How to Add a Microphone to Raspberry Pi?

One of the first things that surprised me when I received my Raspberry Pi was that it didn’t have a microphone jack. This port seemed useful for many things, so I did some research and tests on the subject. And now I’m able to tell you more about it with this article.

There is no microphone on the Raspberry Pi, and no input jack. It is possible, however, to use the USB ports or Bluetooth to connect an external microphone.

As you read the article, you’ll understand:
– Why there’s no integrated microphone
– How to add a microphone to the Raspberry Pi
– How to check that it’s working and use it in a basic way
– Why a microphone would be useful for your future projects

If you’re feeling lost in all the Raspberry Pi jargon, I’ve got something to help you out. I’ve created a free glossary that explains all the essential terms and abbreviations in a way that’s easy to understand. It’s a great resource to have by your side. Get your free copy here.

Why is There No Microphone on a Raspberry Pi?

The basic concept of Raspberry Pi is to create a “computer” with these 3 criteria:

• Small size
• Affordable price
• Possibilities for upgrades

The Raspberry Pi Foundation tries to keep the price of their products as low as possible, and don’t add any non-essential components to their device. Especially, if it’s possible to add it later by using existing components.

That’s the same reasoning regarding the microphone. Older Raspberry Pi models included a speaker jack output (as explained here), but not a microphone input.

And you’ll see that it’s not that complicated to add one, and at least it will totally fit your needs if you buy it separately.

How to Add a Microphone to the Raspberry Pi

The easiest way to add a microphone on a Raspberry Pi is to plug a USB microphone into a USB port or to use a jack-to-USB adapter for a traditional microphone.

The first thing to do before installing a microphone is to ask yourself what you want to do with it.
First, choose a microphone that fits your needs, without looking into whether it will be compatible or not. Assume that everything is possible.

Have you made your choice or already have a microphone that you want to install?
Let’s see how to install it for the three most frequent cases.

USB Microphone

The first possibility, which is probably the simplest, is to connect a USB microphone (check the price on Amazon).
If you’re looking for a cheap solution to do some tests with, a USB microphone is perfect for you. Very affordable, no driver issues to deal with, and a discreet size.

The advantage of USB is that generally your microphone will be detected automatically by Raspberry Pi OS—it’s plug & play.

In my case, I plugged it into a free USB port, and the sound controller peripherals immediately detected the microphone, and added it to the list.

If you see your microphone show up here, that’s it! You’ll have to adjust the amplification, and it’s ready to be used.

Bluetooth Microphone

If you have a Bluetooth microphone (headset or other), there are two cases that can occur:

• Your Raspberry Pi model is equipped with Bluetooth, and your microphone is detected.
• You are not so lucky :-).

Bluetooth Microphone Detected Automatically

I did the test using a Bluetooth headset with mic, and I was lucky that it was very well-recognized by the Raspberry Pi, so I could easily pair it.

Then the sound switched automatically to the headphones, and I was able to record my voice with the headset’s microphone.

However, I couldn’t adjust the output parameters (especially volume) via the GUI. I had to go through alsamixer:
alsamixer

Bluetooth Not Detected

If your Bluetooth microphone is not detected, the microphone manufacturer will generally provide a USB adapter with it, so you can use it,

Maybe it’s possible to install additional drivers or at least do something to help the Bluetooth recognize your microphone, but I admit I have not encountered this case, so I didn’t look into it more.

Then you go back to the chapter “USB Microphone” and follow the same steps.

Jack Microphone

This solution is the most complicated, so it’s only a good choice if you have a good reason to want to install a microphone jack at any price.

Indeed, since there is no integrated connector, you will need to add an extension to your Raspberry Pi. This solution involves buying and installing a sound card which will allow, among other things, to connect a microphone jack.

There are mainly two types of sound cards, and in both cases, it means that you will have to buy an additional component (either a USB soundcard or a HAT soundcard).

USB Sound Card

I think this is probably the most straightforward way to add a microphone jack if that’s what you want.

For a cheap solution, you can find this USB-to-jack adapter on Amazon, which allows you to connect a USB headset and microphone to your Raspberry Pi. If you have a headset or microphone using jack ports, it’s the best solution for you.

The configuration will be the same as the one indicated at the beginning of this post.
Raspberry Pi OS will detect the adapter and you will only have to configure your microphone.

HAT Sound Card

For DIYers or those who need high fidelity sound quality, there are real sound cards, very close to those that can be found in conventional computers.

For a decent price, you can install this “HAT” sound card via the GPIO ports of Raspberry Pi and enjoy a professional product for advanced projects (all details on Amazon).  Once you have it, you can start an audio project without any doubts about the sound part, it will work!

Optional: Advanced Microphone Settings

If your microphone is already detected and working with Raspberry Pi OS, great! You can skip to the next section.

But if you need more fine-tune control, you can install a GUI tool: PulseAudio Volume Control.
(Even though Raspberry Pi OS now uses PipeWire instead of PulseAudio for the audio backend, this tool still works.)

I wouldn’t mess with this unless you absolutely need it, because I think the interface is still confusing after all these years. But if something’s not working as expected, this might be the best fix. For example, you can use this tool to redirect the mic output to specific apps.

Here’s how to install PulseAudio Volume Control from a terminal:
sudo apt install pavucontrol

After that you can launch it from the main menu > Sound & Video category.

How to Test a Microphone on Raspberry Pi

To test a microphone on Raspberry Pi OS, you can either use a command line (arecord) or install a sound editor application like Audacity.

In a Terminal

If you want to be sure that your microphone works well, the easiest way is to do a recording test.
To do this, open a terminal and type the following command:
arecord -D plughw:1,0 -d 10 test.wav

• -d 10 tells how many seconds to record for. You can change this to -d 30 for instance.
• -D plughw:1,0 chooses the microphone to record with.
  On your system, it might be a different number.
• Use this command to list your microphone device:
  arecord -l
  In the screenshot below, since the microphone is identified as card ‘3’ and subdevice ‘0’, the parameter above would have to be changed to -D plughw:3,0 to record from this mic.
  

Okay, now that it’s recorded, open the sound file with your favorite audio player to check that the microphone recorded your voice correctly.

For example, you can install the sox package:
sudo apt install sox

And then use the simple play command:
play test.wav

Tip: Command lines can be a pain to memorize. I put the essential Linux commands on a printable cheat sheet so you don't have to keep googling them. You can grab the PDF here if you want to save some time.

From the Desktop

Graphically, there are lots of applications that you can use to test your mic or manage your audio recordings. The one I recommend is Audacity.

Just install it with:
sudo apt install audacity
You can also install it with the Add/Remove software tool if you prefer.

Launch it from the main menu > Sound & Video > Audacity.

Make sure your microphone is selected under Audio Setup > Recording Device.
Click the red “Record” button to start your audio recording.

You can then check the sound by simply clicking on Play.

Audacity allows a lot of editing to your raw sound. For example, you can amplify it, change the frequency of sampling or add various effects. I use it a lot on my computer, but it also works well on Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi Projects With a Microphone

There are tons of possible projects with a Raspberry Pi, and for some of them, the microphone quality will be essential.

Now that you have a functional mic, maybe you can think about these kinds of projects.
I’ll give you 2 or 3 examples to give you some ideas.

Home Assistant

Siri, Alexa, Google assistants… Have you ever heard of them?
Personal assistants are taking up more and more place in our lives and can help us with many things.

Did you know that it was possible to transform a Raspberry Pi in Amazon Echo?
Well, yes, there are many projects on the web allowing you to run the home assistant of your choice on your Raspberry Pi, and thus customize it according to your desires.

This project is relatively simple and inexpensive.
With your microphone, you already have 50% of the necessary material.
A speaker, some coding, and your Raspberry Pi will become the home assistant of your choice.

Baby Monitor

It is a project that can be a little more complicated if we go to the end of things, but that can be interesting. Indeed, it is possible to add the following elements on a Raspberry Pi:

• Microphone for listening to the baby
• A camera to monitor it
• A temperature and humidity sensor to make sure your room is nice
• A speaker to play a lullaby

What more could you want?
For less than $50, you will replace expensive accessories while having fun!

That’s all for today – I hope this article will help you understand why there is no microphone port in the Raspberry Pi and how to add one easily whatever your need is.
You also got a glimpse of the possibilities you can explore with a microphone connected to your Raspberry Pi.

If you have issues installing your microphone, please leave a comment in the community, and I will try to help you.

You may also be interested in this article to fix all kinds of audio issues: How To Fix Sound Issues On Raspberry Pi: Easy Solutions.

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