This sir actually teaches us about sound setting. He explains everything so we can do much better. I am in the stage of testing and retesting, and I have watched this video more than three times for his explanations. This sir doesn’t just make tutorials; this sir educates. That’s why he is the best, This video should be included with you show "revelator iO 24 software". You explain everything so well and really go in-depth with it. The high-pass filter EQ for the game audio is an idea I had never thought of before. After watching your tutorial a few times to really understand it, I began to fix my audio, and I’m really surprised by how much better it sounds! Like WOW! Thank you sir, for your efforts., EposVox!..🙂
This video should be included with every OBS install. You explain everything so well and really goes to the bottom with it. The high-pass filter EQ for the Game audio is an idea Ive never thought of before. And after having watched your tutorial a few times to really understand it, I began to fix my audio and Im really suprised just How Much better it sounds! Like WOW! Thank you EposVox!Im gonna send this to my streaming buddies, really hope they follow it to!
120% agree with the first gain/compressor settings. Great job man, love seeing more of this info out there. you also hit the EQ levels the same as I say: Mic -5 to -10, Discord: -15, Game -20 to -25 (loudest sound), music (-25 to -35). Generally disagree with compressing the game audio for stream, it makes the sound seem different to users that might play.
This is an excellent video. So many of the "stream gurus" of yesteryear silently moved over to shilling sponsored gear which makes it impossible to find objective opinions. You're teaching critical stuff like gainstaging which streamers never find online because they think channels like podcastage are for audiophiles only. Subscribed and look forward to more :)
Ok, so I have just been getting started streaming and I was soooo frustrated following others re-hashed guides with a lot of misinformation! I'm a musician, so I knew the OBS guides I was watching (*cough* Alpha Gaming *cough*), didn't seem right. Having an analog mixer before an audio interface is what I am used to. Every guide I have seen has encouraged me to crank the gain and only reduce it if you are having issues with the noise floor or noise gate threshold. I set mine to 75% just like you said and then added digital gain and I have never sounded better. I haven't even touched EQ! Coming from the world of guitars, where having a generous amount of gain really helps carve out unique tone, to streaming has been a trip! I can't believe how much information you offer. You don't just teach the steps, you teach the concepts, and I cannot begin to thank you enough! No shade meant for Alpha gaming, but they lack the substance you have. I should have started here.
Man! You explain things that nobody I heard explains. You really did an amazing job bro!!!! I wish I saw this a while back before buying equipment. Thanks for the info!
Dude this is a splendid video! As someone who has seen many videos on this topic, I can say that this was by far the most helpful, accurate and instructional of them all. Congrats and thanks!!
THANK YOU. i remember wanting to find a video like this months ago, however many videos didnt exactly apply to a stream/gaming environment. you really hit the nail with the info i was looking for back then.
This is the best audio guide i've seen, great job. Now my $30 Fifine sound awesome in OBS but would this work with something like EqualizerAPO so my comms on discord, zoom and in game chat benefits from it? (just the mic filters)
Hands down the best tutorial for streamers…. Audio is most important and this video explains every part of audio and how to control it and it not control you. I use 7 audio sources not all at once of course and this has guided me in the right direction to mastering my stream audio… thanks Epos
Equalizer APO seems to also be a great free open source software alternative to using Voicemeeter/Steelseries Sonar, thought I'd mention it just in case
I use EqualizerAPO to apply all of my mic filters incl. compressor, limiter, and sometimes RNNoise(using vst thing) because laptop fan, to the microphone device directly, and all apps get the processed audio, without using virtual audio cable or another sound device or whatever. It's kinda spotty with realtek drivers though, I had to use generic microsoft drivers to make it work, but it works well when it does.
I've been using an OBS plugin by bozbez called "Win-Audio-Capture" and it's allowed me to set each individual exe file with a seperate audio capture without using Voicemeeter. That way I can tune everything individually through OBS. So before my friends in Discord sounded quiet to me but for Stream they were really loud. Now I just added an audio capture source targeting discord exe and I've turned them down on OBS.
Alright, time for me to go back and lose my mind tweaking audio settings again! (I kinda love it though, and this will certainly be helpful) Thank you!😂👍❤
Why noise reduction /after/ gain and compression? Ive heard arguments for putting noise reduction ahead of everything so you dont amplify it in any way
For me my blue yeti sounds much much worse with digital gain as opposed to the gain on my mic. It makes like a ... feedback screeching noise if I use digital gain.. but I appreciate the video bro
... when you use OBS as your video and audio source for Zoom because you've got OBS set right and Zoom will happily take that input with the right plugins (pipewire, virtual audio cable, Loopback, etc.)
Again...THANK YOU! Last night I literally had people tell me my audio was clipping. So embarrassing! Now I just ran a test...it's sounds...well...professional! Now I just need to get my gaming on a proffessional level to match! lmao. But THANK YOU!
can this very well versed audio gott maybe do an video on the logitech g hub for the blue mic series? since implementing this to the blue voice thing is weird (also when IU hit mic test it somehow changes the voice on OBS making my mic more sensible
Question for you, does it matter the order the filters are in ? if I wanted to add a noise gate to stop my fan noise would I do that as the first filter or after the gain step. Thank you!
I struggle with this because I have no idea what I am doing. I am curious as to how this would work via Wave Link if I only have the Wave 3 mic and use that as my interface.
Personally, I'd just follow his advice regarding how you would set your mic up in OBS, but just do it via the Wavelink software which has all the same options ( gain level, gate, compressor, limiter etc).
This guy doesn't make tutorials.. this guy educates. Thats why he is the best! He made me understand Davinci Resolve, and now he made me understand sound settings. And i've watched tutorials 3days straight from a huge number of other youtubers and none managed to explain something except the basics which everyone knows..
The OBS color markers always annoyed me because it causes a lot of people to think their mics are peaking when they go into the red. I wish that "true peak" was set by default, because it sets the red zone around -3 dB and is much more accurate. By the way, I love the way you showed to set initial gain. I already did most of this (like setting the compressor and then a limiter after it) as well as compressing other audio based on when I speak. But it's cool to see the whole thing. I do hope that this video gets popular because SO many people on Twitch have inconsistent audio and it hurts to watch. Edit: My only critique, personally, is where you set your levels for background and game music, especially using the original OBS marks. Back in September of 2021, someone published "Recommendations for Loudness of Internet Audio Streaming and On-Demand Distribution". There's a few things in there, but the main thing is that it recommends most audio to be normalized to about -18 LUFS. This document inspired me (despite lacking normalization on OBS) to try to at least get the audio closer, so I generally don't allow my minimum audio to really be lower than -25 or -30 dB. So in my case, I often play music around -20 to -30 dB depending on the song or what we're doing in stream, game audio often sits in the lower part of yellow (which would be about -12 to -20 but is often just normal volume and can reach -5 or so), and then my voice usually sits around -5 to -12 dB. On top of that, I run ducked compressors on my music and game audio, only slightly though. This allows my voice to be easily heard, but for people to still get most or all of the original sound as well. What this also does is, mainly, it helps people that watch on TV or Phone. Often times, with most streams, the audio is so uncompressed that the music level compared to headphones is so low, that when someone talks or gets excited, my speakers are getting blown out. As far as how this translates to headphones, I actually think it helps a lot, especially for people that use it as background noise. The audio is much more "normalized" kind of (mainly consistent), so they can set a volume and not worry about peaks or it getting too quiet. Though that's obviously my own opinion, and the goal is that they are still separated, but much closer together. Edit 2: Ah, I guess you basically do that at the end. My bad, lol. Though, I do think it would've been nice to just suggest that everyone basically does ducking, and offer non-ducking as an alternate solution where you probably mention "true peak" and the levels there. Edit 3: One tip for anyone using a GoXLR, I prefer pulling in the music directly from the input, and not from any outputs. This bypasses the GoXLR and allows you to set your music volume independently. This gives you the benefit of ALWAYS having your music at the same level no matter what (I also have a streamdeck button to set it to 80% in Spotify), and you can then compress it slightly for normalization. It's very handy.
9:45 The different filters, gains and so on in all the voice chat software annoyed me. I stumbled upon "Virtual Audio Cable" (VAC) (free version for non-commerical use). In OBS you select the VAC as monitoring device. You can then send your audio to output AND monitoring. Your video conference software can then use the VAC as input device. Thus all your finely tuned OBS settings can be used within every voice chat with the same gain, noise suppression and so on.
When watching this I think you're confusing Dynamic with Condenser, you say your gain dial will be lower if using a dynamic mic which isn't true, condensers have way more sensitivity so require less gain where dynamic generally needs more since they're mics that can take a beating, like on stage for example. I know this video is old but that point really confused me. To reach the points you want without using any OBS my dial is already at 75%
I'm so happy to see EposVox helping the streaming world start to take audio more seriously!! So the pro audio world uses this as the proper level input as a rule. -18 on a dbfs meter is the same as 0 on an analog VU meter which means anything over -18 average is a bit too hot. Sure small peak jumps over -18 are ok but as a rule setting your input gain to -18 and then pushing the output up if it's needed is the right way to go. This is why the Green or "Good" level in something like OBS is set to around -18. Now there are other factors but honestly it can be more confusing than helpful such as LUFs or Peak versus RMS metering. So stick to a -18 dbfs input and your audio will be clean with plenty of headroom.
I switched from Streamlabs to OBS Studio last March 1 because of your videos regarding Streamlabs controversy and I'm glad that I made the switch. I'll be watching this video later. Thanks so much for the free tutorials! :)
Do you have any recommendation for gaming headset with microphone? I have gaming headset Corsair HS80 ... my sound always on streams was fine but I notice that time to time, when I laugh loud or say something very loud it was going in that red line. Now last days it was getting even worse. I'm already using RTX voice for suppress the sounds around (background sounds) and in OBS it was now going in that red line. I literally followed up to your video and done everything the same, however where is BOOST BACK - instead of putting 16db ... I put -6.00db. and its sounds better than if I put 16db. Do you know why for me its sounds better with minus 6db instead of positive 16db? Because I put positive 16db it will be clipping and going into that red line. Do you know why?
I still don't get why OBS still hasn't implemented a master bus. For this tutorial to be complete, you would need a master chain. We solve this issue by routing all our audio trough an external soft mixer like voicemeter or even reaper (with that we can record our audio sources seperately) but a master bus would be great. We did use OBS Music Edition for a while but the problem with that is that you can not use all the plugins since it's libOBS is patches and a lot of them don't work. Anyway, an effects chain on the master bus, would make this complete. Every good master needs a compressor+limiter at least.
I have an issue with my output volume when streaming being low even though my meter in obs is set similar to your settings. You can check it out on my stream on my channel. I am running my audio interface output for my drums into my streaming PC through a presonus interface. When I process audio for my long form videos the audio is loud and clear set to similar DB levels. Do you know what might be the issue for this?
Hi all! I’ll skip right to it, wow does this work! Amazing settings. The only problem, and it’s not with this guide but with games, is that games have different base volumes. My mic maxes around 15-20mb which sounds good. But shooters are particularly loud. The dampening while speaking is a godsend. Without speaking, your game volume should max at 28-30mb. This was around -30 on the slider for bf4. Jedi survivor would require around -22 to reach the 30mb cap. Shooters are just particular loud. Hope that helps!
I was wondering why my mic audio in OBS was showing just shy of red, but in the final mix I felt like it was kinda quiet. Looks like I got some re-working to do with gain and compression filters!
Fun fact: you can use Equalizer APO to add VSTs system-wide so you don't need filters in OBS, yet have the same functionality, while equally making it work in other programs. Downside is that you don't have a visual of how these VSTs are applied, so if you need that you can test out settings in OBS first (or record and check in Audacity after each tweak) to then apply it.
If you use a GoXLR would you recommend using the GoXLR's broadcast mix for the stream's audio and ignoring the audio filters (aside from a limiter) in OBS, or would you prefer to to keep each audio track separate so you can apply more audio filters (such as ducking) for each track in OBS for the stream?
If you want to use a full mix off your interface (I'm on a WaveXLR, so I use my full mix out of Wave Link) you can still get a "ducking" effect using gain > compression > limiting. Set your relative levels of (say) music, game, mic in ascending order...in my case, music is at something like* -32dB, game at -24dB, and mic at -18dB, all in RMS (not peak!). Now, obviously your music will be far too quiet and your game won't be very loud either. That's fine, because we'll throw like 7-8dB of gain on the whole mix. Now your mic will be too loud. That's fine, do a 2:1 compressor with a slow attack (like 500ms) and a slow release (like 1000ms), so you don't get unnatural "pulsing." But that compressor will push down the "quieter" parts of the mix any time the "louder" parts come in. So if you're not talking but the game is going, the game audio (at 6dB above music) will push down the music. If the game gets quiet, the music will come up (as the compressor releases). And if you talk, everything gets pushed down as the compressor attacks again. The limiter stage will prevent the gain at the front end from pushing your mic (or game) into clipping...you'll potentially get some subtle limiting on your voice (if you're being loud) for the first 500ms as the compressor attacks, but it won't be remotely noticeable, and the end result will be a nice effect where you're always front and center, but as "louder" parts peel away "quieter" parts will fade back in (with the 1000ms compressor release). All without needing access to sidechaining or a bunch of different sources in OBS. You can also add like 2dB of gain between compressor and limiter, to boost overall loudness, if you find your total mix isn't quite loud enough. You can actually get all of this rolled into one plugin, too. I personally use TDR's Limiter 6 GE, but that does cost money...it ran me about $30 on sale. You can also just as easily pick up (from the same TDR website) the original VladG Limiter 6 plugin, which does all of the above, only functions you'll lose are saved presets (outside of OBS) and the loudness monitoring on the final output stage. That and active support, obviously, because it's an obsolete plugin. It does work though, I've used it. Free and paid versions, respectively: www.tokyodawn.net/vladg-limiter-n6/ www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-limiter6-ge/ These plugins are the main reason I hate OBS's lack of a "final mix" that you can add plugins to, because a plugin like this on your final mix lets you achieve some really nice effects like I described above, and is great for managing your overall loudness levels and dynamic range, but kinda requires you to have everything all muxed into one final stream to apply it to. But for those with devices like GoXLR, WaveXLR, etc. this is a very nice option for mixing everything outside OBS and just applying one last filter to bring it all together. * - These measurements are actually in LUFS, not dB...LUFS are very similar to RMS dB, but not quite the same.
I personally have my chat as broadcast (because you can't use chat mic) and then system on chat mic, then music is pulled directly from the GoXLR input rather than any outputs. This allows me to set music in OBS completely separately, as well as apply chat and system sounds with different filters.
@Well Well Well >no matter what you do over time ... audio will desync Er no it won't. Maybe some of your audio or video is in 59.94 and some is in 60 FPS?
04:49 - 05:37 this is the most replayed part (for now) Then why should we set preamps to 75% and not 50%? I set my gain to the level where my noise floor is around -60dB (less than 3 o'clock) And it never hits -6dB 01:37 because I talk very quietly. Most of the time it would be around -27dB 02:17 - 02:24 It would be around 100% gain for me.
Glad I found this video. Took me 8 hours to setup obs overlays and everything but couldn't quite get the audio right. This helped me out alot. Thank you
I'm an audio engineer and producer, and I never let audio go into the red. Red always means STOP. Apparently it's fine for gamers to overdrive audio levels well into the red, and not worry about what it sounds like on the other end of the stream. Yes, audio mixes are subjective--get ten engineers and ask their opinion, you'll get twenty different opinions, but audio levels are pretty standard. I just never let audio get into the red.
I mean, objectively if you’re not going past 0dB, you’re not clipping or overdriving anything. While what you said is generally sound advice (ha ha) that completely ignores the context of who designed the red and what it was for. Peaks being under -6db will be way too quiet for normal viewers and result in a horrible experience when they crank audio up to hear it and then click on any other video or stream.
How should I set up a 3dio FS mic into Scarlett 2i2 going into OBS ? I set the gain to 2 oh clock on the scarlett and the sound was so low on twitch. Please help
With using Elgato Wave 3 with Wave Link, does adding the digital gain after setting correct gain still apply when using Wave Link? I don't really see a Gain VST and adding it to OBS will just add it to the all-in-one stream audio from Wave Link. Just trying to make sure what settings apply to something software based like Wave Link.
If I already set my GoXLR with the EQ and the Compression should I still add the filters in OBS ? This is the one thing that I’ve been confused about, cuz I do everything on the GoXLR but then OBS the filters work better
I am having an issue with my live band audio is causing pops and clicks but I am not clipping in red on obs. Is it possible to clip in obs without the signal hitting red?
I've been having the problem in games like Apex, or which involve gunfire at all, with that sound peaking really badly and being too boomy. Do you have a suggestion for what to set up exactly to keep the game audio evened out? Your Apex clip sounded pretty good
I don't stream but record from console. Older consoles that use AV often have static in the background that's kinda loud. I've been able to get rid of the static with sound filters, but the filters sometimes cut out game sound. Don't know if that's just something I have to deal with when recording for actual hardware and not using an emulator.
Do you still have the Datapath VisionSC-DP2 ? How it stands in 2022 ? Years later, it's the only card went to market that captures DisplayPort signal. Why isn't there more of it ?
At 13:38 how did you separate the sounds without them being heard multiple times, and also how did you add the GAME SOUND etc. - Would appreciate anyone helping me out
So I have a cheap microphone headset and I’m playing the music to my stream using an OBS plug-in where I can adjust the volume but then the music is also going into my headset. And since I’m using the headset microphone, the music is also going out onto my stream, so the viewers are getting an echo on the music. They are getting the music from TH-cam window directly and then they are also getting the music coming from the PC into my headphones. So it’s carrying double music. Do I need a seperate mic for talking and listening or can the music coming into my headset stop there and not get sent out along with my voice. It’s not the mic picking up the game, it’s the sounded traveling along together since the music output and input end up the same. Maybe I just need another microphone .
It seems everyone has problems with their microphone sounding bad but for me it is program audio, like from games or Spotify that sounds absolutely terrible. The mic is fine. I have no idea how to fix it, I tried all filters and none at all but nothing works. Sounds like the speaker is very far away
hey I use source record to save only the gameplay footage for editing..but the audio ducking is also recorded...how can i use ducking to my stream while recording the unchanged audio too? Thanks
my issue is that audio ducking is working automatically on it's own. I shut it off on my pc. so idk... maybe I'm just to dumb to figure it out lol which is highly possible.
thanks for the video, there is a tiny mistake , when you are talking about the limiter, you say that its good to have the release at 60 db instead of 60 ms. xD
There's often a practical limit how quiet you can set your preamp input gain - due to interface monitoring. :( 10:49 the subtitles go off the rails here.
Keep in mind the lower your peak recording gain the more you are going to have to add gain up in post. This will make your room noise louder. You may start to hear your ac and untreated room more.
@@EposVox Maybe I expand my self poorly. It is true tho. Anytime you turn up a recording in post you are also turning up the room noise in that recording. If I have a recording where my voice peaks at say -12 db and I turn it up digitally in post it will also raise the room noise when im not speaking. Anytime you are adding gain you are raising your noise floor with your main signal.
Ok, but if you turn up gain on your interface instead, that same room noise comes up - plus the risk of added amp noise. Gain in post doesn't bring it up anymore than your amp gain would.
The problem I found with this is now when I use my mic in discord the volume is way too low and no one can hear me. Is there a way to fix this using the rodecaster pro 2.
You really have to read this I notice when streaming the sound on my end is just perfect like in the sweet spot for me but on the viewer and holy shit its way louder why is that?
This sir actually teaches us about sound setting. He explains everything so we can do much better. I am in the stage of testing and retesting, and I have watched this video more than three times for his explanations.
This sir doesn’t just make tutorials; this sir educates. That’s why he is the best,
This video should be included with you show "revelator iO 24 software". You explain everything so well and really go in-depth with it. The high-pass filter EQ for the game audio is an idea I had never thought of before. After watching your tutorial a few times to really understand it, I began to fix my audio, and I’m really surprised by how much better it sounds! Like WOW!
Thank you sir, for your efforts., EposVox!..🙂
Thank you :)
This video should be included with every OBS install. You explain everything so well and really goes to the bottom with it. The high-pass filter EQ for the Game audio is an idea Ive never thought of before. And after having watched your tutorial a few times to really understand it, I began to fix my audio and Im really suprised just How Much better it sounds! Like WOW! Thank you EposVox!Im gonna send this to my streaming buddies, really hope they follow it to!
The OBS Discord does link to his 5.5 hour masterclass.
120% agree with the first gain/compressor settings. Great job man, love seeing more of this info out there. you also hit the EQ levels the same as I say: Mic -5 to -10, Discord: -15, Game -20 to -25 (loudest sound), music (-25 to -35). Generally disagree with compressing the game audio for stream, it makes the sound seem different to users that might play.
-db were Surround sound volume on an Equalizer and a Receiver and a Studio monitor Speakers and Subwoofers.
I love audio ducking, it's a game changer I use it in all my videos and streams. This is a great video
This is an excellent video. So many of the "stream gurus" of yesteryear silently moved over to shilling sponsored gear which makes it impossible to find objective opinions. You're teaching critical stuff like gainstaging which streamers never find online because they think channels like podcastage are for audiophiles only. Subscribed and look forward to more :)
Ok, so I have just been getting started streaming and I was soooo frustrated following others re-hashed guides with a lot of misinformation! I'm a musician, so I knew the OBS guides I was watching (*cough* Alpha Gaming *cough*), didn't seem right. Having an analog mixer before an audio interface is what I am used to. Every guide I have seen has encouraged me to crank the gain and only reduce it if you are having issues with the noise floor or noise gate threshold. I set mine to 75% just like you said and then added digital gain and I have never sounded better. I haven't even touched EQ! Coming from the world of guitars, where having a generous amount of gain really helps carve out unique tone, to streaming has been a trip! I can't believe how much information you offer. You don't just teach the steps, you teach the concepts, and I cannot begin to thank you enough!
No shade meant for Alpha gaming, but they lack the substance you have. I should have started here.
Man! You explain things that nobody I heard explains. You really did an amazing job bro!!!! I wish I saw this a while back before buying equipment. Thanks for the info!
Dude this is a splendid video! As someone who has seen many videos on this topic, I can say that this was by far the most helpful, accurate and instructional of them all. Congrats and thanks!!
THANK YOU. i remember wanting to find a video like this months ago, however many videos didnt exactly apply to a stream/gaming environment. you really hit the nail with the info i was looking for back then.
You did such a great job explaining each piece. You are truly the Professor.
This is the best audio guide i've seen, great job. Now my $30 Fifine sound awesome in OBS but would this work with something like EqualizerAPO so my comms on discord, zoom and in game chat benefits from it? (just the mic filters)
yes. equalizer apo is the man
Awesome video! Thanks for the help EposVox!
Such great info in here! Definitely gonna try setting up the sidechaining.
Amazing video buddy, really in-depth but easily explained and understood. Legend as always.
Hands down the best tutorial for streamers…. Audio is most important and this video explains every part of audio and how to control it and it not control you. I use 7 audio sources not all at once of course and this has guided me in the right direction to mastering my stream audio… thanks Epos
Few minutes in and one already knows that this is it. Thanks a lot!
Great vid as always! thanks Epos
I'm going to be working on this on weekend. I always want my Audio to be perfect.
Equalizer APO seems to also be a great free open source software alternative to using Voicemeeter/Steelseries Sonar, thought I'd mention it just in case
It’s amazing as it it sets audio for everything not just a single program.
Audio ducking is very cool. Thanks Epos!
Entertaining and informative. Thanks!
awesome video! thank you for so many helpful information. :)
“Home Improvement” style sound response at the beginning? Take my like and share!
I use EqualizerAPO to apply all of my mic filters incl. compressor, limiter, and sometimes RNNoise(using vst thing) because laptop fan, to the microphone device directly, and all apps get the processed audio, without using virtual audio cable or another sound device or whatever. It's kinda spotty with realtek drivers though, I had to use generic microsoft drivers to make it work, but it works well when it does.
rnnoise is godsend
I've been using an OBS plugin by bozbez called "Win-Audio-Capture" and it's allowed me to set each individual exe file with a seperate audio capture without using Voicemeeter. That way I can tune everything individually through OBS. So before my friends in Discord sounded quiet to me but for Stream they were really loud. Now I just added an audio capture source targeting discord exe and I've turned them down on OBS.
Alright, time for me to go back and lose my mind tweaking audio settings again! (I kinda love it though, and this will certainly be helpful) Thank you!😂👍❤
Thank you for this, got my sub. Gonna go do this now
Why noise reduction /after/ gain and compression? Ive heard arguments for putting noise reduction ahead of everything so you dont amplify it in any way
I recommend after gain, because it’s a more accurate representation of what noise is in your signal than the pre-gain super quiet feed
Very helpful!
For me my blue yeti sounds much much worse with digital gain as opposed to the gain on my mic. It makes like a ... feedback screeching noise if I use digital gain.. but I appreciate the video bro
Should i add a noise gate or sound suppression since my mic is capting a lot of ambiant sounds or just lower the gain?
Im confused :( i followed, and now my mic picks up EVERYTHING ......
... when you use OBS as your video and audio source for Zoom because you've got OBS set right and Zoom will happily take that input with the right plugins (pipewire, virtual audio cable, Loopback, etc.)
What if my mic has a limiter toggle? Should I use it or filter through obs?
I have a Zoom H1n
You reminde me of JayzTwoCents, you could be he's brother
0:01 Tim Allen
oh man, i'll try and figure this out with a goxlr... but it seems like i'll have to separate the sounds into individual bars
Again...THANK YOU! Last night I literally had people tell me my audio was clipping. So embarrassing! Now I just ran a test...it's sounds...well...professional! Now I just need to get my gaming on a proffessional level to match! lmao. But THANK YOU!
what about equalizer apo?
is ok to use windows audio normalization with these settings ?
can I hire you to get my obs set up? (seriously)
can this very well versed audio gott maybe do an video on the logitech g hub for the blue mic series? since implementing this to the blue voice thing is weird (also when IU hit mic test it somehow changes the voice on OBS making my mic more sensible
Now that we have audio sorted, can we use a compressor and limiter on the text and visual effects?
No.
Question for you, does it matter the order the filters are in ? if I wanted to add a noise gate to stop my fan noise would I do that as the first filter or after the gain step. Thank you!
Yep they’re applied in order top to bottom
my fiend uses ducking and they suck at it, the audio keeps bouncing too high
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
I struggle with this because I have no idea what I am doing. I am curious as to how this would work via Wave Link if I only have the Wave 3 mic and use that as my interface.
Personally, I'd just follow his advice regarding how you would set your mic up in OBS, but just do it via the Wavelink software which has all the same options ( gain level, gate, compressor, limiter etc).
@@TheHalfmanofOz I’ll have to look into that video again. Thanks!
Oh its time for the yearly obs audio tutorial.
This guy doesn't make tutorials.. this guy educates. Thats why he is the best! He made me understand Davinci Resolve, and now he made me understand sound settings. And i've watched tutorials 3days straight from a huge number of other youtubers and none managed to explain something except the basics which everyone knows..
this literally blew my mind when i realized i am not giving myself enough headroom for my audio AHHHHH
The OBS color markers always annoyed me because it causes a lot of people to think their mics are peaking when they go into the red. I wish that "true peak" was set by default, because it sets the red zone around -3 dB and is much more accurate.
By the way, I love the way you showed to set initial gain. I already did most of this (like setting the compressor and then a limiter after it) as well as compressing other audio based on when I speak. But it's cool to see the whole thing. I do hope that this video gets popular because SO many people on Twitch have inconsistent audio and it hurts to watch.
Edit: My only critique, personally, is where you set your levels for background and game music, especially using the original OBS marks. Back in September of 2021, someone published "Recommendations for Loudness of Internet Audio Streaming and On-Demand Distribution". There's a few things in there, but the main thing is that it recommends most audio to be normalized to about -18 LUFS. This document inspired me (despite lacking normalization on OBS) to try to at least get the audio closer, so I generally don't allow my minimum audio to really be lower than -25 or -30 dB.
So in my case, I often play music around -20 to -30 dB depending on the song or what we're doing in stream, game audio often sits in the lower part of yellow (which would be about -12 to -20 but is often just normal volume and can reach -5 or so), and then my voice usually sits around -5 to -12 dB. On top of that, I run ducked compressors on my music and game audio, only slightly though. This allows my voice to be easily heard, but for people to still get most or all of the original sound as well.
What this also does is, mainly, it helps people that watch on TV or Phone. Often times, with most streams, the audio is so uncompressed that the music level compared to headphones is so low, that when someone talks or gets excited, my speakers are getting blown out. As far as how this translates to headphones, I actually think it helps a lot, especially for people that use it as background noise. The audio is much more "normalized" kind of (mainly consistent), so they can set a volume and not worry about peaks or it getting too quiet. Though that's obviously my own opinion, and the goal is that they are still separated, but much closer together.
Edit 2: Ah, I guess you basically do that at the end. My bad, lol. Though, I do think it would've been nice to just suggest that everyone basically does ducking, and offer non-ducking as an alternate solution where you probably mention "true peak" and the levels there.
Edit 3: One tip for anyone using a GoXLR, I prefer pulling in the music directly from the input, and not from any outputs. This bypasses the GoXLR and allows you to set your music volume independently. This gives you the benefit of ALWAYS having your music at the same level no matter what (I also have a streamdeck button to set it to 80% in Spotify), and you can then compress it slightly for normalization. It's very handy.
Are you wearing eyeliner? Not hating, just curious
This video was super helpful!
9:45 The different filters, gains and so on in all the voice chat software annoyed me. I stumbled upon "Virtual Audio Cable" (VAC) (free version for non-commerical use). In OBS you select the VAC as monitoring device. You can then send your audio to output AND monitoring. Your video conference software can then use the VAC as input device.
Thus all your finely tuned OBS settings can be used within every voice chat with the same gain, noise suppression and so on.
I've been using that because I wanted to send Background music to my zoom meeting without having to be sharing anything all the time
When watching this I think you're confusing Dynamic with Condenser, you say your gain dial will be lower if using a dynamic mic which isn't true, condensers have way more sensitivity so require less gain where dynamic generally needs more since they're mics that can take a beating, like on stage for example. I know this video is old but that point really confused me. To reach the points you want without using any OBS my dial is already at 75%
I'm so happy to see EposVox helping the streaming world start to take audio more seriously!! So the pro audio world uses this as the proper level input as a rule. -18 on a dbfs meter is the same as 0 on an analog VU meter which means anything over -18 average is a bit too hot. Sure small peak jumps over -18 are ok but as a rule setting your input gain to -18 and then pushing the output up if it's needed is the right way to go. This is why the Green or "Good" level in something like OBS is set to around -18. Now there are other factors but honestly it can be more confusing than helpful such as LUFs or Peak versus RMS metering. So stick to a -18 dbfs input and your audio will be clean with plenty of headroom.
I switched from Streamlabs to OBS Studio last March 1 because of your videos regarding Streamlabs controversy and I'm glad that I made the switch. I'll be watching this video later. Thanks so much for the free tutorials! :)
How about in Windows 10 at sound settings level, should i lett it at 50%default ?
bro im wondering the same thing
Do you have any recommendation for gaming headset with microphone? I have gaming headset Corsair HS80 ... my sound always on streams was fine but I notice that time to time, when I laugh loud or say something very loud it was going in that red line. Now last days it was getting even worse. I'm already using RTX voice for suppress the sounds around (background sounds) and in OBS it was now going in that red line. I literally followed up to your video and done everything the same, however where is BOOST BACK - instead of putting 16db ... I put -6.00db. and its sounds better than if I put 16db. Do you know why for me its sounds better with minus 6db instead of positive 16db? Because I put positive 16db it will be clipping and going into that red line. Do you know why?
Is this something you can do fully in something like the Wave:3 software?
This is great!
Great overview, but am I tripping or are most big streamers much louder on their mic? Seems like everyone must be within the red most of the time.
They often are; that’s not good practice
Great video was having issues with my streams lately and this will help a bunch o7
I still don't get why OBS still hasn't implemented a master bus. For this tutorial to be complete, you would need a master chain. We solve this issue by routing all our audio trough an external soft mixer like voicemeter or even reaper (with that we can record our audio sources seperately) but a master bus would be great. We did use OBS Music Edition for a while but the problem with that is that you can not use all the plugins since it's libOBS is patches and a lot of them don't work. Anyway, an effects chain on the master bus, would make this complete. Every good master needs a compressor+limiter at least.
I have an issue with my output volume when streaming being low even though my meter in obs is set similar to your settings. You can check it out on my stream on my channel. I am running my audio interface output for my drums into my streaming PC through a presonus interface. When I process audio for my long form videos the audio is loud and clear set to similar DB levels. Do you know what might be the issue for this?
Hi all! I’ll skip right to it, wow does this work! Amazing settings. The only problem, and it’s not with this guide but with games, is that games have different base volumes. My mic maxes around 15-20mb which sounds good. But shooters are particularly loud. The dampening while speaking is a godsend. Without speaking, your game volume should max at 28-30mb. This was around -30 on the slider for bf4. Jedi survivor would require around -22 to reach the 30mb cap. Shooters are just particular loud. Hope that helps!
I was wondering why my mic audio in OBS was showing just shy of red, but in the final mix I felt like it was kinda quiet. Looks like I got some re-working to do with gain and compression filters!
Fun fact: you can use Equalizer APO to add VSTs system-wide so you don't need filters in OBS, yet have the same functionality, while equally making it work in other programs.
Downside is that you don't have a visual of how these VSTs are applied, so if you need that you can test out settings in OBS first (or record and check in Audacity after each tweak) to then apply it.
If you use a GoXLR would you recommend using the GoXLR's broadcast mix for the stream's audio and ignoring the audio filters (aside from a limiter) in OBS, or would you prefer to to keep each audio track separate so you can apply more audio filters (such as ducking) for each track in OBS for the stream?
If you want to use a full mix off your interface (I'm on a WaveXLR, so I use my full mix out of Wave Link) you can still get a "ducking" effect using gain > compression > limiting. Set your relative levels of (say) music, game, mic in ascending order...in my case, music is at something like* -32dB, game at -24dB, and mic at -18dB, all in RMS (not peak!). Now, obviously your music will be far too quiet and your game won't be very loud either.
That's fine, because we'll throw like 7-8dB of gain on the whole mix.
Now your mic will be too loud. That's fine, do a 2:1 compressor with a slow attack (like 500ms) and a slow release (like 1000ms), so you don't get unnatural "pulsing." But that compressor will push down the "quieter" parts of the mix any time the "louder" parts come in. So if you're not talking but the game is going, the game audio (at 6dB above music) will push down the music. If the game gets quiet, the music will come up (as the compressor releases). And if you talk, everything gets pushed down as the compressor attacks again.
The limiter stage will prevent the gain at the front end from pushing your mic (or game) into clipping...you'll potentially get some subtle limiting on your voice (if you're being loud) for the first 500ms as the compressor attacks, but it won't be remotely noticeable, and the end result will be a nice effect where you're always front and center, but as "louder" parts peel away "quieter" parts will fade back in (with the 1000ms compressor release). All without needing access to sidechaining or a bunch of different sources in OBS.
You can also add like 2dB of gain between compressor and limiter, to boost overall loudness, if you find your total mix isn't quite loud enough.
You can actually get all of this rolled into one plugin, too. I personally use TDR's Limiter 6 GE, but that does cost money...it ran me about $30 on sale. You can also just as easily pick up (from the same TDR website) the original VladG Limiter 6 plugin, which does all of the above, only functions you'll lose are saved presets (outside of OBS) and the loudness monitoring on the final output stage. That and active support, obviously, because it's an obsolete plugin. It does work though, I've used it.
Free and paid versions, respectively:
www.tokyodawn.net/vladg-limiter-n6/
www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-limiter6-ge/
These plugins are the main reason I hate OBS's lack of a "final mix" that you can add plugins to, because a plugin like this on your final mix lets you achieve some really nice effects like I described above, and is great for managing your overall loudness levels and dynamic range, but kinda requires you to have everything all muxed into one final stream to apply it to. But for those with devices like GoXLR, WaveXLR, etc. this is a very nice option for mixing everything outside OBS and just applying one last filter to bring it all together.
* - These measurements are actually in LUFS, not dB...LUFS are very similar to RMS dB, but not quite the same.
I personally have my chat as broadcast (because you can't use chat mic) and then system on chat mic, then music is pulled directly from the GoXLR input rather than any outputs. This allows me to set music in OBS completely separately, as well as apply chat and system sounds with different filters.
@Well Well Well >no matter what you do over time ... audio will desync
Er no it won't. Maybe some of your audio or video is in 59.94 and some is in 60 FPS?
Looks like you turned up the gain on the bloom in this video as well :P
or maybe there's smudges on ur camera i dunno
It’s not over-exposed
04:49 - 05:37 this is the most replayed part (for now)
Then why should we set preamps to 75% and not 50%?
I set my gain to the level where my noise floor is around -60dB (less than 3 o'clock)
And it never hits -6dB 01:37 because I talk very quietly. Most of the time it would be around -27dB
02:17 - 02:24 It would be around 100% gain for me.
What should my Compressor & Limiter be at for voice chat?
Also the EQ & Compressor for Game?
I used to use the OBS compressor until I got a DBX 286s. . . entirely different animal. Good video EV...
Welp you caught my attention less than a minute in lol 😂😂
Glad I found this video. Took me 8 hours to setup obs overlays and everything but couldn't quite get the audio right. This helped me out alot. Thank you
I'm an audio engineer and producer, and I never let audio go into the red. Red always means STOP. Apparently it's fine for gamers to overdrive audio levels well into the red, and not worry about what it sounds like on the other end of the stream. Yes, audio mixes are subjective--get ten engineers and ask their opinion, you'll get twenty different opinions, but audio levels are pretty standard. I just never let audio get into the red.
I mean, objectively if you’re not going past 0dB, you’re not clipping or overdriving anything.
While what you said is generally sound advice (ha ha) that completely ignores the context of who designed the red and what it was for. Peaks being under -6db will be way too quiet for normal viewers and result in a horrible experience when they crank audio up to hear it and then click on any other video or stream.
How should I set up a 3dio FS mic into Scarlett 2i2 going into OBS ? I set the gain to 2 oh clock on the scarlett and the sound was so low on twitch. Please help
With using Elgato Wave 3 with Wave Link, does adding the digital gain after setting correct gain still apply when using Wave Link? I don't really see a Gain VST and adding it to OBS will just add it to the all-in-one stream audio from Wave Link. Just trying to make sure what settings apply to something software based like Wave Link.
If I already set my GoXLR with the EQ and the Compression should I still add the filters in OBS ? This is the one thing that I’ve been confused about, cuz I do everything on the GoXLR but then OBS the filters work better
I am having an issue with my live band audio is causing pops and clicks but I am not clipping in red on obs. Is it possible to clip in obs without the signal hitting red?
I've been having the problem in games like Apex, or which involve gunfire at all, with that sound peaking really badly and being too boomy. Do you have a suggestion for what to set up exactly to keep the game audio evened out? Your Apex clip sounded pretty good
I checked multple of my VODs and the Game is perfect... good hearable, but a good amount lower in volume then my mic.
I don't stream but record from console. Older consoles that use AV often have static in the background that's kinda loud. I've been able to get rid of the static with sound filters, but the filters sometimes cut out game sound. Don't know if that's just something I have to deal with when recording for actual hardware and not using an emulator.
Do you still have the Datapath VisionSC-DP2 ? How it stands in 2022 ? Years later, it's the only card went to market that captures DisplayPort signal. Why isn't there more of it ?
Every "OTK" member has garbage audio balancing, mizkif being the absolute worst of the worst
At 13:38 how did you separate the sounds without them being heard multiple times, and also how did you add the GAME SOUND etc. - Would appreciate anyone helping me out
07:29 - second "attack" you mean "Release" (part of "de-activates after dropping below threshold")? :)
So I have a cheap microphone headset and I’m playing the music to my stream using an OBS plug-in where I can adjust the volume but then the music is also going into my headset. And since I’m using the headset microphone, the music is also going out onto my stream, so the viewers are getting an echo on the music. They are getting the music from TH-cam window directly and then they are also getting the music coming from the PC into my headphones. So it’s carrying double music. Do I need a seperate mic for talking and listening or can the music coming into my headset stop there and not get sent out along with my voice. It’s not the mic picking up the game, it’s the sounded traveling along together since the music output and input end up the same. Maybe I just need another microphone .
It seems everyone has problems with their microphone sounding bad but for me it is program audio, like from games or Spotify that sounds absolutely terrible. The mic is fine. I have no idea how to fix it, I tried all filters and none at all but nothing works. Sounds like the speaker is very far away
hey I use source record to save only the gameplay footage for editing..but the audio ducking is also recorded...how can i use ducking to my stream while recording the unchanged audio too? Thanks
my issue is that audio ducking is working automatically on it's own. I shut it off on my pc. so idk... maybe I'm just to dumb to figure it out lol which is highly possible.
thanks for the video, there is a tiny mistake , when you are talking about the limiter, you say that its good to have the release at 60 db instead of 60 ms. xD
Dude! Thank you so much for this video. I had major audio issues when I first started streaming. Your content is always so helpful ✨
I wish I could use these tips 24/7 but since this "breaks" discord audio I can't use this yet. Unless the mad professor has a fix for that as well :D
There's often a practical limit how quiet you can set your preamp input gain - due to interface monitoring. :(
10:49 the subtitles go off the rails here.
The subtitles are still broken.
13:08 Oh please no... I find this so irritating and annoying, when the gamesound changes all the time xD
Keep in mind the lower your peak recording gain the more you are going to have to add gain up in post. This will make your room noise louder. You may start to hear your ac and untreated room more.
This isn’t true. Your background noise scales down with your gain if you do it right
@@EposVox Maybe I expand my self poorly. It is true tho. Anytime you turn up a recording in post you are also turning up the room noise in that recording. If I have a recording where my voice peaks at say -12 db and I turn it up digitally in post it will also raise the room noise when im not speaking. Anytime you are adding gain you are raising your noise floor with your main signal.
Ok, but if you turn up gain on your interface instead, that same room noise comes up - plus the risk of added amp noise. Gain in post doesn't bring it up anymore than your amp gain would.
The problem I found with this is now when I use my mic in discord the volume is way too low and no one can hear me. Is there a way to fix this using the rodecaster pro 2.
How is the microphone that you recording on transfer over to in game chat?
2:25 into the video, you mention an Audio Interface. Is that on OBS? Is that an added feature somewhere?
You really have to read this I notice when streaming the sound on my end is just perfect like in the sweet spot for me but on the viewer and holy shit its way louder why is that?