Discord mic not working – how to fix and possible causes

Apart from these occasional audio blackouts, Discord is a highly respected communicative platform for gamers. Unfortunately, though, there could be a number of reasons why your teammates can’t hear you.

It may just be a bug in the system. In this case, the fix can be as simple as restarting the Discord software. Another common reason for this infuriating radio silence is that your audio driver is outdated, or the wrong mic is selected in Discord. It may even be that the correct mic is selected, but the input volume is set too low.

Input audio may also drop out if the  ‘Automatic Input Sensitivity’ option isn’t enabled in the ‘Voice and Video’ section of the ‘User Settings’ menu.

One final reason for the unwarranted muting is that you have discord calibrated for ‘Push-and-Talk’. This means that to trigger your mic, you’ll have to push an allocated button.

Discord should automatically register your mic in the list of input options found via ‘User Settings’ / ‘App Settings’ / ‘Voice and Video’ / ‘Input Device’. A dropdown menu will appear with all the audio options, including your chosen mic.

If your mic hasn’t been registered by Discord, there are a few things you should try sequentially.

1. Try restarting the software.
2. Failing that, shut down Discord, unplug your mic jack or USB, plug it back in again, then restart Discord.
3. Restart your computer.
4. Still no luck? Try signing out of your Discord account and then signing back in again.

If none of these quick fixes work, give your microphone a once over. Check if it’s charged or if there seem to be any problems with the wiring/wireless connection. See if other programs do register your mic. If they don’t pick it up either, it’s likely the problem is on your end, but before you trash that expensive mic, contact Discord directly. They’ll do everything they can to get you connected.

Almost more irritating than Discord not picking up your mic at all is when it does, but you still can’t get it to send and/or receive audio. Don’t worry though, Discorder, your problem can probably be solved by either:

• Diming the volume fader – You’ve probably already considered this, but it’s a good first base to cover. The input volume fader can be found underneath the ‘Input Device’ dropdown menu.
• Resetting your voice settings – To do this, find the ‘User Settings’ cogwheel, then hit ‘App Settings’, then ‘Video and Voice’. Scroll to the bottom of the page and in a separate box you’ll see the red ‘Reset Voice Settings’ option.
• Run Discord as administrator – Sometimes if you quit Discord, right-click the Discord thumbnail, and choose ‘Open as Administrator’, it will fix the volume bug.

So, you’ve used your mic for other applications, and it’s loud and clear, but when you hunker down for some gaming with buds via Discord, the signal fades to basically nothing. Here’s what you can do.

• Check the Discord Volume Fader – Make sure it’s set all the way to the right. You’d be surprised how often that’s the issue.
• Get your VC party to max your volume – Increasing your audio output through their computers by maxing the volume bar beside your name, your voice should be loud enough for clear communication.

Set ‘Audio Subsystem’ to ‘Standard’ –  Sometimes, if the audio subsystem is set to ‘Experimental’, it can affect mic volume. ‘User Settings’ / ‘App Settings’ / ‘Voice and ‘Video’ / ‘Advanced’ / ‘Audio Subsystem’ / ‘Standard’ / restart Discord.