Make a quiet recording louder
A quiet recording usually means the microphone was too far from the voice. There are three places to fix it: during the recording, at playback, and by re-rendering the file.
At playback: the volume boost
- Open the recording in the player.
- Find the volume boost control.
- Raise it above 100% — up to 200%, twice the normal output.
- Turn your phone's own volume up as well; the two multiply.
While recording: input gain
The recording screen's adjust panel has an input gain you can raise without stopping the take. Watch the meter: the peaks should reach about three-quarters of the way up. Anything that pins at the top is clipping, which cannot be repaired afterwards.
Fixing a recording you already have
- Run Noise reduction — with the noise floor lower, you can push the volume further before hiss becomes obvious.
- Use headphones. A phone speaker is the quietest way to listen to anything.
- Trim to the part you need before boosting; you only have to listen to that.
- If the voice is genuinely below the room noise, no amount of boosting helps. Re-record if you can.
FAQ
- Does boosting distort the sound?
- It raises everything, including the noise. Up to about 150% is usually clean; past that, a quiet recording starts to hiss.
- Does the boost apply to a shared file?
- No, it is a playback setting. To make the file itself louder, the practical route is noise reduction plus a re-render.
- Why is my recording quiet when the meter looked fine?
- Check that playback is not on a Bluetooth speaker, and that the phone is not in Low Power Mode with the volume limited in Settings › Sounds.
Record it properly next time
Voice Recorder — Novaz records meetings, lectures and ideas in M4A or WAV, marks the moments that matter, trims and merges, and turns speech into searchable text — all on your iPhone.
Download on the App Store