Mic Audio is Good, Instruments Cut in and Out

[thedwellingplace]

We use OBS for our church worship team. The music and sermon is recorded and live streamed on FB. If there is only a mic being used, the audio is consistent and sounds fine. If there is guitar or any other instruments playing, the audio cuts in and out (mostly out). I've looked through the settings in ATEM, OBS, and Windows. Can't seem to figure out what it would be. Any help would be appreciated.

Here's the most recent log file:

 

[AaronD]

Do you have a Noise Suppressor? Those are famous for wrecking music. They're designed for a conference room with loud HVAC, or a lobby with background music, something like that, so music is treated as noise to be removed. The vocals stay, mostly, but you can tell that it's trying really hard to get rid of the instruments! Long-lasting sound effects (games, theatrical, etc.) can do the same thing: they start out perfect, and then get muffled as they're flagged as "noise".

 

[thedwellingplace]

Do you have a Noise Suppressor? Those are famous for wrecking music. They're designed for a conference room with loud HVAC, or a lobby with background music, something like that, so music is treated as noise to be removed. The vocals stay, mostly, but you can tell that it's trying really hard to get rid of the instruments! Long-lasting sound effects (games, theatrical, etc.) can do the same thing: they start out perfect, and then get muffled as they're flagged as "noise".

I do not have a noise suppressor and haven't intentionally set up any noise suppression. I looked through Windows settings, but couldn't figure out if anything was causing this. I looked through ATEM and OBS and I don't see any suppression (unless I'm looking in the wrong places). I would think it has to be something like that, but man, I just can't find it to correct it.

 

[AaronD]

You might have already done this, but probably missed something. Take a good hard look at your audio chain - ALL of it, including the parts that are hard to see - and make it as close as possible to a "straight dumb wire" as you can. Look at Windows' settings, driver settings, intermediate apps, everything. Don't allow any processing from *anywhere*, even the places that are hard to see, and try to eliminate as many steps altogether as you can and still have it work.

Try to think of it as an analog rig, but built in software:

- YouTube

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

www.youtube.com

- YouTube

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

www.youtube.com

Look inside the boxes too, not just at the wires in between. Kill off anything at all that is not a dumb passthrough.

Once you have the minimal possible signal path, and assuming that works, then you can build up your desired processing again.

 

[thedwellingplace]

Thank you Aaron. Still working on this. Another piece of info: if I use a friend's Apple computer, the audio comes through fine. That's gotta point to something going on with the new PC we bought, right?

 

[AaronD]

Without digging into the gory details - pretty much have to be there in person for that - it could still be a setting somewhere that you missed.

Maybe a "convenience" part of Windoze's audio chain that is buried deep enough that the id10t user that Windoze seems to insist on won't stub their toe on it. Or maybe a fancy driver that insists on justifying its existence.

Seriously, explore *everything*. Windoze *can* be bludgeoned into sitting down and shutting up, and staying out of your way, if you become familiar with how to do that.

Myself, I greatly prefer Linux. Runs on the same hardware, replaces Windoze entirely, and does what I tell it, instead of the other way around. Lots of different versions to choose from, but I'd recommend this one for media production:

Ubuntu Studio – A free and open operating system for creative people.

ubuntustudio.org

 

[Natural6527]

Just wondering if you resolved this issue? I have been having the same issue..