Make audio sliders go to positive + range (+12dB or +20dB)

[Pando]

Currently audio sliders top out at 0dB, which equals to the input.

Let's say the input is too quiet at 0dB and it needs more gain. I can right-click on the slider, go to Advanced Audio Properties, and manually enter a positive value (ex. +6dB) and it works. However, the slider is still sitting at 0dB and if I touch it, it will snap back to 0dB.

Please change the audio slider top range to something more usable, like +12dB or +20dB (or make it customizable) so quiet signals can be boosted with more positive gain, like on any mixing board.

Thanks

 

[RockNRollGeek]

You seem to have a misunderstanding on how audio works. If your levels are hitting 0db, your audio is clipping. Audio sliders are not for adding gain. If you want to add gain to an audio source, right click the source, go to the filters option, and add an audio gain filter and dial in the amount of gain you want to add to your source.

 

[Pando]

You seem to have a misunderstanding on how audio works. If your levels are hitting 0db, your audio is clipping. Audio sliders are not for adding gain.

You seem to not have a clue how audio mixing boards are actually built. Why don't you take a look at one. Do the sliders all top out at 0?

Even though you didn't quite grasp what I was suggesting, your comment about adding a gain filter is useful. Thank you for that.

 

[RockNRollGeek]

You seem to not have a clue how audio mixing boards are actually built. Why don't you take a look at one. Do the sliders all top out at 0?

Even though you didn't quite grasp what I was suggesting, your comment about adding a gain filter is useful. Thank you for that.

Considering I've worked on audio boards ranging from $50 behringer mini usb mixers all the way up to $150,000 SSL 9000 Consoles, I'm well aware of how boards are. Faders (what you're incorrectly referring to as 'sliders') are not equal to your actual audio output, ie: if you push a fader that is at unity (0 db) up 3db on the fader, You're not moving the audio on that fader to being some magical locked '3db' signal. You're increasing the board processed signal on that input by 3db before sending it to the rest of the mix. Additionally, hardware mixers tend to operate in db, which is a relative audio measurement like the example I just gave, vs most digital audio which is measured in dbfs, with 0 being the maximum volume that your audio interface, sound card, etc can handle.

If the faders in OBS gave you the option to go past 0 - You'd quite possibly have some pissed off viewers in your chat complaining about your audio being scratchy or distorted, or having other issues. If you're running a mic or some other audio source into OBS and you find it's not loud enough on your stream when your listening equipment is at a reasonable volume, then you need to increase the signal that is coming in to OBS before it does it's processing. With an audio interface this simply means turning up the gain for your mic on the interface (and in general, simply properly gain staging your mic before even bringing it into OBS, something I recommend you look in to if mic's/instruments/anything connected to an audio interface are what you're having trouble with). With something like a video file being played back on the other hand, you're locked into the levels of what the audio track in the file was exported at. If it's too low, you're gonna have to go back to - you guessed it, gain. As I previously mentioned, apply a gain filter to get a signal that is as loud as you need out of it, apply any other filters you might need (ie: compression, etc), and then once that's where it sounds good, you should be great. If your meters in OBS are going past 0 dbfs, you'll see them in the red, and you're clipping. Back your gain/etc down as needed.

tl,dr;
OBS is digital, it operates in dbfs. You'll never see those faders go past 0, 0 is no man's land, a place where you never want your audio to be, and a place your viewers will certainly skewer you over a raging fire for. Properly gain stage your A->D input sources, work with properly mixed audio in your input media/files (or learn to tweak additional gain/etc on them as needed) and you'll never find yourself wanting or ever needing to have a fader ('slider') in OBS 'go to the positive range'.

 

[ernestshakleton]

@RockNRollGeek You can set the OBS sliders greater than 0 in the advanced audio properties with no distortion or clipping (in advanced you can add up to 20dB of gain). Below is an explanation as to why (and why the sliders should be changed to allow positive gain):

The meters are showing a dBFS range with -20dBFS being the reference level and 0dBFS being the point at which you run of digital bits (e.g. clipping). The sliders are not referencing dBFS but rather the added or subtracted gain from the reference point (-20).

When the slider is set to 0dB that would be the reference level of -20dBFS not the maximum (0dBFS). If I move the slider down I am subtracting from -20, if I go into advanced audio properties and input a positive gain I am adding from -20.

The slider should go from infinite to +20. With a reference point mark at -20 (essentially following the meter scale graphically). The operator should be allowed to freely add or subtract gain while observing the meters.

Allowing positive gain (without going into advanced properties) would be a huge improvement to compensate for low talkers or media files that are mixed below reference. This is especially useful if you are using the knobs on a Streamdeck.

 

[AaronD]

Another major point here is the difference between "live" and "mastered" levels.

Live must leave some headroom, because you don't know what's coming. -18dBFS seems to be a de-facto rule of thumb. Peaks can easily use most of that, and you don't want them to clip.

Mastered is supposed to have everything tamed and know exactly what's coming, and it's usually going into a lousy medium with some pretty major deficiencies. So you're expected to turn it up to exactly full-scale to drown out those deficiencies. Because everyone does this, the listeners' volume knobs are all calibrated to this level coming into them.

The problem, of course, is that you can't "just turn it up" without trampling all over the rule for "live" sources. They'll clip *before* you reach the expected level, and so you have a choice between quiet or distorted, with some overlap where you have both. How do professional broadcasters do it???

The answer is Compression. Often several stages of it, with the later stages set to be more aggressive and triggered less often. The last stage is a Limiter, which can be thought of as a maximally-aggressive compressor. The idea is to bring the average level up, so it sounds louder, while dynamically turning the peaks down so that they don't clip. Essentially, a fast automatic volume control inside each compressor, that is constantly all over the place in response to the input level. All while not wrecking the overall sound, which is entirely possible if you get the settings wrong.

OBS has both a compressor and a limiter as audio filters. Those might do the trick, or maybe just one compressor if you get its settings *just* right. Look up a bunch of videos, articles, or other resources on how to use a compressor; they're all the same, whether analog or digital, or who makes it. Only the vintage ones are different, but they're in their own category anyway.