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Set up clean audio: microphone, desktop audio, filters and monitoring

Get levels, filters and monitoring right so voice sits above the game, background noise is controlled, and recordings do not clip.

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Start with gain, not with filters

Set the physical gain on your microphone or audio interface so normal speech peaks around -12 dB to -6 dB in the OBS mixer, with headroom before 0 dB. Filters cannot recover a signal that is already clipped, and heavy software gain on a weak signal amplifies the noise floor along with your voice.

A filter chain that works

Right-click the microphone in the Audio Mixer and choose Filters. Order matters, because each filter processes what the previous one produced:

  1. Noise Suppression — the RNNoise method removes steady fan and hiss with little effect on speech; the speex method is lighter on CPU but more aggressive on the voice.
  2. Noise Gate — closes the channel between sentences. Set the close threshold below your quietest speech and the open threshold a few dB above it so words are not clipped off.
  3. Compressor — evens out level changes when you lean in or shout. A ratio around 4:1 with a few dB of output gain is a safe starting point.
  4. Limiter — a safety net at around -3 dB so a sudden laugh cannot clip the recording.

Desktop audio and separate tracks

Keep the game, music and voice on separate audio tracks when recording. In Settings → Output switch to Advanced mode, enable several audio tracks, then use the Advanced Audio Properties dialog to assign each source to its own track. The result is one file you can re-balance later, instead of a permanently mixed recording where loud music sits on top of your voice.

Monitoring without echo

Set the monitoring device in Settings → Audio → Advanced, then set each source to Monitor Off, Monitor Only or Monitor and Output in Advanced Audio Properties. Monitor through headphones. Monitoring through speakers feeds the sound back into the microphone and produces echo on the stream that you will not hear yourself.

Sync offset

If your voice lands slightly ahead of or behind the video, add a sync offset in milliseconds in Advanced Audio Properties rather than trying to fix it in the capture device. Cameras and capture cards introduce their own latency, so this offset is normal and only needs setting once per device.

Check before you go live

Record 60 seconds that includes quiet speech, loud speech, and the game at its noisiest. Play it back on headphones and on a phone speaker. Most audio problems are obvious in that test and invisible in the meters.

Troubleshooting

This OBS-Studio.net editorial guide covers Troubleshooting (clean-audio-setup-in-obs). It is original explanatory writing for creators configuring OBS Studio. Verify version-specific behaviour in Help → About and in official OBS Project documentation when release notes differ.

Nothing changed

Confirm you edited the active profile. Streaming services and recording tabs are separate in Advanced output mode.

Regarding Nothing changed: For Troubleshooting (clean-audio-setup-in-obs), keep scenes simple while validating the core path, then add overlays and filters once the Stats dock stays clean.

Regarding Nothing changed: Document the working profile name, encoder, canvas resolution, and capture method so you can restore them after an OBS or GPU driver update.

Regarding Nothing changed: If behaviour changes after an update, launch Safe Mode to isolate third-party plugins, then re-enable modules one at a time.

Regarding Nothing changed: Prefer wired ethernet for live streaming tests, and measure sustained upload with headroom rather than relying on a single speed-test spike.

Regarding Nothing changed: When comparing settings, record short local samples with identical content so differences are visible without inventing synthetic FPS claims.

Regarding Nothing changed: Keep browser sources and animated overlays modest; expensive HTML can raise rendering load even when the encoder itself is fine.

Regarding Nothing changed: Match plugin builds to your OBS major version and architecture, and uninstall leftover DLLs from older major versions before reporting bugs.

Regarding Nothing changed: Use Studio Mode when rehearsing transitions so you can preview the destination scene before it goes program.

Works once then fails

Re-select windows/games after the target app restarts. Some captures bind to a process instance.

Regarding Works once then fails: For Troubleshooting (clean-audio-setup-in-obs), keep scenes simple while validating the core path, then add overlays and filters once the Stats dock stays clean.

Regarding Works once then fails: Document the working profile name, encoder, canvas resolution, and capture method so you can restore them after an OBS or GPU driver update.

Regarding Works once then fails: If behaviour changes after an update, launch Safe Mode to isolate third-party plugins, then re-enable modules one at a time.

Regarding Works once then fails: Prefer wired ethernet for live streaming tests, and measure sustained upload with headroom rather than relying on a single speed-test spike.

Regarding Works once then fails: When comparing settings, record short local samples with identical content so differences are visible without inventing synthetic FPS claims.

Regarding Works once then fails: Keep browser sources and animated overlays modest; expensive HTML can raise rendering load even when the encoder itself is fine.

Regarding Works once then fails: Match plugin builds to your OBS major version and architecture, and uninstall leftover DLLs from older major versions before reporting bugs.

Regarding Works once then fails: Use Studio Mode when rehearsing transitions so you can preview the destination scene before it goes program.

Crashes

Safe Mode → clean profile → add pieces back. Check whether a plugin update coincided with the failure.

Regarding Crashes: For Troubleshooting (clean-audio-setup-in-obs), keep scenes simple while validating the core path, then add overlays and filters once the Stats dock stays clean.

Regarding Crashes: Document the working profile name, encoder, canvas resolution, and capture method so you can restore them after an OBS or GPU driver update.

Regarding Crashes: If behaviour changes after an update, launch Safe Mode to isolate third-party plugins, then re-enable modules one at a time.

Regarding Crashes: Prefer wired ethernet for live streaming tests, and measure sustained upload with headroom rather than relying on a single speed-test spike.

Regarding Crashes: When comparing settings, record short local samples with identical content so differences are visible without inventing synthetic FPS claims.

Regarding Crashes: Keep browser sources and animated overlays modest; expensive HTML can raise rendering load even when the encoder itself is fine.

Regarding Crashes: Match plugin builds to your OBS major version and architecture, and uninstall leftover DLLs from older major versions before reporting bugs.

Regarding Crashes: Use Studio Mode when rehearsing transitions so you can preview the destination scene before it goes program.

Ask for help

Provide OBS log, OS, GPU, and exact capture method. Avoid unpaid "optimizer" tools that rewrite OBS settings blindly.

Regarding Ask for help: For Troubleshooting (clean-audio-setup-in-obs), keep scenes simple while validating the core path, then add overlays and filters once the Stats dock stays clean.

Regarding Ask for help: Document the working profile name, encoder, canvas resolution, and capture method so you can restore them after an OBS or GPU driver update.

Regarding Ask for help: If behaviour changes after an update, launch Safe Mode to isolate third-party plugins, then re-enable modules one at a time.

Regarding Ask for help: Prefer wired ethernet for live streaming tests, and measure sustained upload with headroom rather than relying on a single speed-test spike.

Regarding Ask for help: When comparing settings, record short local samples with identical content so differences are visible without inventing synthetic FPS claims.

Regarding Ask for help: Keep browser sources and animated overlays modest; expensive HTML can raise rendering load even when the encoder itself is fine.

Regarding Ask for help: Match plugin builds to your OBS major version and architecture, and uninstall leftover DLLs from older major versions before reporting bugs.

Regarding Ask for help: Use Studio Mode when rehearsing transitions so you can preview the destination scene before it goes program.

Checklist

  1. Confirm OBS version and OS permissions
  2. Change one setting at a time
  3. Test with representative content for several minutes
  4. Read the Stats dock before going live
  5. Export a scene collection backup after a working setup

Editorial notes

Download statistics and community rating counts are intentionally omitted. Prefer official project pages and GitHub releases. This page does not claim measured benchmark FPS for hardware. Re-check platform bitrate and codec limits on the destination site before a public broadcast.