Question / Help Bad microphone audio on stream: Zoom/iShowU/OBS

[jellofan]

I've tried to follow the various guides for configuring OBS to work with iShowU and then streaming a Zoom interview to YouTube Live. Sometimes the stream is perfect, but sometimes the audio from the microphone is echoed or extremely "buzzy". So there is probably a nuance in my setup or a missing step in my "go live" checklist that I'd like to have help debugging.

I'm on Catalina 10.15.3 running OBS 24.0.6
I use a Jabra GN1900 USB headset for mic and sound

Using audio midi setup I have configured a Multi-Output Device that uses iShowU Audio Capture (no Drift Correction) and the Jabra GN1900 USB (with Drift Correction). Master Device is set to iShowU Audio Capture with 44.1 kHz sample rate

Before starting any applications I set Sound Output to the Multi-Output Device

I then start the Zoom conference. In Zoom I set the speaker to the Multi-Output Device and the mic to the Jabra GN1900 USB

I then go to YouTube Studio and Go Live. I go to Manage and get the stream key. I also pop out the chat window for use in the stream.

I then open OBS and add the stream key

I have two Audio Input Capture sources defined:
Mic: Device is Jabra GN1900 USB
Mic/Aux: Device is iShowU Audio Capture

I have two scenes configured which exhibit the behavior
The first scene has 4 Sources, 2 static images, one Display Capture, and one that uses the Mic defined above
That scene is meant to stream just the Jabra Mic audio and not the Zoom audio

The second scene has 3 Sources, the Display Capture, the Mic, plus Mic/Aux defined above
That scene is meant to include both the Jabra Mic audio and the Zoom audio in the stream.
(Zoom output audio does not include my Mic audio)

But even with just with that first Scene active I have had instances of distorted microphone audio.
When the second Scene is active I have had instances of my microphone audio distorted, but the remote Zoom participant audio has always been fine.

So I have no problem with capturing and streaming the Zoom audio, just with inject the microphone audio. Any thoughts?

Examples of streams which exhibit the behavior:

Capture the World with Dee & Aryeo

Please join me in YouTube Live’s “Capture the World with Dee” on Tuesday January 21, 2020 at 9 am PST. My guests will be the co-founders of Aryeo, a real est...

youtu.be

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

But some streams are ok:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

I have had no issues in any dry runs, only on "production" streams, so this is so frustrating to debug. Any insights appreciated.

 

[TheOriginalBudman]

I don't know if this helps or not because I'm a noob to OBS, but I've used Zoom extensively for years.

In the past I've had audio problems similar to what your first two samples indicate, but generally it is the person on the other end whose voice sounds like they've inhaled helium just before the Zoom chat. I've done some troubleshooting, and so far (3 for 3) the Zoom tech people have found that the faulty audio is due to the fact that the machine producing said audio has too many background applications running. In one case a client had to upgrade their Zoom installation.

Generally, having them shut down all the other background apps seems to solve the problem. It involves them quitting Zoom, then quitting all their other apps, then firing Zoom up and rejoining the call.

As I said, I have absolutely no idea as to whether or not any of this applies to your situation. But it might be a place to start.

P.S. - I found this thread because I want to do something similar to what you're doing here.