Keyboard Noise in Your Mic: Fix It in This Order

Record the problem first

Record ten seconds of talking while you type the way you do in a game. Listen back on headphones: if the keys are as loud as your voice, every step below will be easy to hear.

Use the keyboard noise test in our mic test .

Move the mic closer to your mouth

Bring the mic to about a hand's width from your mouth and turn the gain down until your voice is as loud as before. Closer, your voice reaches the mic much louder while the keys stay as far away as before, so when you turn the gain down the keys drop with it.

Point the mic's front at you and its back or side at the keyboard: most gaming mics are cardioid and hear least from behind. A boom arm makes this easy; a desk stand often leaves the mic at keyboard height.

• Will an arm fit my desk?

Set a gate so keys don't open the mic

In Discord, open User Settings, Voice & Video, turn off Automatically determine input sensitivity and drag the slider until typing alone stays below it while your voice goes above. In OBS, add a Noise Gate filter to the mic.

Push to Talk does the same job by hand: the mic only opens while you hold the key.

• Push to Talk or Voice Activity

Turn on noise suppression

Discord's Noise Suppression (in Voice & Video), NVIDIA Broadcast on RTX graphics cards and many mic makers' apps remove a lot of clicking. Strong settings can make your voice thin or clip the start of words, so test with a friend.

Only then: a dynamic mic

Used close, a dynamic mic picks up less of the room than a condenser, which is why streamers with loud keyboards often use one. It only helps if it sits close to your mouth: a dynamic mic at arm's length picks up the keyboard too.

• Dynamic or condenser for gaming
• Our pick for PC and Discord