How to separate my audio from my video

[SCOTTWWFC]

so I transferred to obs today and I setup my capture card got it it all working then I recorded a quick clip went into my folder to play the clip back but my mic audio was merged into the same clip as my gameplay and game sound but I would like them in separate files so one file with me talking while playing the game and the gameplay and game sound in another one if that makes sense anyway I just cant figure out how to change it so can someone please help me change it thanks.

 

[AaronD]

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying (some formatting would be helpful), but I think you want:

• File A:
  • Video screenshot and desktop audio
• File B:
  • Camera and mic

Both recorded simultaneously and kept in sync, but in separate files. Is that right?

---

Once something is mixed, video or audio, it's practically impossible to "unmix", so you'll just have to live with what you've got so far or re-record it differently to get a separated version.

---

For actually doing it, there's this thread that seems to be pretty much the same thing:

I need some insight on running two instances of OBS (Or better option)

Hey all, fairly new to this, but I've been running two instances of OBS in order to record my face in one and the gameplay in the other, since I like being able to animate just my facial frame when I do edits. However, running current games (Like The Callisto Protocol) I overload OBS *very*...

obsproject.com

It seems to be converging on three options:

1. Set up OBS to record everything in a single file, in a way that doesn't actually mix, and separate it later.
   • Video is extra-tall, canvas and output both, so that you can put both sources on it without overlapping.
   • Audio is 5.1, to allow space for more than 2 channels. Then some trickery is needed to get each audio source into its own channel, since OBS itself insists that you're dumb enough that it has to "help" you unhelpfully, with no way to tell it something different.
   • Use a video editor and some of its processing, to treat different parts of that one file as different sources, or use FFMPEG on the command line if that works for you, to convert it into different files that each have what you want.
2. Use two instances of OBS, one set up for each different file that you want to record.
   • Figure out some way to start them in sync, or at least sync them up later in the video editor.
   • Don't be surprised if they turn out to be *slightly* different speeds overall. You'd think that being on the same computer would force them to use the same clock, but if one drops more frames than the other...
3. Use a single instance of OBS, set up as if you were streaming live, but only record it.
   • This bypasses the step that I think you're asking for, and goes directly from raw sources to a finished product, all in one go with nothing intermediate.
   • It requires a bit more setup, to have all the tools that you're going to need ready to go beforehand, and a bit more work in the moment, to make all the decisions live and to know what's coming.
   • But when the event itself is done, so is everything else. No more production to do, and nothing different is really possible either, except to take clips from it to use as B-roll or flashbacks in something else.

A fourth option might be to use a single instance of OBS, with a plugin to record a source or scene independently of OBS's main output. That's really the same concept as #2, with the same sync problems, but you're only running one instance of OBS if you really care about that.

 

[SCOTTWWFC]

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying (some formatting would be helpful), but I think you want:

• File A:
  • Video screenshot and desktop audio
• File B:
  • Camera and mic

Both recorded simultaneously and kept in sync, but in separate files. Is that right?

---

Once something is mixed, video or audio, it's practically impossible to "unmix", so you'll just have to live with what you've got so far or re-record it differently to get a separated version.

---

For actually doing it, there's this thread that seems to be pretty much the same thing:

I need some insight on running two instances of OBS (Or better option)

Hey all, fairly new to this, but I've been running two instances of OBS in order to record my face in one and the gameplay in the other, since I like being able to animate just my facial frame when I do edits. However, running current games (Like The Callisto Protocol) I overload OBS *very*...

obsproject.com

It seems to be converging on three options:

1. Set up OBS to record everything in a single file, in a way that doesn't actually mix, and separate it later.
   • Video is extra-tall, canvas and output both, so that you can put both sources on it without overlapping.
   • Audio is 5.1, to allow space for more than 2 channels. Then some trickery is needed to get each audio source into its own channel, since OBS itself insists that you're dumb enough that it has to "help" you unhelpfully, with no way to tell it something different.
   • Use a video editor and some of its processing, to treat different parts of that one file as different sources, or use FFMPEG on the command line if that works for you, to convert it into different files that each have what you want.
2. Use two instances of OBS, one set up for each different file that you want to record.
   • Figure out some way to start them in sync, or at least sync them up later in the video editor.
   • Don't be surprised if they turn out to be *slightly* different speeds overall. You'd think that being on the same computer would force them to use the same clock, but if one drops more frames than the other...
3. Use a single instance of OBS, set up as if you were streaming live, but only record it.
   • This bypasses the step that I think you're asking for, and goes directly from raw sources to a finished product, all in one go with nothing intermediate.
   • It requires a bit more setup, to have all the tools that you're going to need ready to go beforehand, and a bit more work in the moment, to make all the decisions live and to know what's coming.
   • But when the event itself is done, so is everything else. No more production to do, and nothing different is really possible either, except to take clips from it to use as B-roll or flashbacks in something else.

A fourth option might be to use a single instance of OBS, with a plugin to record a source or scene independently of OBS's main output. That's really the same concept as #2, with the same sync problems, but you're only running one instance of OBS if you really care about that.

its just because when i edit my videos I sometimes mute my mic audio when a cutscene is playing so you can just hear the cutscene but if its merged together i cant mute the mic audio because it will mute the game sound as well does that help

 

[AaronD]

its just because when i edit my videos I sometimes mute my mic audio when a cutscene is playing so you can just hear the cutscene but if its merged together i cant mute the mic audio because it will mute the game sound as well does that help

Can you do that live? (option #3 in my previous reply) Do you know at the time of recording, what the post-production will be? If so, why not move all of that work into the live recording? Then the entire project is done when the recording is done, and it side-steps the entire question of multitrack recording.

Set up a hotkey, for example, to mute the mic, and another to unmute it. Then use those hotkeys while you're recording. Do it well, along with all of the other post-production decisions that you've made into live controls, and it's as if you edited it later. But the final finished product already exists as soon as you stop recording.

---

This doesn't actually SAY (at least not very well) that it creates a CxB soundtrack in a single video, where C is the number of channels that OBS is set to (mono=1, stereo=2, 5.1=6, etc.) and B is the number of boxes you have checked - I always assumed that it would mix them all into a single set of C channels - but you might have a look anyway:

High quality recording with multiple audio tracks in Advanced output mode

Advanced output mode allows creating a file with multiple audio tracks - for example, you could livestream your game's audio and your microphone, and also record your system sounds, game audio, and microphone into 3 separate tracks for video...

obsproject.com

Then the question becomes, if it does create a many-channel soundtrack, "How to separate channels 1&2 into one stereo mixer channel, 3&4 into another, etc.?" The answer to that is specific to each editor or mixer, and outside the scope of this forum.

 

[koala]

You cannot separate audio once it is mixed into one track, which seems to happen for the OP. To avoid this situation in the first place, record each sound source to an extra track in advanced output mode and perform audio mixing in a postprocessing step. If you need to correct the audio mix only sometimes, record a mixed audio track in addition to the separate audio tracks like this.
This way you can either just use track 1 as mixed track of everything or create your own mix from tracks 2..5 with some postprocessing software.