A real level meter, not a bouncing cartoon bar. See whether you are too quiet, clipping, or just right, then record a sample and hear yourself back.
Your browser will ask permission first. Audio is analysed locally and never uploaded.
Say something at your normal speaking volume.
Your test recording
Click start and accept the permission prompt. The browser grants access to this page only, and revokes it when you close the tab.
Watch the meter while you speak at the volume you would actually use. Aim for peaks in the green band, around -12 dB to -6 dB.
Levels tell you half the story. The 8 second test recording tells you the rest: room echo, keyboard noise, fan hum, and plosives.
Aim for peaks around -12 dB to -6 dB while speaking normally. That leaves headroom so a laugh or a raised voice does not clip. If you are constantly hitting 0 dB the audio is distorting, and no amount of editing repairs clipped audio. If you are down around -30 dB you will have to boost it later, which also boosts the room noise.
Usually distance. Level falls off fast with distance, so moving from an arm away to a hand away is a large gain increase for free, and it also improves your voice to room ratio. After that, check the input gain in your operating system sound settings, and confirm the browser is using the microphone you think it is (the picker above shows which one is live).
The meter reads the input, and playback uses your output device, so this points at the output side. Check your speaker or headphone selection and system volume. If you are wearing headphones plugged in after the page loaded, reload the page so the browser picks up the new output device.
No. The level meter and waveform are computed in the page using the Web Audio API. The test recording is held in browser memory for playback and disappears when you close or reload the tab. Nothing is written to disk and nothing is sent anywhere.
Most likely you are far from the mic, so you have turned the gain up, which raises the room with you. Get closer, turn the gain down, and put soft things (curtains, a rug, a bookshelf) between your mic and bare walls. Directional microphones also help by rejecting sound from behind them.
Recording Studio records your screen and camera together, composed live, vertical or landscape. Free, no account, nothing uploads.