Question / Help Crackling in OBS Recording but not Audacity!

PrinceVinc

PrinceVinc

Member
Only recently this caught my Attention.
Every time I do this certain Voice the Sounds Starts to Crackle for no Apparent reason.

Example Video with Problem present.
https://youtu.be/F9fqHOz5gPE?t=10m15s

Here is an older Video recorded in OBS Classic 1 Year ago, the Problem was not present there! (Same mic!)
https://youtu.be/DvfL8s7CIyY?t=11m44s

This is NOT caused by my Mic!
When I record the same Mic with Audacity, the crackling is not present at all (verified with the help of a audiophile friend and his ears.)

I initially thought it is my Mic so I bought a new one that was 3-4x Times as expensive (but both USB Mic's)
And the same Problem occurred.

No issue in Audacity.
Crackling in OBS recording.(Verified by the ears of a audiophile friend.)

And yes, I tried different USB Ports. But I have to admit I used USB 3.0 Ports and no 2.0.

The mic's are:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_sc450_usb.htm?ref=search_rslt_sc450+usb_195302_0 (my old one)

https://www.thomann.de/gb/shure_pg42_usb.htm?ref=search_rslt_shure+42_239932_0 (the new one I bought for testing.)

Log of a test recording:
https://gist.github.com/75d9fe75449d66176f7192e007ed2dec

Any Idea what could cause this issue in OBS Studio?
 
Yurlyn

Yurlyn

Member
I think it's because you are clipping in OBS. Have you tried checking the readout on OBS when you do that voice? It shouldn't be all the way green.
 
Yurlyn

Yurlyn

Member
Yeah it may sound a bit different but I think that you are also only slightly clipping in OBS so not too much. But you can easily see that by the readout on OBS. If you are afraid of your lower volumes are not heard correctly on the stream you can try using a Compressor filter on your mic in OBS.
 
PrinceVinc

PrinceVinc

Member
How can I measure the Compressor correctly though? I mean, I don't know at which db range I even have to set it due to the lack of numbers on the scale.

Edit: It's not clipping.
 
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Yurlyn

Yurlyn

Member
I don't know how to set up the compressor up properly yet since I've just fiddled with it today and I still need to test it properly. I've lowered the Threshold and that seemed to do some magic on the readout with different volume on my mic at least. I just hope it will sound right whenever I test it or go live :')

Hm okay, I take it that it's also not going over in Windows' sound settings screen?
 
PrinceVinc

PrinceVinc

Member
Yurlyn said:
Hm okay, I take it that it's also not going over in Windows' sound settings screen?
Click to expand...

I just tested it again. Monitoring the Volume. It does not Clip and yet those weird cracks appear in the recording. And as evident this crackling was not present in OBS Classic.

So something in the Code must be at fault here.
 
Simes

Simes

Member
Do the sample settings in OBS match the ones you have set for the microphone in Windows Recording Devices properties? I note your OBS is set to record at 48KHz.
 
Simes

Simes

Member
The only other thing I can think of which might differentiate you from people who don't have the issue is the AAC encoder in use. According to your log, the default encoder (Media Foundation) isn't being used because of your Windows version. You could try installing the CoreAudio AAC installer per the information here: https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-studio-enable-coreaudio-aac-encoder-windows.220/

The CoreAudio one is arguably the best of the available options.
 
PrinceVinc

PrinceVinc

Member
Wait wut? How come OBS Classic is able to record without the issue?

HOLY FUCKING JESUS!

That WAS the problem!

Why is this important data not included in OBS Studio?

I mean not everyone has QuickTime or iTunes...

I am still wondering why OBS Classic did not need it though...
 
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