External microphone input volume too quiet

MacBook Pro 13" 2016 Touch Bar version

Whenever I plug an external microphone it's really quiet, what's more changing the input volume in the Sound settings doesn't affect it at all - It's still very quiet but hearable at 0 Volume and exactly the same at full volume.

Is there any way for me to increase the volume of the external microphone?

PS. It's the same regardless of the device, all 3 different headphone pairs behaved the same

Solution 1:

The command to set your microphone levels all the way up is this:

sudo osascript -e "set volume input volume 100"

Also check your microphones for dust in the mic hole and if there is a power source on the device you may need to plug it in. It may need the built in mic amp.

If that doesn't help possibly a 3rd party free app like Soundsource that gives you sliders to toggle Speaker/Microphone levels from the menu bar. I've never used it but found it referenced in the apple forums.