Arch Linux

warl0ck

Member

Registered: 2020-04-29

Posts: 47

Help with garbage microphone quality

So I am building a new system and I am setting it up pretty much EXACTLY like my old one.

On my old build, I was using an antlion modmic. It worked fine, but I wanted a better headset. So I bought one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Mpow-Surround-Ca … 59&sr=8-15

When I plug it in, it recognizes the microphone, but the quality is absolutely terrible. It is impossible to hear anything said and there is super loud static the whole time. No amount of fiddling in Discord or pavucontrol could fix it. Either it was not sensitive enough to pick up any sound, or it blows your ear off with static.

Now I am in my new build, and I am experiencing the EXACT same symptoms with the trusty modmic. What could be causing this? It doesn't matter which port it is plugged into, my microphones sound like absolute garbage.

I have looked through https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … _recording but I am hesitant to start screwing with my pulse config when I have zero idea what the actual issue is. Why would one mic work fine on one system and break on another?

I have access to both machines so tell me if there is output you would like to compare.

So far I have run

arecord -f dat -r 60000 -D hw:1,0 -d 5 test.wav

, which tells me

Recording WAVE 'test.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 60000 Hz, Stereo
Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 60000Hz, got = 48000Hz)
         please, try the plug plugin 

Then I try and use the rate that it wants with

arecord -f dat -r 48000 -D hw:1,0 -d 5 test.wav

and the problem remains.

Last edited by warl0ck (2020-08-03 00:28:32)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,740

Re: Help with garbage microphone quality

Please post

amixer -c1
pacmd list-cards
pacmd list-sources
pacmd list-source-outputs
sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*

during an active recording attempt

Last edited by V1del (2020-08-03 08:31:48)

warl0ck

Member

Registered: 2020-04-29

Posts: 47

Re: Help with garbage microphone quality

Ok, so a little update. I was able to get the mic that usually works working again by going into pavucontrol and doing minute adjustments to the input level until it sounded ok. The same technique did not seem to work with the new misbehaving mic.

I will update soon with the output of the commands.