What to do when audio is coming in crackling, hollow, distorted, muffled, robotic or if there is static, etc.
When your audio is slightly off (due to crackle, buzz, etc.), it's very difficult to assess the cause.
What follows is a list of options you can try to resolve this issue. We've ranked the options from easiest to hardest to complete. We recommend you try each option, then test to see if your audio improves.
If your audio is crackling or sounds like static, try these solutions:
- Try a different audio device. For example, if you are using a USB mic, try a regular audio-jack mic. If you are using a regular mic, try a USB mic. If one mic performs better than another, or all mics provide the same results, that's telling.
- Ensure that Windows and all audio drivers are up to date. Here's a guide from Microsoft that tells you how.
- If those options did not work, consider following the steps below:
- Open the Task Manager as an administrator (right-click in Start Menu then Run as Administrator)
- Select the "Details" tab along the top
- Find the "audiodg.exe" process and right-click it (note: if you can't see this process, you haven't opened the Task Manager as an administrator, go back to step 1).
- Set the priority of "audiodg.exe" to "High"
- Set the affinity of "audiodg.exe" to a single core e.g. CPU 2
- You will have to repeat this process, every time you reboot or turn on your PC
- To make this a permanent fix, check out Process Lasso https://bitsum.com/