The Importance of Proper Mixer Setup in OBS Studio

A really good looking stream or recording is meaningless if the audio sucks. In this episode, we'll cover how to best set up OBS Studio's mixer to balance your tutorial course.

First, let's start with the basics of how the mixer works. The mixer panel itself contains audio bars for the different audio sources in a given scene. This includes the Microphone and Desktop audio devices selected in your Audio settings, as well as any specific sources in a scene that also give audio. For example, if you add a capture card for capturing console gameplay to a scene, a volume bar for the capture card's audio input will also show up.

Audio sources are listed by name of the source, either the kind of source added or "Desktop Audio Device", "Desktop Audio Device 2", "Mix/Aux" etc. The green bar below the audio source name indicates the current level or volume that the audio is at. You want it to be somewhere close to 75% of the way towards the right. If it stays all the way to the right, you'll be clipping or peaking and your audio will be very overwhelming or distorted. Too far to the left and it will be hard to hear.

To adjust the volume of a source, you can use the blue slider. You'll want to do this to lower the level of game sound or background music so that it doesn't overpower your voice. You want your voice to be clearly heard overall other sound, but for the background sound to still be heard. The slider adjustments are reflected in the number on the far right, measured in decibels. Keep in mind that this is not a measurement of your audio levels, simply how much you've reduced the input.

The most important rule to keep in mind here is to do many test recordings to make sure things are set up correctly. I get asked all the time "How do I make sure volume levels are right before I stream?" Do a test recording. Every time you change something, do a test recording and play it back to see how it sounds. Every. Time. Do. It.

You can also click the speaker icon to mute any sources that you're not using. For example, if you add a webcam as a facecam, you don't want the webcam mic echoing around when you have a good mic set up. So you can mute out the webcam audio and not have to worry about it.

If you click the gear icon next to a specific audio source, you can click "Filters" and add one of the available audio filters to a source. This will generally apply to your microphone. You can add more gain, if your microphone is too quiet. You can add Noise Suppression or a Noise Gate to help reduce background noise from your microphone. These can wind up sounding pretty obnoxious for the viewer, as when the noise gate activates and deactivates it makes an annoying noise.

But you can do some testing for yourself and see if you like it. You can also add a Compressor to help your mic sound better and more even. Lastly, you can also add a VST plugin to your audio source to further enhance your recording quality.

Learning your way around these settings and utilizing them to their fullest extent can both help you make the best streaming and recording experience possible, and also fix any potential issues that may pop up. So jump in! Balance your microphones, game sounds, music, stream alerts, and have some fun.

I hope this episode of my OBS Studio tutorial course has been helpful for you. If it was, drop-kick that like button and subscribe for awesome tech videos. If you like game streaming, come follow me on Twitch and drop a message in chat. Until next time, I'm EposVox, Happy Streaming!

Additional Resources

If this episode of my OBS Studio tutorial course has been helpful to you, be sure to check out the playlist in the video description for more videos like this and a full master class. You can also consider joining us on Patreon to help keep tech education free. Go to Patreon.com/eposvox to sign up.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enA really good looking stream or recordingis meaningless if the audio sucks.In this episode, we’ll cover how to bestset up OBS Studio’s mixer to balance yourtutorial course.I have many, many more videos on the softwarein the playlist linked in the description.Check that before asking questions, and checkthe introduction video to learn how this courseworks, if you get confused.Whenever I help users with their OBS streamingsetups, one of the biggest things that wasn’tset up right was the Mixer.You look at it, there are green bars bouncingaround, it’s working right?For a great live streaming experience, oreven a recording that isn’t just trashed,learning and utilizing the mixer in OBS Studiois super important.Let’s start with the basics of how it works.The mixer panel itself contains audio barsfor the different audio sources in a givenscene.This includes the Microphone and Desktop audiodevices selected in your Audio settings, aswell as any specific sources in a scene thatalso give audio.For example, if you add a capture card forcapturing console gameplay to a scene, a volumebar for the capture card’s audio input willalso show up.Audio sources are listed by name of the source- either the kind of source added or “DesktopAudio Device”, “Desktop Audio Device 2”,“Mix/Aux” etc.The green bar below the audio source nameindicates the current level or volume thatthe audio is at.You want it to be somewhere close to 75% ofthe way towards the right.If it stays all the way to the right, you’llbe clipping or peaking and your audio willbe very overwhelming or distorted.Too far to the left and it will be hard tohear.You can use the blue slider to adjust thevolume of a source.You’ll want to do this to lower the levelof game sound or background music so thatit doesn’t overpower your voice.You want your voice to be clearly heard overall other sound, but for the background soundto still be heard.The slider adjustments are reflected in thenumber on the far right, measured in decibels.Keep in mind this is not a measurement ofyour audio levels, simply how much you’vereduced the input.Where your sliders should be will vary basedon your setup, but for full-volume inputs,I usually knock my game sound and backgroundmusic to around minus six to minus seven db.The most important rule to keep in mind hereis to do many test recordings to make surethings are set up correctly.I get asked all the time “How do I makesure volume levels are right before I stream?”Do a test recording.Every time you change something, do a testrecording and play it back to see how it sounds.Every.Time.Do.It.You can click the speaker icon to mute anysources that you’re not using.For example, if you add a webcam as a facecam,you don’t want the webcam mic echoing aroundwhen you have a good mic set up.So you can mute out the webcam audio and nothave to worry about it.If you click the gear icon next to a specificaudio source, you can click “Filters”and add one of the available audio filtersto a source.This will generally apply to your microphone.You can add more gain, if your microphoneis too quiet.You can add Noise Suppression or a Noise Gateto help reduce background noise from yourmicrophone.These can wind up sounding pretty obnoxiousfor the viewer, as when the noise gate activatesand deactivates it makes an annoying noise.But, you can do some testing for yourselfand see if you like it.You can also add a Compressor to help yourmic sound better and more even.Lastly, you can also add a VST plugin to youraudio sources.You can find plenty of these for free online,which can provide awesome fun effects thatyou might want to play around with.There’s a very important part of the Mixerthat’s easy to miss.Click the gear icon next to one of your sourcesand click to open the “Advanced Audio Properties”window.This lists your audio sources and allows youto separate the sources to different audiotracks, as we covered in a previous video.If you want your sources to record separately,you need to make sure only 1 source is checkedper column or track, and that multiple tracksare checked in your recording settings.You can also enable “Audio Monitoring”- this lets you create an audio loopback ofyour microphone so you can hear it in yourheadphones.This makes it easier to monitor how loud you’respeaking and so on.Choosing “Monitor Only (mute output)”just loops it out to your headphones.“Monitor and output” also outputs it toyour stream.If you used this, you’d want to uncheckthe audio track mapping so that your microphonedoesn’t go to your stream twice.But this could cause a delay.If you need to add a delay to your microphoneto sync it with something like the older Elgatocapture cards, you can set that using the“Sync Offset” option.If you want to control stereo separation ofyour audio device and pan it to the left orright, you can do that here, as well as Downmixingthe audio to mono.You might want to downmix when you have anaudio interface or microphone setup that onlyplays through the left or right side.By checking the “Downmix” box, it willmix your microphone to mono so that viewerscan hear it out of both left and right ears.This is important.Learning your way around these settings andutilizing them to their fullest extent canboth help you make the best streaming andrecording experience possible, and also fixany potential issues that may pop up.So jump in!Balance your microphones, game sounds, music,stream alerts, and have some fun.I hope this episode of my OBS Studio tutorialcourse has been helpful for you.If it was, drop-kick that like button andsubscribe for awesome tech videos.If you like game streaming, come follow meon Twitch and drop a message in chat.Until next time, I’m EposVox, Happy Streaming!Thanks for watching this episode of my OBSStudio tutorial course.More videos like this and a full master classare linked in the playlist in the video description.Click to learn more.Also consider joining us on Patreon to helpkeep tech education free.Go to Patreon.com/eposvox to sign up.\n"