Whether your computer has an inbuilt mic array or you use a USB mic, audio interface, or headset, the microphone you are using will rarely suit your voice straight out of the box. When you want your voice to sound its best for recording audio or for livestreaming; knowing how to equalize or EQ your mic input is a handy skill to have. To start with, you don't need expensive software, hardware, or a deep understanding of audio, just your microphone, a free program, and a little bit of time.

What you need to EQ your microphone

Changing the tone of your mic is relatively quick

To get started with EQ'ing your microphone to get the best sound out of your voice, you'll want any microphone plugged into your computer and the following computer program downloaded:

• Any microphone attached to your computer, whether inbuilt or plugged in as a peripheral
• Equalizer APO downloaded

Time to EQ your mic

We're going to adjust general frequencies because, most of the time, simple tweaks are best

Any microphone will work here, from the inbuilt one on your laptop to an external mic. We're using the microphone on a gaming headset for our examples, but as long as the computer can see the microphone, you'll be able to use it to EQ the sound. Installing Equalizer APO is the first step, and then we'll dive into the frequencies to change.

1. Install Equalizer APO from the file downloaded earlier. It will show you a Configurator page as part of the install. You'll want to check the box next to the microphone(s) you want to use with it.
2. Reboot your computer.

Adjust bass first

This is also known as a low-shelf filter

To start EQ'ing our microphone, we'll add a bit of bass. That's good for that radio voice you always hear, but too much of a good thing is a bad thing, so you want to be careful not to make your voice sound muffled or muddy. The quality of your starting microphone also matters. Inbuilt mics are passable, USB mics are better, and XLR microphones with an audio interface are generally the best starting point.

1. Open the Equalizer APO Configuration Editor.
2. Click on the Green plus sign under the existing panels, then on Parametric Filters > Low Shelf Filter.
3. You'll now see a new panel that says Low-shelf filter.
4. There are three options for this filter to change.

The first option says Center frequency to begin with, but open the drop-down and change it to Corner frequency, which means where on the frequency spectrum your adjustment is going to locate. Anywhere between 150Hz and 300Hz is going to be good, depending on how bassy your voice is to begin with.

The middle dial is for Gain adjustment, and you'll want 6-7dB here. Anything higher will be very bassy as it's not a linear scale, and anything lower might not register that much. Again, test a few numbers and see which sounds the best to you.

The last option is Slope, and this adjusts how rapidly the change goes away. A high number will be abrupt, a lower number might fade into too many frequencies. Anywhere between 9 and 14 is a good starting point, and again, adjust to get what feels right for your voice.

Adjusting treble

Now it's time for the high shelf filter

For some voices, all you'll need to change is the low shelf filter. For others, adding a high shelf filter can add crispness and clarity, but tweaking things too far can sound compressed and unnatural.

Adding a high shelf filter for the upper frequency range is very similar to what we just did for the lower frequencies:

1. Click the green plus sign to open the menu and go to Parametric Filters > High Shelf Filter.
2. You'll see three options to change, frequency, gain, and slope. When adjusted, you'll see the analysis panel on the bottom change to show the resulting high frequency boost.

These three options function similarly to the low shelf filter, except they adjust the upper frequencies. Change the drop-down to Corner frequency again, and pick a much higher frequency to start the shelf. Somewhere between 2,000Hz and 5,000Hz is good, but start near the middle of the range and work up and down to find the sweet spot for your voice.

Gain is adjusted in the same way, but our ears are sensitive to higher frequencies, so you'll want to stay between 3dB and 6dB here. And somewhere between 7 and 11 for the slope will get you most of the way.

You can use both adjustments if you prefer

We recommend using one or the other shelf filter as a starting point, but you can also use both and get a V-shaped sound signature if you prefer. Alternatively, you can use negative gain on both to get a more mid-forward sound. It's all about what you think sounds best for your listeners, whether they are fans of your videos or the people you work with on video calls.

Using shelf filters is a quick and easy way to EQ your microphone

Parametric filters are a good starting point when you want to EQ your mic to sound better on calls or videos. Equalizer APO is powerful and free and gives you enough control to play around with what sounds good to your ears. If you want to take things further, you can add VSTs to the program and tweak even more audio settings, or look for dedicated audio interfaces with more in-depth software packages.