Microphone noise in OBS studio only

drevoborod

New Member
Problem: only in OBS Studio there is significant static noise when microphone is turned on. In records made by another applications there is no noise (on the same system, of course).
OS: Manjaro linux (most recent stable kernel)
Hardware: Intel Core i7, Nvidia 3060Ti (hardware encoding is enabled, but there is no difference with software x264 encoding)
The microphone is plugged in PCIe sound card.
Attachements: Demostration records are attached: noisy one is recorded by OBS Studio and less noisy one (no static noise, just actual background sounds) - by Audacity (but doesn't matter what exact application to use - all other applications I tried lead to the same audio quality except OBS Studio).
Also log file attached.
Additional: noise suppression audio filter in Mic source properties almost eliminates the noise but sometimes leads to other sound artifacts. And noise becomes even worse in 3d games. Seems like load of the video card somehow influences the microphone.
 

Attachments

  • demo.zip
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  • log.zip
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AaronD

Active Member
The microphone is plugged in PCIe sound card.
Seems like load of the video card somehow influences the microphone.
That's probably it. The inside of a computer is terrible for analog signals, including audio. I'm guessing you have the PCIe audio card right next to the PCIe graphics card? Moving it away could help, especially if you put some sheet metal or even foil in between as a shield and grounded that shield. (case ground is fine) Just don't short anything!

Better still would be a good USB sound card, just to get it out of the box entirely.
  • Not a cheap one that gives you the same set of jacks as an internal card does. That'll have the same cheap chip in it that is only designed for about 1980's cassette tape quality, because all the noise inside the box where it normally lives, makes it pointless to do any better.
  • And not an "audiophool" one either, with stupid specs and lots of eye candy. Maybe from a well-known consumer brand. ("Better sound through marketing," and others) Those marketers will say anything.
But get one that is actually designed for the pro market, with an XLR input and a physical knob to adjust the sensitivity of that input. It'll be a bit more expensive of course, but not too bad. $100 or so for 2 channels, which will appear in OBS as a single stereo device.

OBS doesn't separate those channels very well, but that's squarely OBS's problem, not the interface. You might need to do some more work, outside of OBS, to separate the 2-channel input that OBS insists is a single inseparable stereo source, into 2 mono's that OBS can bring in separately.
I do it with a DAW (specifically Ardour - sudo apt install ardour - and JACK), to accept and process ALL of the audio, and then feed the finished soundtrack to OBS to pass through unchanged.
 

drevoborod

New Member
That's probably it. The inside of a computer is terrible for analog signals, including audio. I'm guessing you have the PCIe audio card right next to the PCIe graphics card?
You're right, thanx for your suggestions. But I just wander why I have such problem in OBS only? I ended up using "simlpe screen recorder" for my podcasts - just a simple linux application tended to record screencasts. I enabled external JACK server and it allows me to record my voice and game sound. And no static crackling at all, just quiet not annoying noise. The same situation when using Audacity or anything else to record - anything except OBS :( It's very sad because OBS Studio is very useful application for gaming podcasts, but this terrible noise ruines everything :(
 

AaronD

Active Member
But I just wander why I have such problem in OBS only?
Seems like load of the video card somehow influences the microphone.
Yes it does. The internal sound card is picking up electrical noise from everything else inside the case, and one of those things is the graphics card. When the GPU has something to do, it makes more noise, and that noise gets into the sound card.

Like I said about an external sound card...
 

drevoborod

New Member
When the GPU has something to do, it makes more noise, and that noise gets into the sound card.
Yes, I see, but why only OBS is being influenced by such case? :) It's still the question. I mean that in exactly same situation there is no cracklings when using another applications to record sound. Maybe OBS itself produces more GPU load and that's why crackliings appear? But I tried to use software x264 codec with same result. Ok, I think there is no nswer to my question or maybe only core developers could investigate the problem but, of course, they won't because it's rare issue :)
 

AaronD

Active Member
Maybe OBS itself produces more GPU load and that's why crackliings appear?
Probably.

But I tried to use software x264 codec with same result.
I think OBS still uses the GPU, if available, to render the user interface. Not entirely sure what all it does there.

A single-percentage load can be hard to pin down, and to correlate with a problem like this. It could be that only one specific part of your specific GPU causes this problem, and OBS just happens to use that part heavily while other things use something else. The % load is an average of everything.

At any rate, the standard rule still stands: don't use ANY analog signals AT ALL, inside the computer case. Not even from a jack to an internal converter chip. This means no built-in audio, and no add-on internal cards.
Always use an external device that connects digitally to the PC, and actually has some serious engineering behind it. Not a cheap thing that has the same chip that normally goes inside the case, and therefore still has that (low) level of performance.
 

drevoborod

New Member
At any rate, the standard rule still stands: don't use ANY analog signals AT ALL, inside the computer case.
Ok, according to your suggestion I've bought an external Creative Sound Blaster audio card. And it solved the issue! Now I can use any of the applications to record my voice because my microphone produces no cracklings anymore. Thank you very much for the idea!
Actually there is another small problem but it's easy to bypass it - by some reason sensitivity of the microphone input of that new sound card is much less than in my old internal card. Even if the microphone input level is set to maximum, my voice is still too quiet. But it's not a real problem - it's easy to adjust volume in post-production.
 
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AaronD

Active Member
I've bought an external Creative Sound Blaster audio card.
Googled that, and got a lot of different things!

sensitivity of the microphone input of that new sound card is much less than in my old internal card. Even if the microphone input level is set to maximum, my voice is still too quiet. But it's not a real problem - it's easy to adjust volume in post-production.
If it sounds okay, it's probably fine. Even if you're not using the top couple of bits on a 16-bit converter, which would be pretty bad by today's standards, you're still about on par with a good studio tape back in the day!

It'd be nice to know which one you actually have; maybe there's an adjustment somewhere that you missed.

Or maybe it's good to just keep that headroom, since it gives you one of the most clip-proof mics around! Get the rest of the processing right (compression and limiting instead of just gain), and it won't clip there either.
 

drevoborod

New Member
Googled that, and got a lot of different things!
I bought Sound Blaster GC7. Actually I didn't even choose, just opened local store site and took the first one which is supported in Linux :)
Get the rest of the processing right (compression and limiting instead of just gain)
Yeah, I made myself familiar with "compression" option just a few weeks ago and it opened a new world of possibilities for me :) As you may notice, I'm definetely not a professional sound maker :))
 
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