Echo usually comes from one of three things: (A) your speakers feeding back into the mic, (B) a software “loop” duplicating your audio, or (C) a reverby room. Here’s a quick, no-nonsense fix list.

60-Second Triage

1. Put on headphones and mute external speakers.

2. Mute every mic source except your main mic in your app.

3. Record a 10-sec test. If the echo vanishes with headphones → it was speaker bleed. If you still hear a doubled voice → it’s a loop. If it just sounds “roomy” → it’s the room.

Kill Loops & Doubles

• You might be monitoring yourself twice.

  • Windows: Control Panel → Sound → Recording → your mic → Properties → Listen tab → uncheck “Listen to this device.”

  • macOS/DAWs: Turn off Software Monitoring/Playthrough on the input track.

  • Audio interface: Disable Direct Monitor (or turn the mix knob fully to “Input” or “Playback,” not both, depending on need).

• Only one mic source active:

  • Mute camera mics, laptop mic, “Stereo Mix/What U Hear,” etc.

  • In OBS: Settings → Audio: disable unused Mic/Aux. In the Mixer, click the gear → Advanced Audio Properties → set unwanted sources to Monitor Off and/or mute them. Don’t capture the same mic as both a Source and a Global Mic.

• Joined twice in calls? If you dialed in on phone and computer, mute one. Ask teammates to do the same.

Stop Speaker Feedback

• Always prefer headphones over open speakers.

• Lower speaker volume and increase mic gain sensibly (see gain tips below).

• Keep speakers pointed away from the mic and as far as practical.

Fix a Reverby Room (the “boomy” kind of echo)

• Get closer to the mic (about a hand’s width; 4–6 inches) and lower input gain to keep peaks around -12 dBFS.

• Use a cardioid mic pointed at your mouth; speak slightly off-axis to reduce harshness.

• Add soft stuff: rug, curtains, blankets on hard surfaces, bookshelves behind you, or a small reflection filter/portable booth.

App-Specific Quick Wins

• Zoom/Google Meet/Teams/Discord: Turn Echo Cancellation ON. In Zoom, only enable “Original Sound” if you need it—otherwise it disables some echo control. Make sure you’re using the correct mic in the app.

• OBS: Ensure only one mic is active. Avoid “Monitor and Output” on that mic unless you need real-time hearing; if you do, mute your speakers or use headphones.

• Voicemeeter/GoXLR/mixers: Check you haven’t added reverb/FX and that routing isn’t sending the mic back to your speakers and re-capturing it.

Bluetooth & Buffer Gotchas

• Bluetooth adds latency that can sound echoey. Prefer wired headsets/mics.

• In DAWs, lower buffer size (e.g., 128 samples) and avoid heavy plugins on input.

Clean Gain Staging (prevents cranking speakers)

1. Set interface gain so normal speech peaks around -12 dBFS.

2. Keep Windows/macOS input slider near 80–100%; do fine-tuning on the interface.

3. In apps, don’t add extra gain unless needed.

Test Procedure (fast and bulletproof)

1. Headphones on, speakers muted.

2. One mic only.

3. Record 10 seconds, listen back.

4. Add components one by one (unmute sources, enable monitoring, etc.) until the echo appears—then you’ve found the culprit.