The best microphone settings for a Mac video call: an input that isn't next to your keyboard, a gain level that peaks comfortably without clipping, Voice Isolation turned on in Control Center, a mic positioned close to your mouth in a room without hard, bare surfaces, and noise suppression enabled in only one place, not stacked in both macOS and the call app.
None of this needs new hardware. Most of what makes a Mac call sound clear or sound muddy is a handful of settings, several of them free and built into macOS, that most people never open. Here's the checklist in order, from the microphone itself down to the one toggle inside your call app that people forget exists.
1. Pick the right input, not just the loudest one
Open System Settings, then Sound, then Input, and see what's actually connected. The built-in microphone sits a few centimetres from your keyboard and directly above the fan, so it picks up typing, trackpad clicks, and fan noise as a matter of course, on top of whatever the room adds by way of echo. A dedicated USB or wired microphone, even an inexpensive one, sits closer to your mouth and further from the keyboard, and that distance alone removes most of the noise before any software gets involved.
If a dedicated mic isn't available, the built-in one is fine for most calls, it just needs the rest of this checklist more. Our guide to choosing which microphone your Mac uses covers seeing every input macOS can see and setting the one you actually want, including why AirPods often get picked automatically when you'd rather they weren't.
2. Set the gain so it doesn't clip
Below the microphone list in the same Input tab is a level meter that fills as you speak. Talk at your normal call volume, not a deliberately loud test, and watch where it settles. The target is the upper-middle of the meter during normal speech, with only your loudest moments brushing close to the top. If it barely moves, gain is too low and quiet words will disappear on the other end. If it's regularly hitting red, gain is too high and every loud word will crackle with clipping, which can't be fixed after the call has happened. For the full explanation of why this control is labelled the way it is and how it differs from playback volume, see what input gain actually does.
3. Turn on Voice Isolation for the call
On modern macOS, Control Center has a microphone mode picker that appears while a call is active in a supported app. Click the Control Center icon, select Mic Mode, and choose between three options: Standard, a normal microphone; Voice Isolation, which uses on-device processing to focus on your voice and reduce background noise like a fan or someone else talking in the room; and Wide Spectrum, which does the opposite and picks up everything, useful if you're deliberately sharing music or room sound rather than just your voice.
For a normal one-to-one or team call, Voice Isolation is the one worth having on. It's free and does more for how you sound than most people expect from a single toggle. It only appears in apps that support Apple's microphone mode API, so if the option isn't showing up during a call, the app you're using may not offer it yet.
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Software can reduce noise, but it can't undo a room that's genuinely reflective. Bare walls, a glass desk, and an empty room with no soft furnishings all bounce sound back into the microphone, which shows up on the other end as a hollow, distant quality even when the mic itself is good. A few minutes of adjustment usually fixes most of it: move the microphone closer to your mouth rather than compensating with gain, angle it away from the flattest surface nearby, and sit somewhere with curtains, a rug, or a bookshelf rather than an empty corner.
On the built-in microphone specifically, keep your hands off the keyboard and trackpad while talking where you can. It's the single biggest source of obvious mechanical noise on a laptop mic, and software noise suppression rarely removes it cleanly, since a keystroke and a consonant sound similar enough that aggressive suppression risks eating your voice along with the noise.
5. Check your call app's own noise settings too
Most video call apps carry their own microphone processing, separate from macOS. Zoom has a background noise suppression setting with Low, Medium, and High levels under Audio settings. Teams has a similar Noise suppression option, usually set to Auto. Both work independently of Voice Isolation, and running both at once, macOS processing the signal and the app processing it again, can over-clean your voice into something thin or slightly robotic.
The practical rule: pick one layer, not two. If Voice Isolation already sounds good, turn the call app's own suppression down to Low or off. If the app's setting sounds better for your mic and room, leave macOS on Standard and let the app handle it.
Where Chorus fits in this checklist
To be direct about it: Chorus doesn't touch audio quality. It has no noise suppression, processing, or effects, and everything above is either a free macOS feature or a setting inside the app you're calling from. What Chorus does is make switching between microphones fast. If you keep a good desk mic for calls but use the built-in mic the rest of the time, a keyboard shortcut swaps the active input instantly instead of a trip through System Settings before every meeting, once the settings above are dialled in for each one.
Quick checklist
- Use an external mic if you have one. Distance from the keyboard and the fan matters more than the mic's price.
- Set gain by the level meter, not by ear alone. Upper-middle during normal speech, never sitting in red.
- Turn on Voice Isolation in Control Center for calls in apps that support it.
- Sit somewhere that isn't bare and reflective. Soft furnishings cut echo software can't fully remove.
- Use one layer of noise suppression, not two. Pick macOS or the app, not both at full strength.
For the full detail on Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum, see Apple's own guide to Mic Modes.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best microphone settings for a Mac video call?
Pick a mic that isn't sitting next to your keyboard, set the input level so a normal speaking voice sits in the upper-middle of the level meter without touching red, turn on Voice Isolation in Control Center if your call app supports it, and leave noise suppression on in only one place, either macOS or the call app, not both at once.
What is Voice Isolation on a Mac and how do I turn it on?
Voice Isolation is a macOS microphone mode that uses on-device processing to focus on your voice and reduce background noise during a call. During an active call in a supported app, open Control Center, select Mic Mode, and choose Voice Isolation instead of Standard or Wide Spectrum.
Should I use my Mac's built-in microphone or an external one for calls?
An external USB or wired microphone almost always sounds better on calls, because the built-in microphone sits right next to the keyboard and the laptop's own fan, and picks up more of the room's echo since it isn't positioned close to your mouth. If a dedicated mic is available, use it; if not, the built-in mic with Voice Isolation turned on is the next best option.
Do I need noise suppression in both macOS and my call app?
No. Running macOS Voice Isolation and the call app's own noise suppression at the same time can over-process your voice, producing a thin or robotic sound. Pick one, usually whichever the app you're using handles better, and turn the other off.
Does Chorus improve microphone audio quality?
No. Chorus does not process, clean up, or enhance audio in any way; that isn't what it's built for. What it does is let you switch which microphone is active from the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut, which is useful for going from a good desk mic during calls to the built-in mic the rest of the time, without opening System Settings each time.
