Dirac Mic does not pick up Test Tones
During the volume calibration stage of Dirac, you may find that the microphone picks up voices just fine, but it doesn't seem to measure anything for test tones that Dirac plays through the speakers.
This is typically caused by a setting on your computer. In the modern age of e-meetings, many devices try to automatically block out background noise, which has the unexpected consequence of ruining your Dirac calibration.
Windows 11
On a Windows 11 computer, go to your Settings, click on System, click on Sound, click on All Sound Devices, and then select your mic under the Input Devices section.
On this page, you should see the option for Audio Enhancements, and can change the setting to Off.
If this option does not appear in the Settings tool, open Control Panel, click on Sound, go to Hardware and Sound, select Manage audio devices, go to the Recording tab, select your calibration mic, then click on Properties.
In the Properties window, go to the Enhancements tab and click Disable all enhancements, then click OK to exit.
If the "Enhancements" tab is not present, go to the Advanced tab, and uncheck the box called Enable audio enhancements. Click OK to exit.
Mac
On a Mac, you may find that the microphone is not picking up any audio at all.
Go to System Preferences, click on Security & Privacy, and go to the Privacy tab. You may need to click the Lock icon in the bottom left corner to make changes.
In the left side panel, scroll down until you see the Microphone option, and click it. In the panel on the right are a list of applications that can access the microphone. Check the box for Dirac Live.
Now when you open Dirac, the microphone should be fully functional!
At the time of writing this article, Apple computers do not have a default noise reducing feature. If you run into issues like on a Mac, check the sound settings for any background noise reduction tools, or disable any third party apps that may cause noise reduction.
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