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Stop Skype From Auto Adjusting Microphone Volume on Mac (Disable Auto Gain Control – ACG)

John P.

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When we are recording Wealth Nation, we often conduct interviews via Skype. Of course, we’ve got a fairly sophisticated microphone setup going on, and I get everything tweaked just the way I want it before getting on the call. But then, in the middle of recording a show Skype decides to start changing microphone volume levels on me!

I’m not just talking about changing the volume level in Skype! I mean Skype reaches out and changes the main volume level on the laptop through the System control panel! It’s amazing. You can sit there and watch your microphone settings going up and down while your sound quality is all screwed up.

Well, I finally found a fix. It’s actually pretty simple.

  • Quit Skype
  • Open the following file with TextEdit: ~/Library » Application Support » Skype » shared.xml
  • At the very end of the document, you’ll see an area that looks like this (but probably with more MicVolume numbers):
    <VoiceEng>
    <MicVolume>77</MicVolume>
    </VoiceEng>
  • Add one new line immediately after the <VoiceEng> that says <AGC>0</AGC>: It should now look like this:
    <VoiceEng>
    <AGC>0</AGC>
    <MicVolume>77</MicVolume>
    </VoiceEng>
  • Save the document, restart Skype, and enjoy your new peace and tranquility.

What this does is disables AGC, or Automatic Gain Control, by setting the variable to 0. Use “1” to enable it. The MicVolume can range from 0 (mute) to 255 (full volume).

About John P.

John P. is a former CEO, former TV Show Host, and the Founder and Wizard behind Texas Metal Works. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Feel free to send shoutouts, insults, and praise. Or Money. Money is good.

Comments

  3. JonH says

    Brilliant! worked for me.
    It was driving me nuts, This combined with a bug in my logitec webcam firmware that cut audio if the gain went over 95%, meant my audio kept cutting out.
    Jon

  4. andyB says

    most helpful, worked perfectly.
    mine looked like this after modifying, the micboost bits were already there.

    0

    -1
    0
    0
    0

    70
    59
    100
    83

    100

  5. tino says

    maybe like this:
    VoiceEng
    MicBoost
    _2580/_258
    _2600/_260
    _2770/_277
    _2810/_281
    _2920/_292
    C-Media.20USB.20Audio.20Device.20.20.200/C-Media.20USB.20Audio.20Device.20.20.20
    Vimicro.20USB2.2E0.20UVC.20PC.20Camera.20VC03320/Vimicro.20USB2.2E0.20UVC.20PC.20Camera.20VC0332
    _.E5.86.85.E8.94.B5.E3.82.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.83.87.E3.82.A3.E3.82.AA0/_.E5.86.85.E8.94.B5.E3.82.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.83.87.E3.82.A3.E3.82.AA
    /MicBoost
    MicVolume
    _258100/_258
    _26092/_260
    _27770/_277
    _28199/_281
    _292100/_292
    C-Media.20USB.20Audio.20Device.20.20.20100/C-Media.20USB.20Audio.20Device.20.20.20
    Vimicro.20USB2.2E0.20UVC.20PC.20Camera.20VC033249/Vimicro.20USB2.2E0.20UVC.20PC.20Camera.20VC0332
    _.E5.86.85.E8.94.B5.E3.82.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.83.87.E3.82.A3.E3.82.AA49/_.E5.86.85.E8.94.B5.E3.82.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.83.87.E3.82.A3.E3.82.AA
    /MicVolume
    SpeakerVolume37/SpeakerVolume
    /VoiceEng
    /Lib
    /config

  6. Jude says

    WOW….thank you for this solution. I can finally talk on mac skype, without having to load linux from a boot disc…..whew. THANK YOU. It really works, too, the mic gain doesn’t move AT ALL.

  7. Jared says

    This did not work for me i put the code in and saved it and still having the issue with it lowering my volume.