# Audio input source: still plays through even if not in scene



## twindux (Oct 20, 2020)

So I'm messing with various Audio Input Sources being added to scenes. One would think that if an Audio Input Source is NOT in a scene, its sound would not play in the stream. But that does not seem to be the case.

I have a situation where I'm running videos from an external computer that are injected into by OBS computer via an Elgato card. I'd like, whenever I switch to this scene, that the audio from the House Sound System (an audio input source that comes directly in via line out> USB audio device from our house PA) be muted or removed, and let only the video from the external computer play.

However, even with the House Sound NOT in a scene, its sound still plays though....unless I manually mute it when I leave the scene it was previously "showing' in.

I know I can add both audio sources to all scenes the manually manage the muting of each, but it would be really slick if when an audio source is NOT in a scene....it would not play.

Am I messing up? Or is this expected behavior?


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## Tangential (Oct 20, 2020)

Is the house sound assigned to a mic/aux as well? Or is a mic/aux set to default?


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## twindux (Oct 20, 2020)

I have disabled all Mic/Aux sources. So I created an audio input source called "house sound" that comes in via my USB audio source, and another audio input source called "presentation sound" which comes from the external Mac via HDMI from the Elegato.

I have ONLY the audio source I want to play within each scene.

but unless I explicitly mute a source BEFORE I leave the scene it's playing/showing in, it keeps playing when I switch scenes even if the source is omitted.

Or it's  user error and I'm not doing what I think I'm doing!

Do I need to have both sources IN the scene but one of them turned off within the scene (eyeball icon dimmed)?


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## some108 (Nov 3, 2020)

I'm having the same issue...

All global devices disabled, but still the mic from one scene is heard in other scenes... even when showing as inactive under _Advanced Audio Properties_.


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## Massimiliano85 (Nov 4, 2020)

Good evening,
I have the same problem, the incoming audio remains active even if the source is not present in the scene.
I have made many attempts but cannot resolve.


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## BarnTheatre (Nov 5, 2020)

I have just found this thread.  I have the same issue and have just raised another  forum thread also to try and get a resolution...


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## Steven@thatchurch (Nov 17, 2020)

I have been searching for a solution for this exact problem. 
It appears as if only line and mic default inputs respond to being disabled. USB audio sources and HDMI audio does not seem to work with auto muting when you follow the steps and remove them from scenes as well as disabling all audio in main settings. They still can be heard in your output mix regardless of whether they are in the scene or not.
The short term solution I am using to at least streamline the transitions between scenes is I went to Keybinds and found my House Feed. I bound Mute to "z" and Unmute to "x". This at least gives my operator a fast mute/unmute while they are clicking to the new scene. It will also mute/unmute even when in a scene that House feed is not shown in the mixer. If you have even more inputs you can bind each one to more keybinds, and then have the ability to quickly toggle different audio sources on/off. 
I definitely want a better solution. It seems logical that if a source is not in a scene it should not show or be heard but for whatever reason USB audio does not follow that. Like OP said though I could just be doing it wrong... With me that is always a likely option. 
Would love to hear if there is a Plug-in or inbuilt solution to this issue.


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## Steven@thatchurch (Nov 17, 2020)

*Solved*
Sure enough, I was doing it wrong... 
Go to Master Settings and Audio tab. Disable all Global Audio channels.
Go to the scene you want and remove any unwanted inputs.
Start a test stream and switch between scenes with audio coming out of House feed. One scene with it and one scene without it.
You will clearly hear (*on any separate device like a phone or other computer*) that the house feed goes away in the scenes without it.
If you want to check on the computer you are streaming from you have to:
Click on your House feed in a scene that has it, and choose advanced audio properties and change the settings to Output only. (No monitoring) because what you were hearing is actually the monitor Output. *Not the streams output.*


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## twindux (Nov 18, 2020)

Steven@thatchurch said:


> *Solved*
> Sure enough, I was doing it wrong...
> Go to Master Settings and Audio tab. Disable all Global Audio channels.
> Go to the scene you want and remove any unwanted inputs.
> ...


I SWEAR I had done that and got sound from an audio source not in the scene into the stream, but perhaps I had NOT turned off the monitoring. I'll try it again...


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## some108 (Feb 3, 2021)

Steven@thatchurch said:


> because what you were hearing is actually the monitor Output. *Not the streams output.*



yes, it is the monitor. but that is still an issue.
if using obs as an input to google meet or zoom, then the problem is still there because we have to use monitor output.
this issue is not there on windows. just mac. seems like a bug to me.


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## nottooloud (Feb 3, 2021)

some108 said:


> this issue is not there on windows. just mac. seems like a bug to me.


Oh man, this issue has been bugging me all along. Never thought to try the other platform. You're right, the monitor mutes on Windows if the input isn't in the scene. Stays live on Mac. 

Bug.


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## nottooloud (Feb 4, 2021)

Exeldro's Audio Monitor control dock just added real output monitoring in Version 0.3.0. Problem solved.
Audio Monitor plug-in and control dock


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## Overkill001 (Feb 11, 2021)

The main origin of confusion when it comes to per-scene audio sources is that OBS includes your system microphone and system speakers -- and possibly other sources it finds when it is first installed -- in the list of Global Audio Devices within its settings. Global Audio Devices are persistent: They show up in the Audio Mixer window with every scene whether you want these sources or not. Muting a device in the Global Audio Devices list mutes it for all scenes thereafter; unmuting it unmutes it for all scenes thereafter. You can't control them per scene.

If you want to control these same audio devices per scene (or just generally want better control over per-scene audio), go to Settings>Audio. Look for the "Global Audio Devices" category and disable those for which you want per-scene control. You can choose to keep or select a specific audio source if you are absolutely sure that's a source you want to ALWAYS be there for your entire production. Disable them all if you want absolute control over your per-scene audio. After clicking "Apply" or "OK", you'll be returned to the main interface and you'll notice that your Audio Mixer will then only show audio from sources added to that scene, such as a video camera, webcam, or video clip. Those that were previously a Global Audio Device that was disabled in Settings will have disappeared. A fresh scene with no sources will have a blank Audio Mixer, or will only have the global audio sources you chose to keep.

Then, to add discreet audio sources per scene, choose a scene, click on + under the Sources window.

Add an "Audio Input Capture" if you want to use an external audio source, such as a microphone, audio deck, or similar device. Give it a name for use with OBS (for example, "Microphone"). After giving it a name, you'll be prompted to choose the actual input device you want to use (in this example, presumably your PC's audio-in jack into which a microphone is plugged); "Default" will choose whatever you've set up as your operating system's default audio input (usually the audio-in jack). This audio input can then be added to each individual scene (or individually removed if later unwanted).

Add an "Audio Output Capture" if you want to use an internal audio source, such as the motherboard's built-in audio-out jack, a sound card, or external display with audio connection (such as an HDMI-connected monitor). Give it a name for use with OBS, (for example, "Desktop"). After giving it a name, you'll be prompted to choose the actual output device you want to use (in this example, presumably your system speakers if you just want OBS to re-transmit audio that's playing on your computer, such as a music app, or sounds from a Zoom meeting that you want to stream). "Default" will choose whatever you've set up as your operating system's default audio output (usually the system speakers). This audio output can then be added to each individual scene (or individually removed if later unwanted).

Note that if you've kept one or more Global Audio Device, the Audio Mixer will display it along with all other per-scene audio, so it may be confusing to differentiate in a pinch. Pro Tip: Disable all devices under "Global Audio Devices" in settings unless you absolutely know what you're doing.

Honestly, OBS should have just disabled all Global Audio Devices by default to avoid this confusion.


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## nottooloud (Feb 11, 2021)

Overkill001 said:


> The main origin of confusion



While that's all pretty much true, it is completely unrelated to this Mac-specific monitoring issue. Everyone in this thread had turned off the globals.


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## twindux (Feb 11, 2021)

Overkill001 said:


> The main origin of confusion when it comes to per-scene audio sources is that OBS includes your system microphone and system speakers -- and possibly other sources it finds when it is first installed -- in the list of Global Audio Devices within its settings. Global Audio Devices are persistent: They show up in the Audio Mixer window with every scene whether you want these sources or not. Muting a device in the Global Audio Devices list mutes it for all scenes thereafter; unmuting it unmutes it for all scenes thereafter. You can't control them per scene.
> 
> If you want to control these same audio devices per scene (or just generally want better control over per-scene audio), go to Settings>Audio. Look for the "Global Audio Devices" category and disable those for which you want per-scene control. You can choose to keep or select a specific audio source if you are absolutely sure that's a source you want to ALWAYS be there for your entire production. Disable them all if you want absolute control over your per-scene audio. After clicking "Apply" or "OK", you'll be returned to the main interface and you'll notice that your Audio Mixer will then only show audio from sources added to that scene, such as a video camera, webcam, or video clip. Those that were previously a Global Audio Device that was disabled in Settings will have disappeared. A fresh scene with no sources will have a blank Audio Mixer, or will only have the global audio sources you chose to keep.
> 
> ...


Appreciate that, but my issues occur even with all clocks audio sources disabled/nit defined.


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## Overkill001 (Feb 11, 2021)

Ack, sorry, I had intended to post this on another thread that was open in another window.  >_< My bad. Feel free to delete my reply, as I can't seem to delete it myself at this point.


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## nottooloud (Feb 12, 2021)

No big thing. It was a nice writeup.


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## Zatara1203 (May 14, 2021)

I am having a similar problem.  I am using a Mac with an NDI input (Mevo Start camera) into OBS.  When I show a basic image background scene, the sound from the camera, even though it is in a different scene, is coming through.  I am using Zoom so I am using monitor mode with a virtual audio cable that Zoom can use as its input.  And like everyone else, all my Global Audio settings are disabled.


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## techieSloth (May 16, 2021)

Exactly the same issue here. I setup OBS for the 1st time last night to be used with Zoom. I have a main scene with mic and video setup and a 2nd scene that I want to use when I'm AFK, which doesn't have any sound source and only a static image. As with everyone else all my global audio settings are disabled. 

Interestingly when I did a test recording in OBS and switched between scenes the audio is muted as expected. The issue comes in with Zoom, which still registers audio no matter the scene. JFYI I tried with both VB-CABLE Virtual Audio Device and Blackhole as virtual audio cables and the behavior is the same.

Has anyone logged a bug for this?


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## tinusriyanto (May 18, 2021)

I suspect that the current monitoring setting also applies globally, so I tried to install the above plugins (Audio Monitor) https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/audio-monitor.1186/updates#resource-update-3451
After that I turned off all monitoring settings in Advanced Audio Properties and setup Audio Monitor filter for each audio input.

Did a small test to Google Meet, unfortunately since I am the only participant I can only see the visual indicator for sound coming into Google Meet turned off when I switch to another scene that have no audio input.


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## mndudek (May 20, 2021)

So I'm experiencing the exact same problem/bug, so are any of the developers aware of this problem and is it being addressed and fixed? What's the prognosis and ETA of repair?


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## tinusriyanto (May 20, 2021)

I would like to point out that if the built in monitoring setting is indeed designed to work globally (since the setting is on the global section) then this behaviour most likely be considered as working by design.
But I am not a developer nor am I know any of the developer.


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## Ben Schultz (Jun 29, 2021)

I am having the same problem as described here. Have been using OBS to stream at least once a week, no issues until this past weekend. No changes to my scenes or settings. Just noticed that one of the audio sources continued playing regardless of whether it was active in the scene or not. All my global audio devices are disabled. Has anyone heard about a fix for this bug or a workaround or maybe a setting I am missing. Thanks for any help.


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## garibaldi (Jul 9, 2021)

Hi, same here. Same settings as mentioned in previous posts from another users, I got the sound ( mic + sound from the game) from my stream scene stills on when I switch to another scene. It never occurs before.
i tested from Streamlabs and the problem don’t seem to appears there but my main streaming software is OBS Studio and I hope there will be a fix. I know this is not as easy to fix as it is to ask for and the version (June) is still young… keep the good work.


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## FirstPersonLooter (Aug 15, 2022)

Hello. This is my problem as well. And it's over a year later from the last post I see, so I guess it's still a problem. I tried the plugin feature but it didn't help.

It may also have to do with the fact that I can't capture desktop audio without another wildly complex workaround in which I have to use BlackHole and change Midi/Audio settings to create a new multichannel  audio device.

Hopefully there's a fix.


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## ThatOneHispanic_ (Sep 21, 2022)

I'm also having this issue too, I have a blank scene, all my global audio devices but I still hear my mic as if it's monitoring it, didn't have an issue until 28.0.1


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## ThatOneHispanic_ (Sep 21, 2022)

Update I disabled and the re-enabled the mic and the monitoring goes away, but the i restart obs and I have the same issue again, obviously annoying to have to do that everytime I want to stream


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