Help balancing OBS sound for church stream?

[ClimbersOfIce]

I have a large presonus console connected to a smaller Yamaha digital interface which is connected to my PC.

I want to make the stream louder overall, but I also want to have the limiter in place to prevent the OBS mixer going to red. If I put the source volume up, and adjust the limiter filter accordingly so it doesn't go to red, am I increasing the overall sensitivity of the volume? (The ease with which the volume reaches a higher level, aka sound sensitivity)

My problem is, the speaker's mic is not loud enough, and I can't manipulate it on an individual level because it's one cable running from the large console running to the interface. I can only control the volume of the entire mix from the console, including all the mics and instruments. In other words, if I put up the volume of the mix, I'm also putting up the volume for everything else. I can't set everything on an individual basis.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I'm guessing the speaker mic is not loud enough for certain speakers, not all the time, right?
If all the time, you'd adjust that mic level on the Presonus, right? OR is the mix appropriate for in-room speakers, but that one mic too low for the stream?
I'm fortunate that our Presonus has a USB output, so I have digital access to each track/channel within my streaming PC

 

[emil@obs]

This is how i handle it at my Setup:

The right balance in the mix is the first aim to manage. This is done at the console, mixer. OBS is only a consumer of your audiomix, like the speakersystem. The only think i do inside OBS is to add compressor (Reaper VST Plugins) to get maximum level (volume) for the viewer.

Back to the mixer. I use a stereo aux for recording and streaming ... all the mixing can be done at the mixer.
What is the right input level for your system? Going to red inside OBS is not a deal, clipping is a problem (permanant red). In this case a limitier inside OBS would not help at all. I would use the yamaha interface to setup the sensitivity for OBS. The idea is that the level at the mixer (Presonius AUX) equals OBS. If the mixer is clipping OBS also. I use a noise generator (pink noise) to get the right level for the audio interface. Now all the sound stuff can be done inside the mixer.

Note: Volume and loudness are two thinks. Work with the EQ and compressor at the mixer for the speakers mic.

 

[ClimbersOfIce]

This is how i handle it at my Setup:

The right balance in the mix is the first aim to manage. This is done at the console, mixer. OBS is only a consumer of your audiomix, like the speakersystem. The only think i do inside OBS is to add compressor (Reaper VST Plugins) to get maximum level (volume) for the viewer.

Back to the mixer. I use a stereo aux for recording and streaming ... all the mixing can be done at the mixer.
What is the right input level for your system? Going to red inside OBS is not a deal, clipping is a problem (permanant red). In this case a limitier inside OBS would not help at all. I would use the yamaha interface to setup the sensitivity for OBS. The idea is that the level at the mixer (Presonius AUX) equals OBS. If the mixer is clipping OBS also. I use a noise generator (pink noise) to get the right level for the audio interface. Now all the sound stuff can be done inside the mixer.

Note: Volume and loudness are two thinks. Work with the EQ and compressor at the mixer for the speakers mic.

How does a compressor give maximum volume for the viewer? Isn't the point of a compressor to somewhat soften or mute the sound a bit?

Configuring the perfect audio level for the stream for a church is a massive headache. Every speaker talks at different volumes, and during sermons there is a large volume contrast between the point at which the speaker speaks at his/her softest, vs loudest.

If I set the volume or gain on my Yamaha mixer even slightly too high, clipping and distortion occurs , even with the OBS limiter activated. Too soft, and the speaker won't be heard unless he yells.

Also, the volume of the instruments and singers is another massive headache. As of now, I simply have a reasonable volume set on the Yamaha mixer for the stream, with an OBS Limiter filter to prevent the audience at home from getting their ears destroyed. I'm not exactly satisfied with the result.

 

[ClimbersOfIce]

I'm guessing the speaker mic is not loud enough for certain speakers, not all the time, right?
If all the time, you'd adjust that mic level on the Presonus, right? OR is the mix appropriate for in-room speakers, but that one mic too low for the stream?
I'm fortunate that our Presonus has a USB output, so I have digital access to each track/channel within my streaming PC

What you mentioned is exactly one of my problems. The in-room sound coming out of the speakers is often fine for the audience in the church, but there is this one mic that a speaker uses that is just softer on stream and I can't understand why.

Putting up the mic volume for that specific microphone from the main presonus console isn't really a great option, since that would also affect the volume for the listeners in the church. Again, the volume for the audience present in the church (regarding that one mic) is fine, but on stream it's low. Only think I can think of is putting the gain up on the yamaha digital interface while that specific mic is in use.

 

[emil@obs]

What you mentioned is exactly one of my problems. The in-room sound coming out of the speakers is often fine for the audience in the church, but there is this one mic that a speaker uses that is just softer on stream and I can't understand why.

Putting up the mic volume for that specific microphone from the main presonus console isn't really a great option, since that would also affect the volume for the listeners in the church. Again, the volume for the audience present in the church (regarding that one mic) is fine, but on stream it's low. Only think I can think of is putting the gain up on the yamaha digital interface while that specific mic is in use.

How does a compressor give maximum volume for the viewer? Isn't the point of a compressor to somewhat soften or mute the sound a bit?

Configuring the perfect audio level for the stream for a church is a massive headache. Every speaker talks at different volumes, and during sermons there is a large volume contrast between the point at which the speaker speaks at his/her softest, vs loudest.

If I set the volume or gain on my Yamaha mixer even slightly too high, clipping and distortion occurs , even with the OBS limiter activated. Too soft, and the speaker won't be heard unless he yells.

Also, the volume of the instruments and singers is another massive headache. As of now, I simply have a reasonable volume set on the Yamaha mixer for the stream, with an OBS Limiter filter to prevent the audience at home from getting their ears destroyed. I'm not exactly satisfied with the result.

The compressor helps to reduce dynamic. It equals volumes. I whould say it is an complex amplifier. Compressor and limiter are the same think. For example you have a speaker with huge dynamic (softes vs loudest) the compressor helps to amplifiy the soft passages and to reduce loud passages. But have time scale in mind. The compressor, limiter dont help if the sermon is soft at the beginning and loud at the end. In this case i would corect it with the Fader.
During the whole service i constantly correct the mix with the feaders. If somebody else get the mic i setup the sens/gain for this speaker.
Example: Male speaker and female translater. You setup the right level for both. But the female voice is not loud enough (both at same level). In this case i use the compressor for the female voice. More compression (reduce threshold and ratio, put up gain) helps to get the right balance.
You can also work withe the EQ.
Example: Speaker and a piano as backround music. The level of the speaker is more than 10 dB over the piano level. But it is still not in the right balance. If you trun down the piano you dont hear it anymore and if you turn it louder you dont hear the speaker. In this case i use the EQ to make room for the speaker. Most of the informations transported while speaking are between 400 Hz up to 2 khz (just for example), now i reduce this frequencies at the piano. ....

 

[ClimbersOfIce]

This is how i handle it at my Setup:

The right balance in the mix is the first aim to manage. This is done at the console, mixer. OBS is only a consumer of your audiomix, like the speakersystem. The only think i do inside OBS is to add compressor (Reaper VST Plugins) to get maximum level (volume) for the viewer.

Back to the mixer. I use a stereo aux for recording and streaming ... all the mixing can be done at the mixer.
What is the right input level for your system? Going to red inside OBS is not a deal, clipping is a problem (permanant red). In this case a limitier inside OBS would not help at all. I would use the yamaha interface to setup the sensitivity for OBS. The idea is that the level at the mixer (Presonius AUX) equals OBS. If the mixer is clipping OBS also. I use a noise generator (pink noise) to get the right level for the audio interface. Now all the sound stuff can be done inside the mixer.

Note: Volume and loudness are two thinks. Work with the EQ and compressor at the mixer for the speakers mic.

Thank you for your response, and sorry for the late reply.
I was having issues again with the Yamaha mixer. I was using it on its own, without the presonus this time to do a church live stream from home.
The main issue I can't seem to resolve is securing a consistent volume on the mixer to send to obs. For standard speech I can set a certain volume and it'll sound fine on stream. But the moment the speaker starts singing loudly the audio starts distorting and getting way too loud, and on the Yamaha mixer itself I can see a red light illuminating indicating that the audio is clipping/peaking.

So my question is, how do I balance that aspect of things? I can't seem to find too many options on the yamaha mixer itself to correct the issues aside from a compressor knob, which reduces dynamics but also makes noise more evident in my case. Which is a separate issue...