Audio drops/clips during Live stream. NEED HELP

[mrorlowski]

If you guys have any issues with live sound, post-productions, live streaming, hybrid meetings with AV equipment, or TV media operations relating to codecs, feel free to ask anything on these topics.

I have posted in here all of the things I have tried and the results for each. I have also provided multiple Youtube & Facebook links so that you can hear the problem. In the House, there is no audio clipping, and in both headphones and live, the sound is clear and well balanced. I am going to try a different, better quality USB cable from the board to the MAC, but aside from that, I am at a complete loss why I'm still having this issue.

 

[AaronD]

UPDATE for anyone following...

So between last night and tonight I set up Busses on the Behringer X32 assigned the USB out, and created a separate mix specifically for Live Streaming that has compression and limiters set up on. I completely removed the Compression and Limiter from the OBS filters and i adjusted the gain down to +10 db (down from +20).
Additionally, we had both the Video capture (AJA U-TAP) and the X32 USB audio coming into the MAC on the same USB bus. So i moved the Video capture to a USB extender that comes in through Lightning (USB-C) to a completely separate USB bus, so that the USB audio input is the ONLY thing going into that USB bus.
I have confirmed that the audio signal coming out of the board is clean, no clipping or distortion.
With all the changes and new settings, we did 2 tests (1 before swapping the USB bus on the MAC itself,

BEFORE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDeXIQzkEd0
and the second was after
AFTER - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY0VaZ0F4IA

The sound quality itself is MUCH better with the separate live stream mix, but the clipping/dropping issue still exists. I feel like it is a tad better AFTER swapping the Video capture to a separate USB bus, but I'm still getting Audio clipping/dropping.
Is it a problem with OBS or is it a Problem with the MAC?? This is the question i can't seem to figure out.

Sounds to me like a bad network. Not sure where though, between your machine and mine.

Can you upload a finished recording instead of streaming it? That would eliminate your uplink.

We are using Ethernet (Not WiFi) and using Ookla speed test we are getting approximately 350 Mbps up and down.

Speed tests are an average. You need a guaranteed minimum. Those are two different things.

 

[mrorlowski]

FINAL Update
I think we have solved the issue

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Turns out that when the system was upgraded they used a 25 ft USB 2.0 printer cable going from the board to the Mac. Never thought to check because the excess was coiled under the sound board. I bought a really high quality 3 ft USB 2.0 Midi cable and swapped it out this morning. From what I have been able to hear the audio issue is not happening anymore. Simplest solution is often the right one.

 

[AaronD]

Turns out that when the system was upgraded they used a 25 ft USB 2.0 printer cable going from the board to the Mac. Never thought to check because the excess was coiled under the sound board. I bought a really high quality 3 ft USB 2.0 Midi cable and swapped it out this morning. From what I have been able to hear the audio issue is not happening anymore.

Oh! Yeah, USB doesn't like to go very far.

I'm in the process of upgrading the A/V rig of a different church than the one I mentioned before (I count 4 different churches that I'm involved in at the moment!), and that one includes a 75-foot run between a new rackmounted remote-controlled digital mixer (Behringer XR18) and the booth. So I've got a USB extender over Cat-5 from a previous rig (not really a church, but a standalone youth ministry, as an old #5 I guess), and we'll see in a few weeks how well that works. If it emulates a couple of 1-port USB hubs to account for the extra latency, I think it should.

Simplest solution is often the right one.

Except it takes forever to isolate it! Glad you did!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

With our setup (sound mixer, etc) in a 2.5x3ft closet, we put OBS Studio , UPS, etc in same closet, then ran 50ft DisplayPort MST fiber cable to pipe organ/choir loft, and a 50ft Active USB3 cable for keyboard and mouse... works great (way cheaper than various KVM solutions I could have considered).. yea, any USB over 6ft /2M (spec distance?) requires special care/testing

Congrats on finding the issue. That long USB cable may have been fine, but coiled near power cords/other may have introduced interference?? just a possibility
And annoying, but good that you reconfigured the mixer regardless. You'll end up with much livestream audio, and your audience will appreciate it.