# HELP WITH OBS SETTINGS CHOPPY AUDIO AND DISTORTION



## KokiWin (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi everyone! This is my first thread on here so I'm not 100% sure how this works but I'm hoping to find a solution so my audio choppiness and distortion when streaming on OBS and also happens when I am recording. I always run OBS as admin and this fixes the problem occasionally but I want to find a solid solution that doesn't require me testing out by recording before every stream or recording. I'll provide some PC specs below---

_Intel (R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.01 GHz
GeForce GTX 1080
32 GB Ram
Monitor 1920 x1080, 240Hz
64 bit operating system

I'll attach a video too of the audio in case someone can decipher the situation just by hearing how the audio sounds.


			https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pumji6u5B1noOboKozLIPzeKkM74ZpSr/view?usp=sharing
		

_
My wifi speeds are pretty good so I try and stream around a 6000 bitrate. I'm not sure if this is too much and my GPU is just too old but I get really distorted audio, I'll provide an example as well. If someone can help and maybe give me better optimal settings for the stream, I use my Sony a6500 with a cam link and use a Blue yeti for recording. However, the blue yeti is taken from RTX that new Nvdia software because the noise suppression on that is fantastic! Way better than the OBS noise suppression one. I know RTX does take some GPU to run though and I tried turning that off but the distortion did not change so I figured it was not RTX doing this. I have tried finding a solution through these forums, asking the twitch community and friends and even a lot of discord channels that help with tech and I can't seem to find a solution for this. If anyone has any feedback or ideas please let me know! Thank you :)


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## jdr76 (Sep 29, 2020)

I have the same issue with occasional choppy audio.  
The first couple of minutes of this video is my example:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IULNbweJ8kI
At the 1:53 minute mark there is a jump cut where we stopped the OBS stream to YouTube, closed OBS and restarted it, then restarted the stream to Youtube.  This made the issue go away.  Important to note that the audio is choppy in the local recording as well as on the stream video.

There are several Youtube videos that suggest different setting changes.  But even in the most detailed video he says that he still does a test recording before every stream because it still happens occasionally, so it doesn't sound like any of these are the actual fix.   It's a tough issue to debug as it can't' be reproduced reliably.

Audio settings videos:








						How To Fix Sound Issues In OBS Studio That Keep Messing Up Your Stream!
					

In This Video I show you some Sound issues in OBS, OBS.Live, and Streamlabs OBS or Slobs. There are a ton of common issues that I found when I started making...




					www.youtube.com
				











						Digital/Choppy/Stuttering Voice Audio FIX In Streamlabs OBS
					

If your stream audio randomly drops out on you and sounds like the beginning of this video, you NEED to watch this! The fix is super simple!Thanks for watchi...




					www.youtube.com
				



Someone commented on the second video to disable all the Realtek drivers/audio sources.  I'll try that next.


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## KokiWin (Sep 29, 2020)

jdr76 said:


> I have the same issue with occasional choppy audio.
> The first couple of minutes of this video is my example:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IULNbweJ8kI
> At the 1:53 minute mark there is a jump cut where we stopped the OBS stream to YouTube, closed OBS and restarted it, then restarted the stream to Youtube.  This made the issue go away.  Important to note that the audio is choppy in the local recording as well as on the stream video.
> 
> ...



Ah thank you for the response! I'll deffnetly check these out, where are the realtek drivers/audio sources located are those the ones in OBS or are they directly connected in the sound panel? Im curious I might try that as well


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## Eonassis (Oct 4, 2020)

KokiWin said:


> Hi everyone! This is my first thread on here so I'm not 100% sure how this works but I'm hoping to find a solution so my audio choppiness and distortion when streaming on OBS and also happens when I am recording. I always run OBS as admin and this fixes the problem occasionally but I want to find a solid solution that doesn't require me testing out by recording before every stream or recording. I'll provide some PC specs below---
> 
> _Intel (R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.01 GHz
> GeForce GTX 1080
> ...


I have the same problem, every time I have to check the audio before starting the transmission, if pricking I have to restart OBS, since the old version, sometimes the problem appears, I also test a notebook on two computers, the problem happens  , it's not always, but when it happens I have to close the obs and open it again to fix it, when I monitor the audio locally there are no problems, the problem only happens in the live stream, I checked the data integrity on YouTube and Facebook, the data arrives ok  no problems, it seems to me a problem when coding in the obs ffmpeg, when it's in trouble i can save the video is the problem in the audio is in the recording, restarting it resolves for min, i also need help !!!!!!


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## ChrisPiepers (Oct 12, 2020)

I have the same audio problem both in the mp4 recording AND also noticable live in the Decklink Output. (with version 26.0.0)

The issue is gone for a limited time if i do these steps:
1. Go to Tools
2. Finish the Auto-Conf Wizzard
3. I chose Optimize just for recording
4. Choose your desired canvas/FPS
5. Finish the wizzard
After these steps the audio is good again.. but after a few hours or sometime's days it braked down.

I updated this morning to version 26.0.2. And i will definitly try the tips in the youtube links.


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## raarts (Feb 25, 2021)

Having the same Audio problems. It happens after a few hours of recording. Funny thing it only happens when I switch a one particular scene. I tried disabling all of the sources in that scene one by one, but that didn't fix anything. Restarting OBS immediately fixes it. I never run OBS as Admin. CPU is not overloaded at all. Nothing suspicious in the logs.


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## Dan Smith WOODLANDS (Apr 27, 2021)

Im having this issue, the stream will run fine fo about 40 minutes and then it will have this glitch. Almost sounds like the audio Bit rate drops? 

Any Fixes for this yet?

Our audio and video is coming from a Blackmagic Ultrastudio Recorder 3G into Our new M1 Mac Mini into OBS streaming to Castr.

Examples of problem:
starts around here and only gets worse as the video goes on: https://youtu.be/WnlWUVJsR_4?t=2624

Here you hear it and then we turn the stream off and on, on OBS for a split second, and it fixes it? https://youtu.be/_s7idqS5uRc?t=3108

Thanks in advance for any help


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## OllieBeanz (May 10, 2021)

I tried a bunch of solutions to fix my choppy audio and none of them worked. I finally found a fix. For me I needed to equalize my sample rate on all devices, software and windows and disable unused audio devices to fix the choppy audio in OBS.


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## sbeck (May 13, 2021)

Dan Smith WOODLANDS said:


> Im having this issue, the stream will run fine fo about 40 minutes and then it will have this glitch. Almost sounds like the audio Bit rate drops?
> 
> Any Fixes for this yet?
> 
> ...


Hello, I am having the same issue with my Mac Book Pro. It seemed to start out of nowhere... Kinda stumped so far. it is in my recording. very similar to what your video shows. It is only happening in OBS. Does anybody have a solution?


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## sbeck (May 13, 2021)

KokiWin said:


> Hi everyone! This is my first thread on here so I'm not 100% sure how this works but I'm hoping to find a solution so my audio choppiness and distortion when streaming on OBS and also happens when I am recording. I always run OBS as admin and this fixes the problem occasionally but I want to find a solid solution that doesn't require me testing out by recording before every stream or recording. I'll provide some PC specs below---
> 
> _Intel (R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.01 GHz
> GeForce GTX 1080
> ...


Hello, I am having the same issue with my Mac Book Pro. It seemed to start out of nowhere... Kinda stumped so far. it is in my recording. very similar to what your video shows. It is only happening in OBS. Does anybody have a solution?


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## deFrisselle (May 14, 2021)

Please start a new topic and do a short recording/stream then post a log so we can see what OBS is doing
Make sure all your Audio Source are the same sample rate


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## Speckled Trim (May 18, 2021)

I had the same issue and tried multiple solutions until I realized the output volume was at maximum and after turning it down everything sounds good now, even 5.1 with heavy bass :D I know it's basic but thought it's worth joining & mentioning.


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## AOB (Jan 18, 2022)

Hi there, we are having the exact same problem with our church livestream. Had been working fine for months, but this problem has seemed to have come out of nowhere. Doesn't happen every stream, but when it does, it sounds the same as examples posted here.

Has anyone been able to find a solution?
Thanks


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## WBE (Jan 18, 2022)

Did you read through this topic?


deFrisselle said:


> Please start a new topic and do a short recording/stream then post a log so we can see what OBS is doing
> Make sure all your Audio Source are the same sample rate


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## dmemphis (Jan 18, 2022)

I have some input on this.  What I think you are hearing is actually feedback with cancellation. 
What I describe below fights feedback. If this is not exactly what you are fighting with, it might be a clue to help you find your real problem.
One of the moving targets is the Windows sound system. In my experience Windows changes default audio selection on the fly and and can result in feedback if it changes and you are 
mixing in the windows sound system in your scenes. For instance, if you monitor OBS via the windows sound system and Windows decides to make some source that you are using for input to be the default output, you would have feedback from OBS through windows and back into your OBS audio input path. For that reason, I recommend never use windows sound system as an audio input. I have found the safest thing to do is disable ALL the "global audio devices" in Setup and only use the audio inputs from the specific devices you are getting audio from- directly. 
If you do use globals, make sure THEY are set to devices other than the WIndows sound system. Isolating OBS from the windows sound system has removed these audio problems for me so far, several long shoots ago.  I DO allow OBS to send monitor to the windows sound system- that's all- no windows sound system comes back.  In my case I pull audio only from files being played and Voicee mixer.  Also I recommend NEVER hide audio mixer lines in the OBS mixer window, as things can be happening on those lines that you don't expect and you don't know they are the cause because you hid them from yourself.


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## AOB (Jan 19, 2022)

dmemphis said:


> I have some input on this.  What I think you are hearing is actually feedback with cancellation.
> What I describe below fights feedback. If this is not exactly what you are fighting with, it might be a clue to help you find your real problem.
> One of the moving targets is the Windows sound system. In my experience Windows changes default audio selection on the fly and and can result in feedback if it changes and you are
> mixing in the windows sound system in your scenes. For instance, if you monitor OBS via the windows sound system and Windows decides to make some source that you are using for input to be the default output, you would have feedback from OBS through windows and back into your OBS audio input path. For that reason, I recommend never use windows sound system as an audio input. I have found the safest thing to do is disable ALL the "global audio devices" in Setup and only use the audio inputs from the specific devices you are getting audio from- directly.
> If you do use globals, make sure THEY are set to devices other than the WIndows sound system. Isolating OBS from the windows sound system has removed these audio problems for me so far, several long shoots ago.  I DO allow OBS to send monitor to the windows sound system- that's all- no windows sound system comes back.  In my case I pull audio only from files being played and Voicee mixer.  Also I recommend NEVER hide audio mixer lines in the OBS mixer window, as things can be happening on those lines that you don't expect and you don't know they are the cause because you hid them from yourself.


Thanks for your reply to this. I did already have all the global audio devices disabled, but your ideas made me look at the playback/recording devices in windows sound settings, and I noticed that I had my recording device set as my default playback device - perhaps that was causing feedback as you described?
Anyway, I disabled all the devices that I do not need to use and made sure only the correct ones are enabled and set as defaults, so I am hoping that solves it. Hard to know straight away, as it is an intermittent problem.
Thanks!


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## dmemphis (Jan 20, 2022)

>>recording device set as my default playback device 
That's the kind of thing I have to pay attention to, yes.
On the other hand, there is a recent report that audio monitoring randomly shuts
off for a user. If that means that other settings can randomly change in the audio chain,
we might be up against something other than bad routing on our part.
I sure hope that isn't the case.
All I can say is that since I payed very close attention to isolating the windows sound system
from my OBS use, I have not had an audio corrution/noise issue.
I do carefully monitor the outputs of OBS as I go, including monitoring the youtube live stream
on my PC or on my phone.
I plan to do a youtube presentation on this which might help a lot of folks.
I'll post it in the forum if I do.


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