Please help an audio noob figure out how to loudly output their voice to computer speakers?

Is it better to buy a USB microphone? I dont have a karaoke machine like a friend does, do I need an amplifier or is just plugging into PC mic/usb jack good enough?

I have a decade old budget webcam mic atm, I tried to put the sound through to the computer speakers, but 4 problems:

  1. A delay
  2. not loud enough (hopefully a new quality mic will fix this)
  3. feedback
  4. it replaced the pc’s sound completely, I wannted to ADD to the Pc sound output.

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!

If you are happy with your friends karaoke machine, that is where I would start. Can you borrow his/hers? :smiley:

Your computer is a general purpose machine - it tries to do several things at the same time. In many cases, this is wonderful. But in some specific cases, including karaoke, perhaps not so because the computer is going to introduce a delay which will be unacceptable in most cases. So do NOT get a USB microphone. Instead, perhaps an XLR microphone that plugs into your mixer.

I have some friends that run karaoke off of their computer. They pipe the audio from their computer to a mixer and they also plug their microphone into that same mixer and drive their speaker from the mixer.

Also, note that if your audio is not loud enough, that typically is not solved by using a different quality microphone. Instead, the issue is usually corrected by getting louder speakers.

Feedback is generally caused by having the microphone too close to the speakers. Solutions include turning the microphone volume down, talking or singer louder and closer to the microphone, avoiding cupping the microphone, using a higher quality sound system, and tweaking the equalization.

Good luck! :smiley:

Aw thanks for the help man, I appreciate it.

So I need a mixer and amp right? Ill look at full karaoke machines if price isnt that much more I guess. I think ive got some ok speakers already.
Would this guitar amp work its got mic slots too? thanks.
Aw thanks for the help man, I appreciate it.

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It might. Preferably use a mixer with a line input. Typically the microphone input will be way too sensitive for your PC’s headphone output. You might find the same issue with the guitar inputs. Regardless, you will need a special cable. If I had it, I’d probably give it a try. Don’t forget the karaoke machine might also have built-in speakers so if you are on a budget, that could be your best bet.