The Importance of Audio Quality in Streaming

As EposVox, the Stream Professor, so aptly put it, "Audio is number 1, after all." In this episode of StreamGuides sponsored by Elgato and their Wave:1 and Wave:3 microphones, we will dive into how to improve your stream's audio quality and sound better than the vast majority of streams on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook.

The Physics of Your Setup

One of the most important things you can do for your audio quality is to set up your mic placement correctly. As EposVox explained, there is a direct relationship between the closer a microphone is to your subject and the quality of sound you get, within reason. Dynamic microphones are designed specifically to be used as close to the speaker's mouth as possible, which helps reduce background sounds. On the other hand, condenser microphones provide much more flexibility to use at a distance.

In fully sound-treated and sound-isolated recording booths and music studios, condenser microphones are often kept at a couple of feet's distance from the singer or speaker. However, this is not suitable for desk streaming setups. As EposVox noted, you still want your mic up close to your mouth, probably with a pop filter, and make sure your keyboard and mouse are positioned on the other side of the mic. This way, the mic will be between you and your keyboard and mouse (or other noise-generating objects), rather than the opposite. Basic directions will tell you that anything making sound in the pickup area of a mic will be picked up, and it's a lot harder to filter that out.

The Technique and Mic Usage

In addition to setting up your mic placement correctly, technique and mic usage are also crucial for good audio quality. EposVox emphasized that physics dictates how everything in our dimension of the universe operates, and there are things you just can't get around. The way sound works in a desk streaming setup is very different from fully sound-treated and sound-isolated recording booths.

In a desk streaming setup, it's essential to keep your mic up close to your mouth, probably with a pop filter. You should also make sure that your keyboard and mouse are positioned on the other side of the mic to minimize background noise. Using a microphone with good quality capsules designed with the minds at LEWITT, such as the Elgato Wave microphones, can help improve your audio quality.

Adding Polish with Post-Processing

While post-processing or clever tricks can add a little polish to your microphone sound, none of that matters if you're not setting it up right and ignoring the laws of physics. However, EposVox noted that adding a little polish can make a big difference in the overall sound quality.

To achieve this, you can use various post-processing techniques, such as using noise reduction software or EQing to adjust the frequency response of your mic. These techniques can help remove background noise and improve the clarity and definition of your audio. The principles discussed in this video will apply to any microphone, however, and EposVox noted that it's essential to keep these tips in mind when setting up and using your microphone.

Conclusion

In conclusion, improving your stream's audio quality requires a combination of setting up your mic placement correctly, using good technique and mic usage, and adding a little polish with post-processing. By following the principles discussed in this video and using high-quality microphones such as the Elgato Wave:1 and Wave:3, you can achieve better sound quality than the vast majority of streams on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enLet's take your stream audio from THIS toTHIS - much better.This really terrible-sounding audio is beingrecorded on one of my favorite USB mics tohave ever released.It's bad, but it's not far off from how manystreams on Twitch sound.But THIS is how it should sound.How did we get here?It's simpler - and yet also more involved- than you might think.I'm EposVox, the Stream Professor, and wespend a LOT of time talking about improvingyour stream or video's image quality.Encoding settings, capture cards, camera choices.Perhaps TOO much time, as it's actually waymore important to have good audio quality.Audio is number 1, after all.We're going to dive into how to keep yourstream audio from sucking, and how to soundbetter than the vast majority of streams onTwitch, YouTube, or heaven-forbid...Facebook... with some easy steps and compromisein today's episode of StreamGuides sponsoredby Elgato and their Wave:1 and Wave:3microphones.We'll also be using these for our demos.The Wave microphones are easy to set up, needingjust a simple USB cable, have high-qualitycapsules designed with the minds at LEWITT,and have some killer features like ClipGuardthat help keep your audio perfect.The principles we discuss will apply to anymicrophone, however, and I'll note when thatdiffers.We'll be discussing 3 areas of focus in thisvideo: Physics and your setup, technique andmic usage, and adding a little polish withpost-processing.Chapter markers will be on-screen and in thedescription in case you need to referenceback to this video at any point in time, orwant to link it to your friends with strugglingaudio.Wink wink.## PHYSICSThere's a lot you can do with post-processingor clever tricks to add a little polish toyour microphone sound, but none of that mattersif you're not setting it up right and ignorethe laws of physics.Physics dictate how everything in our dimensionof the universe operates, and there are thingsyou just can't get around.First, let's talk about your mic placement.There is a direct relationship between thecloser a microphone is to your subject andthe quality of sound you get - within reason- and the ease of reducing background sounds.If you have a dynamic microphone, these aredesigned specifically to be used as closeto the speaker's mouth as possible.Condenser microphones, on the other hand,such as the Elgato Wave, provide *much* moreflexibility to use at a distance.In fully sound-treated and sound-isolatedrecording booths and music studios, condensermicrophones are often kept at a couple feet'sdistance from the singer or speaker.If you're in such a scenario, like a vocalbooth - go for it.But the way sound works in a desk streamingsetup are VERY different.If you're streaming at a desk, you still wantyour mic up close to your mouth, probablywith a pop filter.You also want to make sure your keyboard andmouse are positioned on the other side ofthe mic: You want the mic between you andyour keyboard and mouse (or other noise-generatingobjects) rather than the opposite.Basic directions will tell you anything makingsound in the pickup area of a mic will bepicked up, and it's a lot harder to filterthat out.If you absolutely have to have your microphoneless visible - be it for teaching or businessscenarios - a big \"streamer microphone\" ishonestly not the right call.A lavalier mic clipped to your shirt or ashotgun mic mounted just out of frame is theway to go.I have videos testing these on my channel.But for standard streaming and broadcast scenarios,this is the accepted norm, and the trade-offfor cleaner, better audio is definitely worthit.Specific keyboard choice matters here.Gamers often chase the clickiest-soundingkeyboard possible, but that's a terrible ideafor streaming.O-rings can stop your keys from bottomingout while typing, but doesn't stop the switchclick.I have come to love Logitech's Romer-G switchesand Box Royal switches for more custom keyboards,as they are much quieter for streaming purposes,while still being very comfy on my sensitivehands.Linear switches generally aren't great, asyou're going to be bottoming-out the key,smashing it into your desk and creating moresound - even if they lack the tactile click.You probably don't want your microphone blockingyour face, though.A good recommendation is to keep your micat a 45-ish degree angle from your mouth:This allows the mic to still be pointed directlyat where your voice is coming from, but doesn'tblock your face to the camera as much *and*comes with the added benefit of not pickingup as many mouth sounds, breaths, or plosives.Speaking of plosives, a pop filter is oftena must to protect your viewers' ears.Plosives are the harsh P, B, and T soundsthat occur, which effectively hit the miccapsule with a strong burst of air which canreally hurt listeners' ears, as if you wereblowing right in them.A pop filter is a basic mesh that helps diffusethose air bursts.A pop filter should be at least 1 inch awayfrom the mic capsule.It should NOT sit right up against your mic'sface.The Elgato Wave pop filter clips to the shockmount or stand and provides a great air gap.This 1 to 3 inch gap helps give room for theair to disperse, otherwise you're still pushingit into the mic.Also, if you're using one of those cheaperflyswatter style pop filters that are madeof fabric, you want them to be dual layer(or more) or they're not really doing muchof anything.Some mics come with a windscreen instead ofa pop filter.While this can technically help reduce plosives,it doesn't do so fully and moreso acts as,well a windscreen.A filter to help keep wind from distortingthe mic.It's okay to use one in place of a pop filterwith some distance between your mouth andthe mic, but using both a pop filter and awindscreen is kinda silly.The pop filter, when used right, should bedoing the job and the windscreen cuts downhigher frequencies of your voice, so bothis just hurting your sound.Many microphones come with a neat mic standto give you a basic option for sitting yourmic somewhere, but putting that on a deskwhere you're typing or banging your arms alot - a normal occurrence for game streams- that sound will translate up to your microphone.A shock mount can help reduce these noisessignificantly - as can getting your mic upon a microphone arm.Conveniently, Elgato also sells Wave Mic Armsnow, too.They have the normal mic arm that can go upover your computer monitors, or the mic armLP that reaches under your monitors for amore slim profile.I reviewed these quite favorably in my \"MicrophoneArm Buyer's Guide\" linked below.The second way physics affects your streamingsetup is, well, the rest of your setup otherthan your microphone.Two big things are involved here: Noise fromother sources, and reflections.Added noise is mostly obvious.If you keep your PC on your desk right nextto your microphone, avoiding fan noise canbe impossible - especially when your PC isworking super hard to game and stream.Keeping PCs on the floor - using somethingto keep it off of carpet and able to breathe,using cases with dust filters, etc. - makesa world of difference for your ambient sound.And the obvious - shutting your door, tellingfamily when you need quiet time, shuttingwindows when you can, etc.Reflections are the tricky one.Reflections apply to sound as much as theydo to light.When you project sound out of your mouth,it shoots out and bounces off of all the surfacesin your space (just slower than light would).Your desk, your computer monitors, your walls,your floor and ceiling.Your walls (and indirectly your desk and PCmonitors) and your ceiling are considered\"first reflection points\" - they are the bigones most likely to produce reverb or \"roomsound\" when you talk or shout.Covering your desk with a nice soft desk mathelps a lot with your desk, and pointing yourcamera angle so you're not talking directlyat your PC monitor can help with some of thoseinitial reflections back into your microphone.But then comes sound treatment.Elgato makes their Wave Panels which may looklike cheap Amazon foam, but actually providea 3-step professional solution.A little bit on your most empty wall portionscan help reduce the \"wetness\" of your roomsound a lot.Alternatively there is cheap Amazon soundfoam, which won't perform quite as well, ormoving blankets do a great job at deadeninga room.If you have non-carpeted floors, getting arug below you or around you can help, too.This should all be a motivator to design yourbackdrop set and stream space a little more.Ultimately, an empty room with empty wallswill always sound worse than a room that justhas a bunch of stuff in it.The more things to break up and absorb sound,the better.You can watch my video breaking down my acoustictreatment journey in my big garage studio,linked below.## TECHNIQUEYour mic is positioned properly and environmentis tamed, but how do you use it?That may sound like a silly question, butthe most common issues people actually runinto with microphones is just using them wrong.I mentioned before that dynamic mics prettymuch require being up close to the speaker'smouth, and condenser mics will work best thatway for desktop streaming setups.Choosing the right mic and positioning itcorrectly are big steps.Beyond that, you have to actually \"train\"your voice.New creators often start out shy and quiet,and that doesn't really work for entertainingan audience.Projecting your voice is important.While you may be streaming your voice directlyinto your viewers' ears if they're wearingheadphones, you're not actually sitting nextto them.You have to speak up, speak clearly, and projectyour voice into the microphone.Often new streamers will buy entire new microphonesnot understanding why it doesn't pick up themmumbling and whispering at a distance anybetter - not talking about ASMR - and it justdoesn't work that way.That being said, you don't need to yell.You'll also see many streamers over-compensatingand just talking at a shouting or yellingvolume and that's not healthy or sustainable,plus you're causing a lot more reflectionsoff of your walls and desk.Some of this you pick up just through experienceand time - but taking opportunities to gainmore real-world experience, such as publicspeaking classes, really help.I mumble a lot in day to day speech, but mycollege public speaking class really helpedme make sure I'm heard by an audience andthat directly translated to on-microphonespeaking skills.This isn't just a matter of your peak loudness,either.Consistency matters a lot.Starting your sentences super loud but trailingoff as you finish your sentence is not anenjoyable listening experience, and much harderto balance for.Shouting during an exciting moment in a streamis okay, but having half of your sound shoutingand half really quiet is not fun.You also have to balance the projecting you'redoing with your mic gain and levels eitheron your physical controls or in software.You may find that over time you actually haveto reduce your mic gain because you're projectingbetter than you're used to.The Elgato Wave mics make it easy to quicklytweak gain, and the Clipguard feature makessure you never clip or distort during loudmoments, even if you do get a little excited.Technique is still king, but these bonusescertainly help.Beyond loudness, there's also lots of littletricks you can practice to improve your mictechnique.Learning to soften your plosives makes formore natural speaking pattern.Drinking plenty of water and making sure toreduce your mouth smacks and clicks also lowersthe abrasiveness of your audio.Also: Don't drink soda right before you goto stream or record.It makes your saliva thick which makes ithard to speak - I struggle with this a lot.There's also the classic Tay Zonday tip ofmoving your mouth away from your mic a bitto breathe.Not everyone can help it, but a heavy breathercan be very off-putting during a live stream.Learning to breathe more quietly or away fromthe mic does a lot to improve viewer retention.All of these skills just take practice andconscious reminders whenever you watch yourstreams back to keep working on them.Vocal coaches can help, too!They'd also tell you that doing vocal warm-upsto get your vocal chords ready go a long wayto protecting your voice from going out afterlong streams.If you find yourself regularly losing yourvoice or feeling strained after streams, youshould be putting in a lot of work to helpkeep your voice healthy before you burn out.Another important note for consistency isjust keeping the same distance from your microphone.If you're constantly moving closer and furtheraway from your mic, your audio levels aregoing to be all over the place.WEEEEUOOOOUUURIP!Two final tips about technique have to dowith vocal fry and voice \"pulling.\"A \"vocal fry\" is when you're speaking withoutenough breath being pushed through your vocalchords.Whether speaking or singing, most of the soundswe make are actually made by air moving acrossour vocal chords, not by working them likea muscle.A common vocal fry I hear online from newbiepresenters is when they relax their breathbefore the sentence is done, resulting inthe final word or few words sounding whinyor almost as if every sentence is a question.This sounds really annoying?And while you may be used to it, someone hearingyou for the first time may bounce really quicklybecause it's off-putting?Again, conscious efforts to stop this willmake what seems like an inherent trait toyour voice go away quickly.Practice makes perfect.Vocal \"pulling\" is quite similar - this ispushing, pulling, or tightening your vocalchords to force a sound that isn't your naturalspeaking tone.For example when I do my radio announcer voice,Like THIIIS.It's cool and there's a time and place forit - but that place isn't conversation, orconversational long-running streams.Unless you're a shoutcaster, I guess.This wears your throat out quickly and isjust unnatural sounding.Many of my earlier videos had me fully locked-into the radio announcer mode, and while somefound it cool, many definitely found it annoying.I promise, your normal conversational voiceis just fine.Really.POLISHGetting everything right before your audiohits your computer will always beat out doinganything after the fact, but sometimes youstill have to tweak something, or you wanta little more.Let's talk about that.First, let's talk about background noise removal.What if you still can't quite reduce it enoughin your space, or clicks and keyboard tapskeep making it in more than you'd like?If you're streaming with OBS Studio, as ofrecent updates it ships with two noise filtersthat can help you.RNNoise runs on the CPU and will be toughto run alongside CPU-demanding games or applications,but does a great job at removing backgroundnoise from your audio.If you have a Nvidia RTX Graphics Card, whichI know is tough these days, you can use RTXVoice either as part of the Nvidia Broadcastapp or via the OBS Filter if you install theVoiceFX SDK.This allows you to use special cores on yourgraphics card to automatically filter outany frequencies that aren't your voice, basedon AI training.I demo'd this back when it first releasedand it's basically magic.Additional resources on setting this up arelinked below.What if you just want to make your voice sound...better?Or keep it from clipping?Wave Link - the software backing the ElgatoWave microphones and Wave XLR interface - allowsyou to activate an awesome feature called\"Clipguard.\"This is effectively full protection from everpeaking or clipping your microphone and distortingin your viewers' ears.Clipguard works by running a secondary \"safetytrack\" at -20dB lower than your main audiofeed, and automatically switching to it ifyou get too loud - such as when you cheerafter winning a game or something.That way, your viewers can still hear yourenthusiasm and energy, but not breaking headphonesor sounding all distort-y and gross.If you want to \"enhance\" your voice or getrid of some gnarly frequencies going on, that'swhere VSTs come in.VSTs are audio plugins that can run in real-timeand modify your audio.OBS Studio comes with some basic tools built-in,but I usually recommend mixing them with theReaPlugs VST set - a completely free set ofVSTs released by the makers of the Reaperaudio editing software.If you see info about a free trial, that appliesto Reaper itself, not the ReaPlugs, so youmay have downloaded the wrong thing.Add your microphone device to OBS, right clickit in your mixer and select Filters.Add a new filter.Here you can add EQ to tweak frequencies,a compressor to balance out your levels abit, and so on.My BIG warning here is to keep it simple.It's easy to fall into the trap of over-doingyour post-processing - something I did foryears - and making really wacky sounding audio.In reality, you just want to tweak what youhave and make it sound a little bit better.Our example here, the Elgato Wave, is a wonderfuland natural sounding mic out of box, so weonly want to tweak it a little bit.My generally-recommended audio chain is NoiseGate first - be it with RNNoise, RTX Voice,or a more traditional gate, then EQ, thencompressor, then De-Esser if needed.Some people prefer to have their noise removalat the end, but I find it easier to get smootherresults if you're not amplifying the backgroundnoise with the other post-processing earlierin the chain.So here's what my processing chain typicallylooks like.EQ using the ReaPlugs VST I mentioned before,OBS's built-in compressor, and a de-esseragain using ReaPlugs.EQ-ing is more of an art than a science.I could make a whole series on this (commentif you'd like that) but here's some generalrules to follow:- Usually you want to start cutting everythingbelow 60hz to avoid too much bass.You might think you want this left in, butmany listeners will complain about \"boomyness\"and you might start to activate the subwooferson listeners' setups, which isn't a good thing.Higher voices may not need this, but mid andlower-end voices do.- 100-150hz is where some of the \"warmer\"frequencies live.A small boost to this can help give your voicethat warm, \"radio\" sound on some mics.On others, you may need to go ahead and cutthis to avoid muddiness.- Muddiness in the voice is a huge problemaround 200-250hz.Too much of these frequencies and your voicecan be almost impossible to decipher.I usually cut a little bit here, dependingon the mic.- The 800 to 1000hz range is considered the\"mids\".A lot of your more nasally frequencies livehere, a cut at 1000hz can significantly improvethe sound of your audio, depending on themic and speaker.- Frequencies around 3000hz can add some clarityto your audio via a small boost.Too much and you start to get crisp and toosharp for some listeners' ears.Remember, less is more.And a HUGE rule for most EQ-ing work is tocut before you add.We're not here to boost you to sounding likea robot (unless you want that), we just wantto cut out some less flattering frequenciesa bit.Sometimes a little mid cut, a little highboost, and a low-cut is all you need.Play with it and test a lot - with plentyof breaks to prevent ear fatigue.Compressors are a little easier.What is a compressor?The name is pretty self-explanatory, but ittakes your audio and squishes it down, orcompresses it.The loudest parts become less loud to giveyou a more consistent-sounding feed.This comes at the cost of dynamic range, buthelps a lot with broadcast audio where youdon't want to be getting super quiet and superloud unexpectedly.For the Ratio, 3:1 or 4:1 is generally theideal ratio for voiceover, as a general rule.The threshold should generally be at a pointwhere you're getting around 5dB of gain reduction.For me, -16dB works but you may need to playwith it.Then you add 4-5dB of gain back either inthe compressor settings or with a secondarygain filter.The Elgato Wave microphone sounds great andpretty natural out of the box - so you mightwant some noise removal for keyboard sounds,but you may not even want or need a compressoras Clipguard already keeps you from clipping,it just helps with uniformity if you varyyour speaking volume much or move around alot.CONCLUSIONClean up and prepare your environment beforeyou start recording or streaming, master yourtechnique while using the microphone, andprovide some finishing touches after you'vealready sent the signal to your computer - andyou have high quality, top tier audio to pleaseviewers' ears and help take your streamingcareer to the next level.Obviously different microphones sound differentand need different tools - but these principlesapply to just about any audio setup.And if you're looking for a microphone upgrade,you can't go wrong with Elgato's Wave:1 orWave:3microphones - they have high quality capsulesdesigned with LEWITT, come with amazing virtualmixing software called Wave Link, and areplug and play with a single USB C cable.Elgato also has a variety of other tools tobuild your stream setup - such as their greatnew microphone arms.Links to those will be in the description.Thanks to Elgato for sponsoring this guide.If you need any additional help setting upyour audio, come chat with us on Discord atDiscord.gg/eposvox.Get subscribed and I'll see you next time.Remember: Be kind, rewind.\n"