How to Improve Mic Quality in Streamlabs OBS

It is helpful to check the effectiveness of a filter by opening Advanced Audio Settings in the Mixer section. Click the Settings cog to open Advanced Audio Settings. Change your audio monitoring to "Monitor only" for your microphone. By doing this, you'll be able to hear exactly what your audience is hearing from your mic while getting more control over the audio settings.

The first filter we will discuss is Gain. Gain is just a measure of how loud the audio is. Gain filters allow you to adjust your audio levels more precisely. If you lower the gain, your audio levels will drop. As you increase the gain, your audio levels will rise. Most microphones come with built-in gain control. Streamlabs OBS incorporates a built-in gain control and a gain filter that have the same effect. Streamlabs OBS offers an Audio Control feature that allows you to increase the volume of your audio if it is too low despite adding Gain Control to your mic. Certain microphones are naturally quieter than others. In this example, the gain filter will come in handy to make sure you're hitting those optimal levels. Please note that as you increase the gain, you are more likely to hear background noise.

A Noise Gate filter works similarly to noise suppression in that it eliminates background noise, but it also offers more customization. If you're a gamer with a mechanical keyboard, typing sounds on the keyboard can be loud and picked up in the mic, even with a noise suppression filter already added. Therefore, a Noise Gate filter can be added to prevent this from happening. When you add a Noise Gate filter, you'll see several options that you can customize.

Open Threshold: This option allows you to specify a specific threshold for when the microphone will turn on and pick up sound. If the image above indicates that the microphone cannot pick up sound below -26 dB, then that will be the case. Your microphone will only gather sound from your mechanical keyboard when the click is louder than -26 decibels.

Refers to the point when the mic audio drops below your set dB threshold the noise gate will turn off your microphone. We recommend that you set your close range to about 5Db below your open range. Everyone here will have a different setting. Please play around with both settings here to find what works best for you. Attack Time: Measures the time between when a noise gate starts and the dB threshold is reached. Hold Time: The time after the volume drops below the close threshold that the mic should remain on. Release Time: It is the amount of time taken for a microphone to remotely shut off when the dB falls below the close threshold. The default settings here should work for most people, but feel free to experiment with each one to find out what works best for you.

If you want to make sure the sound coming from your microphone doesn't go over a certain volume on your live stream, a compressor is very useful. When someone is screaming, yelling, or breaking keyboards or controllers, this can be useful. Compressing your microphone automatically lowers its volume and prevents it from going above 0dB, preventing distortion. He will turn it on again after the loud noise has subsided. You can customize the compression filter with the following options: Ratio: Signals above the threshold are compressed or gain reduced to the amount defined above. The lower the number, the less compression, while the higher the number, the more compression. Threshold: As soon as the audio reaches the threshold, the compressor begins applying the ratio you set. When audio is below this threshold, no compressor filter will be applied Attack: When the level exceeds the threshold, how quickly do you want the compressor to reach full gain reduction? Release: After the level drops below the threshold, how quickly do you want the compressor to return to zero gain reduction? Output Gain: You're likely to hear your compressed audio as being quieter than your average sound. Gaining output from a source can increase its appearance when it is layered over other sources. Sidechain compression: When you are speaking, you can use this to lower your desktop audio volume. After you have finished speaking, the desktop audio will return to normal.

In addition to noise gates, expanders can also be used to minimize background noise. Unlike a compressor, it decreases audio signals by a certain amount rather than increasing them. An expander makes calming sounds. When you add the filter, you can choose from two presets: Expander: Reduce light noise with a low ratio and short release time. Gate: An audio signal is reduced by the high ratio and fast release time, like a gate. Expand filters have the following customizable options: Ratio: Applying gain compensation or expansion below the threshold to a signal. If the ratio is low, like 2:1, then it will work nicely for reducing light noise, but if the ratio is high, like 10:1, it will completely reduce the volume. 4:1 is a good gain reduction ratio since it will allow for substantial gain reduction without gating the signal completely. Threshold: By the time the input reaches a certain level, the expander will cease to reduce the signal gain. Don't go too far or your voice will start to sound choppy. Adjust the threshold until the noise you're trying to reduce is gone. Attack: Once the threshold has been exceeded, how quickly do you want the expander to stop reducing gain? You should try to attack within five to ten milliseconds. Release: When the input drops below the threshold, how soon would you like the expander to reach full gain reduction, in milliseconds? An ideal release time is between 50 and 120 milliseconds. Output Gain: Utilizes profit to increase expander production. The microphone level can be increased here before the audio is output, but is not normally necessary. Detection: When thresholds are changed, how input levels are measured changes, as does sensitivity. It is recommended to use RMS. RMS: The averaging of input level measurements over the last 10ms smooths the input, reduces the sensitivity of threshold detection, and prevents the expander from cracking open due to rapid spikes of noise. Peak: Since the expansion engine measures input levels rather than averaging them over time, it can react faster to changes in peak levels.

A limiter prevents an audio signal from exceeding 0 dB, which can cause distortion and clipping. Limiters are special types of compressors with very fast attack times and high ratios. Threshold: This setting determines the maximum level at which audio signals can be output. Its level cannot be exceeded. Release: In a similar manner to other filters, it turns down the volume as soon as the level drops below a particular threshold. The various audio filters described above are available in Streamlabs OBS. I hope that this article will help you to better understand the various filters and how to implement them.