Mic audio issue-I listed several things I tried already

[Helpmeimdying]

Ok... I just started with OBS and spent a few hours getting everything ready. I got everything set up and everything was running perfectly, and was using the record function to test my audio. I have multiple recordings of my mic sounding perfectly fine. When I finally got all my sound levels tweaked, I tried to go live for the first time to practice it and make sure I didn't have any issues. The moment I hit record to test the stream, my mic audio started distorting weird. Now, I know what you are thinking. This is an easy fix. Problem is, i've been scanning youtube, reddit, obs forums, etc. for weeks and can't find a solution that actually works. I have found several things that say they fix my exact problem, and have even seen youtube videos that show people fixing my exact problem, but none of them work. I have change every setting within obs, and nothing has worked. I first thought it was happening within windows, but after EXTENSIVE testing and a call to microsoft; I am sure it isn't within windows. This problem does not arise in any other program or within windows; and I have isolated it to obs by uninstalling all of the programs I was using (including OBS), re-installing OBS along with all the relevant audio drivers and running EXCLUSIVELY the microphone. I still had the issue. I gave up and tried to go into streamlabs obs instead, and wouldn't you know? I IMMEDIATLY had the same issue. The weird thing is, it is only these two programs. Nothing else. I have an XLR mic and a mixer, which I only use for the microphone, and nothing else. I have the mic set as recording device, and my headphone jack as the playback device. I have toggled exclusive mode both on and off, nothing. I turned off 'listen to this device' in windows. I checked with three separate mics(all worked the same). I messed around with ALL of the audio settings, including the monitor and output settings, to no avail. I am stuck for good, and I haven't even streamed once. Can anybody help???

Here is a link to a youtube video that shows a similar distorted sound. The video below sounds the same, but much worse than mine.

How to fix voice echo and distortion in StreamLabs OBS! *2020* - YouTube

 

[LordPorkChop]

Im having a similar issue with my audio as well. No echo distortion but it chatters static and its sort of laggy. Ive gone down the same troubleshooting route to no avail but I can confirm thats its definitely some kind of issue with OBS, so youre not crazy :P all my other software runs my external mic fine except for OBS. Im also having an issue with my color saturation of my webcam capture. it changes depending on my distance from camera. if i lean in the image gets desaturated and almost grayscale at times and then when i lean back it gets supersaturated and high contrast. Yet, my other programs read my webcam capture fine... lower quality mind you, but consistent.

im thinking we might need some sort of encoding plug in or something.

ill let you know if i find something :)

 

[Helpmeimdying]

Im having a similar issue with my audio as well. No echo distortion but it chatters static and its sort of laggy. Ive gone down the same troubleshooting route to no avail but I can confirm thats its definitely some kind of issue with OBS, so youre not crazy :P all my other software runs my external mic fine except for OBS. Im also having an issue with my color saturation of my webcam capture. it changes depending on my distance from camera. if i lean in the image gets desaturated and almost grayscale at times and then when i lean back it gets supersaturated and high contrast. Yet, my other programs read my webcam capture fine... lower quality mind you, but consistent.

im thinking we might need some sort of encoding plug in or something.

ill let you know if i find something :)

Well, I wouldn't think so, but maybe. When I still had ear trumpet, I noticed that opening either obs or streamlabs also opened a file within task manager named OBS64.exe. Strange thing is, all the mic audio goes into this file, while none of it seems to pass through the program itself. I could be wrong, but imagine that 'streamlabs' was like the hood of a car, covering up all the mechanical parts of the actual program, and making it nice and easy to look at. I think its supposed to pass through the .exe file and then go into streamlabs/obs, and THEN go to either your headphones/stream. Instead, it seems to be sending the sound that's SUPPOSED to be going both the stream and monitor outputs directly to my headphones without ever making it to streamlabs at all. Or, i'm crazy and don't know what I am talking about.

 

[wilderf353]

I cannot confirm that this "hack" will help you get around your problem. I have seen this solution posted in other forums.

Someone posted that they opened up the properties menu for their video capture device, and changed the "video format" from "any" to "MJPEG", and the problem disappeared.

 

[wilderf353]

Here are the "how to" details for the video capture device fix:

A. In OBS, go to a scene that has a "video capture device" in the "Sources" pane
B. Select the "video capture device"
C. Just above the "Sources" pane, click on the "properties" button.
1) Change "Resolution/FPS Type" to "Custom"
2) Select resolution from the "Resolution" dropdown
3) Select "MJPEG" in the "Video Format" dropdown
4) Click on the "OK" button

 

[Helpmeimdying]

I cannot confirm that this "hack" will help you get around your problem. I have seen this solution posted in other forums.

Someone posted that they opened up the properties menu for their video capture device, and changed the "video format" from "any" to "MJPEG", and the problem disappeared.

What hack? I didn't say anything about a hack. I'm confused. As far as your other response, it is an issue with the Mic, not the video capture. There isn't even a video capture set up right now, because I removed everything to isolate the problem. I suppose i'll try it anyways, out of desperation, but that's probably not not it. I spoke with streamlabs, and I am now 100% sure the problem is within OBS. I'm starting to think it is a bug. Whatever it is, the setting was retained by OBS after i totally deleted it, and was still present within streamlabs even though I completely uninstalled OBS. Where would I go to report it, if it were?