Discord is a proprietary freeware VoIP application and digital distribution platform designed for video gaming communities; it specializes in text, image, video and audio communication between users in a chat channel. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and in web browsers. As of December 2018, there are over 200 million unique users of the software.
Discord uses a microphone as an input to send your voice to other users and is very beneficial for gamers. However, quite recently there have been many reports of Discord sending the game audio along with your voice. This means that Discord picks up the in-game audio as well as your voice and continuously projects it to other users. In this article, we will tell you the causes of this problem and provide you with viable solutions to easily solve this problem.
What Causes Discord to Pick Up Game Audio?
The Cause of the issue is usually related to certain sound settings or in some cases the sound drivers, therefore, some of the most common causes of this issue are:
Sound Settings: If in the sound settings the input device or the output device is selected as “stereo mix” it prompts the output (your speakers) and the input (your microphone) sounds to mix. This can cause a problem where the in-game audio is heard from the mic.Sound Drivers: It is also possible that maybe the correct drivers are not installed or maybe the drivers that are installed are corrupted which may be triggering this problem.Wrong Plug-in: Lastly, another common trigger for the problem is when the Headphones are connected in the keyboard. Some keyboards provide USB connectors for other devices to plug in and due to certain bugs, it can cause this issue.The stereo mix setting is used to send the input sound of the computer as output. It has no use while using Discord or gaming. In this step, we will be disabling the option in both Windows sound settings and Discord’s Settings.
Right-Click on the “Volume” button on the bottom right side of the taskbarVolume Button on the bottom Right-Hand side of the taskbarSelect the “Sounds” buttonSelecting the Sounds buttonIn the new window that pops up click on the “Recording” optionRecording OptionIn the Recording option, you will see a Stereo Mixplayback deviceStereo Mix optionRight–Click on it and select “Disable”Disabling Stereo Mix optionNow open the Discord applicationClick on the “User Settings” iconClicking on the user settings optionSelect the “Voice and Video Settings” optionChanging Input and Output Device settingsMake sure that you select your Headphones as the “Output Device” and your microphone as the “Input Device“.Note: If you cannot find your headphones or your microphone’s name then select windows default if you have already disabled the “Stereo Mix” option in your sound settings.Now try to see if the problem is solved if this step does not solve the problem then move on towards the next one.
Sometimes, if you are using the USB plugin or the Audio Jack that is fitted inside your keyboard, it may cause the problem. In this solution, we will plug the audio chacks to another port.
Unplug both the Headphones and the Microphone from the KeyboardKeyboardPlugin the Microphone and the Headphones into the audio jacks on the motherboardCheck to see if solves the issue.If this step does not solve your issue, then the problem must be with the settings of your drivers; therefore, move on towards the next solution.
There are certain Microphone settings which when enabled activate your microphone at all times and therefore this can cause the issue with the input being mixed with the output. For this
Right–Click on the Speaker Icon in the bottom right of the taskbarVolume Button on the bottom Right-Hand side of the taskbarSelect the “Sounds” optionSelecting the Sounds buttonGo to the “Recording” tabRecording OptionRight-Click on your microphone and select “Properties”Right-Clicking on the microphoneIn the Microphone Properties, click on the “Listen” TabMake sure the “Listen to this Device” box is uncheckedUnchecking the boxNow click on the advanced tabMake sure both the options under the “Exclusive” heading are checkedMaking Sure both options are checked under the Advanced TabApply your settings and check to see if this solves your problem.The very last option that we can resort to is to disable all the drivers that are installed except for the “Windows Default Driver” for which
Right–Click on the Volume icon in the bottom right handVolume Button on the bottom Right-Hand side of the taskbarSelect the “Sounds” optionSelecting the Sounds buttonSelect the “Playback” tabClicking on the Playback optionRight–Click and disable both “Realtek” and “Nvidia High Definition” Drivers.Restart your PC and check to see if this solves your problem.In some cases, the drivers that you are using might be the cause behind this issue. Therefore, in this step, we will be uninstalling these drivers from our computer completely. For that:
Press “Windows’ + “R” to open the Run prompt.Type in “Devmgmt.msc” and press “Enter”.Type devmgmt.msc and Press Enter to Open Device ManagerDouble click on the “Sound, Video and Game Controllers” option and right-click on the sound driver that you are currently using.Select the “Uninstall’ button and confirm any on-screen prompts.Clicking on the “Uninstall Device” optionFollow the on-screen instructions to uninstall this driver completely from your computer.Restart the computer and it will automatically replace these drivers with the stock ones.Check to see if the issue persists.