Use one microphone for live translation in a small room.

Set up one microphone in six steps

Close, pointed at the speaker, and chosen in the app.

1. 1

   Check that one microphone is enough

   One microphone can suit a small room, such as a meeting room, a classroom or a training room, when one person speaks at a time, stays close to the microphone, and the room is reasonably quiet. What matters is less the size of the room than how far the speaker is from the microphone, how much the room echoes and how many people speak.

   If the room is large or echoey, or several speakers move about, a microphone on a table hears the room as much as the speaker. Use a feed from a mixing desk instead, starting with the mixer to computer guide.

   Speaker close to the microphone

   USB or headset microphone

   Windows computer the desk app

   SpanVoice

2. 2

   Choose the microphone

   The closer the microphone is to the speaker’s mouth, the cleaner the words. A microphone that connects to the computer by USB, or a USB headset, appears in Windows as a recording device and connects directly. Other microphones need an adapter, a receiver or an audio interface first. The choices:

   • A headset microphone, USB or with a suitable adapter. The distance to the mouth stays the same however the speaker moves, so the level stays steady.
   • A lapel microphone that connects to the computer. Clip it near the speaker’s chest and keep clothing and jewellery away from it. A lapel microphone sits further from the mouth than a headset, so it is a little less clean.
   • A USB desk microphone in front of a seated speaker, close to them and pointed at them.
   • A handheld wireless microphone whose receiver has USB audio output, or a line output that goes into an audio interface. A receiver that only charges over USB will not work. The USB audio interface guide covers the interface. If the microphone is passed between people, the speaker has to hold it close each time.
   • The computer’s own microphone. It is the quickest way to see SpanVoice working, and it can do for a small quiet room with the speaker near the laptop. It may also hear keyboard taps, the laptop’s fan and anyone near the computer about as clearly as the speaker.

   A microphone in the ceiling or at the back of the room is usually the one to avoid, because it hears the room as much as the speaker. If audience questions matter, repeat each question into the microphone or hand the microphone to the person asking.

3. 3

   Place it with the speaker, not the operator

   • Put it with the speaker. A microphone on the operator’s table hears the operator. If you use the laptop’s own microphone, put the laptop near the speaker.
   • Point it the right way. Many desk microphones pick up from the front, not the top. Check which side should face the speaker.
   • Keep it away from noise such as an air conditioner, a projector fan, a laptop fan or a nearby conversation.
4. 4

   Connect it and choose it in the desk app

   Plug the microphone in before you open the desk app, or press Refresh afterwards. In the Input panel, leave Live device selected and choose the microphone in the list. The list shows the recording devices Windows offers, and the level meter runs as soon as a device is chosen, before you start. Nothing is sent until you press Start streaming. The app remembers the device, but if it comes back under a different name after a restart or a replug, choose it again.

   If the meter does not move at all, check Windows is allowing the app to use the microphone. In Windows 11 this is under Settings, Privacy & security, Microphone: Microphone access and Let apps access your microphone need to be on, and so does Let desktop apps access your microphone. If the list says No input device, plug something in and press Refresh.

5. 5

   Check the level, and what else it hears

   Have the speaker talk at the speaking position and watch the meter. You want it to move well up, in the green, and stay out of the two red segments at the top. If it is low, move the microphone closer, or raise its input level in the microphone’s own control or in Windows sound settings. If it reaches the red, move the microphone back, or lower its input gain where it has one, and test again. Lowering the Windows level cannot repair sound that was already distorted when the microphone captured it. The audio level guide explains the meter and how to set it.

   Then stop talking. With nobody speaking, the meter should drop right down. If it sits halfway up in silence, the microphone is hearing something else, such as air conditioning, a fan or a conversation, and the words that come out of a noisy feed are odd. Move the microphone closer to the speaker, move it away from the noise, or reduce the noise at its source such as the fan or the conversation. Then set the level again and test.

6. 6

   Start, check the words, and handle music

   Press Start streaming, speak, and open the audience link on your own phone to read the words. A single microphone cannot tell music from speech, so during music press Pause audio in the desk app and resume when the speaker returns. Listeners see that it is paused. Press Stop streaming when you finish.

   A single microphone is the simplest setup there is, and for a small room it is the right one. Test with every speaker you expect, because voices differ in loudness, and improve the setup only if the words show you need to.