small arrow next to it to see the driver list.
- Right-click on the name of the speaker driver and then choose Uninstall Device.
- Check the box next to the Delete the driver software for this device option and close Device Manager.
- Reboot your computer, so your system finds the driver again automatically and installs it.
Test the speaker to see if the solution has worked.
Driver Problems
Updating or reinstalling your speaker drivers has the same process as updating your microphone drivers.
Head to the Device Manager and right-click on the name of your speaker under Audio Inputs and Outputs.
Click on Update Driver and reboot your system.
If nothing changed, click on Uninstall Driver this time, and restart your PC, so it installs the latest drivers on its own.
Don’t forget about the apps like Driverfix, AVG Driver Updater, and Driver Booster you can use for updating the drivers automatically.
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