If you are interested in learning how youtubers and twitch streamers talk through their mic and simultaneously play music in their videos, you have come to the right post.
How to play music through mic?
Although this question is common, it is not quite accurate in terms of its intent. This is because people who have this question want to know how youtubers and twitch streamers talk and play high-quality music at the same time.
But if you are also interested in literally playing music through the mic, we recommend reading till the end.
Using an audio mixer is the best way to play music through mic (Windows PC)
The common way most youtubers and game streamers play music through mic is by using a virtual audio mixer.
There is nothing wrong with using an actual physical mixing console. However, taking this approach is costly, and most online content creators avoid this.
Here are the steps to use an audio mixer to play music through mic:
Step 1: The first step to effortlessly play music through my using an audio mixer is to make sure that you have installed Windows 10 or higher on your desktop or laptop.
Step 2: The next step is to find a good and free virtual audio mixing software. We recommend using Voice Meeter from VB-Audio as it is popular as well as free to use. Download Voice Meeter here.
Image credit: VB-Audio
Step 3: After you download and install Voice Meeter, go to your computer’s sound settings. It’s important to make sure that Voice Meeter is set as the main audio playback device under the sound settings.
Image credit: Tekh
Step 4: Now, open the Voice Meeter software and configure your mic under the first hardware input console.
Image credit: VB-Audio
It’s important to remember that the free and basic version of Voice Meeter comes with three input channels.
Step 5: The next step is to decide how you want to play the music on your video. You can either choose an external music player source such as an MP3 player, or a phone, or choose an internal media player on your computer.
Or you can do both since the free version also comes with two extra audio input channels totaling to three.
Image credit: VB-Audio
Step 6: For playing music through mic, it’s important to send the audio of your mic and the audio of an external or internal music player to the recording software and a pair of external speakers or headphones.
Step 7: If you do not have an internal audio loading program on your computer, we recommend downloading and installing a free soundboard such as EXP Soundboard.
Image credit: SOURCEFORGE
What’s great about EXP Soundboard apart from being free is it supports multiple audio file loading with dedicated hotkey configurations.
Step 8: The final step is to test whether you are successfully configured Voice Meeter in order to play music through mic.
To do this, enable the mic audio channel in Voice Meeter. Turn on your mic, connect it to your computer and talk through it. If it’s configured, the mic audio input channel will display the audio level graph.
Image credit: Tekh
Parallelly, you should be able to hear your mic input from your external monitoring device which you have chosen as either your speakers or headphones.
Now, the final test is to know whether Voice Meeter is feeding music from either the external music source or internal music player to your output device and recording software.
You can do this by configuring a virtual cable connection with music player software such as YouTube or Windows media player into the second audio input channel.
Image credit: Tekh
Upon successfully configuring the virtual cable, you will be able to hear the music through your output device and on the recording software. The second audio input channel will also display the audio level graph.
How do I play Spotify through my mic?
You can follow the steps listed above in order to play Spotify through your mic in your online content.
Using a soundboard program, you can choose the Spotify music player in either the second or third audio input channel on the Voice Meeter.
How do I play music through my mic on Android?
One simple and hassle-free way to play music through your mic via an Android device such as an Android smartphone or an Android tablet is to use a screencasting program or app.
One such screencasting app that screencasts your Android device on your Windows PC is OBS Studio.
By screencasting your Android device to your computer via OBS Studio and choosing it as an audio input device on the second or third audio input channel of Voice Meeter, you can play and control music through your Android device.
How do I play music through mic on YouTube?
By following the step that we have listed above for Windows PC, you can play music through mic on YouTube.
When recording videos for your YouTube channel, play music through mic using the steps listed above. And while doing that, make sure the DAW is recording the entire audio feed.
This way, it becomes easy for you to sync the audio (that includes music played through mic) with the video either in the DAW or the video editing program.
How do I play music through mic on Discord?
In order to play music through mic on Discord, configue the Discord app/program to Output channel B of Voice Meeter (since you have to reserve Output channel A for either your headphones or speakers).
You can refer to our Voice Meeter configuration steps listed above incase you have skipped them.
Image credit: VB-Audio
How do I play music through mic in game?
Similar to configuring Output channel B for Discord, you can configure Output channel B for game’s audio input in order to play music through mic in game.
The game’s audio engine, especially of the chat, can accept the music input from the mic via the Voice Meeter’s Output channel B. Refer to the above steps that show how to configure Voice Meeter in order to play music through mic.
Image credit: VB-Audio
How to play music through mic if you are a musician?
If you are a musician and want to play non-digital or non-electronic instruments’ music through mic, micing the instruments is the best option to go for.
In order to do this, please follow the simple steps we have listed below:
Step 1: For micing your acoustic music instrument, it’s important to use a high-quality studio-grade dynamic microphone.
Step 2: Connect the mic to an audio interface and feed it to the DAW in your computer.
Image credit: Unsplash
Step 3: Make sure that the mic input of the audio interface you are using supports audio input as well as power delivery.
Image credit: Unsplash
Step 4: Position yourself near to the mic while making sure that your acoustic instrument is close to the mic for optimum recording quality.
Image credit: Unsplash
Step 5: If you are planning to record an electric music instrument such as an electric guitar, it’s important to properly mic the amplifier.
With the help of a mic stand, place the dynamic mic near the speaker of your guitar amplifier.
Image credit: Sweetwater
Recording electric guitar, or any other electric musical instrument, by micing the amplifier is more of a trial and error process.
Make sure to experiment with placing the mic in various angles or areas of the amplifier in order to achieve the optimum recording sound.