Question / Help My mic audio doesn't sound right Please Help

[d4ve_tv]

Hello,

For months now I have felt like my mic in OBS studio doesn't sound 100% right. I have tried other programs like audacity and adobe audition and when I listen to those recording my mic audio sounds 100% right to me so I'm not sure whats wrong. I have spent many hours trying to trouble shoot it to no avail so I thought I would reach out here. I would say my recording only sounds 95% right and it just sounds off.

My audio chain is AT2035xlr > DBX 286s > Scarlett 2i2 2nd gen

I normally test how it sounds by recording a file that is high quality and has 320 bit rate for the audio portion.

Here is a log file that I made of me doing a short local recording https://obsproject.com/logs/TgUWHQjNFrqkIX8i

So I have a few questions for people here:

1. What are the best settings I should use for my mic with OBS studio 16/24 bit depth 48,000 or 192,000 sample rate and what buffer size is best my scarlett 2i2 2nd Gen lets me choose from 16 all the way up to 1024 buffer size. I have listened back to the recorded files and I notice that the lower the buffer size the more "direct" the recording sounds and the higher the buffer rate e.q. 1024 sounds more "open" like the sound stage in my headset is more open ( I'm guessing because my CPU and OBS has more time to render out the file/sound? )

2. Does OBS studio play nice/work with 16 bit audio and 24 bit audio from your mic? I'm assuming obs is running in 16 bit 48,000 for sound recordings ( I use the 48000 option in OBS because I have the elgato 4K60 pro card. )

3. Finally I have noticed that when I switch the settings in Windows 10 it makes my mic sound different. For example if I have my Scarlett set as "Default Device" and also "Default Communication Device" it sounds slightly different compared to when I have my Scarlett set as just the "Default Device" only or even just having it set as the "Default Communication Device" only they all sound slighty different. One sounds more top heavy/clear and the other sounds more mids heavy/clear. etc.

This PC is about 6+ years old and the Mobo is an older ASUS mid level board with Realtek onboard sound. It seems to be something with OBS or Windows 10 because like I said when I use Adobe Audition or Audacity the mic seems to work 100% and it sounds like it is lossless.

Any input would be greatly appreciated and I can answer any follow up questions.

 

[carlmmii]

Just a couple of general clarifications
- 48,000 vs 192,000 is not going to sound any different unless you're talking about listening back on very high end professional equipment with sound samples that have extreme detail in the high end. Tone will not be affected. This is not something that will be to the level you describe, and for normal OBS use, 48,000 is the recommended sample rate. Bit depth shouldn't matter here either.
- Buffer size has no impact on signal quality. This controls how much data is packed into the sound packet -- the number indicates how many samples. The fewer samples, the less time it has to wait and the turnaround time for programs getting to use the audio data is reduced... but that comes at the cost of the possibility that the hardware/software can't keep up with the tighter timings and constant data transmission -- if the buffer size is too low, you will end up with cracking and popping due to the hard cuts from continual signal. There is no "rendering" being done at all from the software end, other than piecing back together the raw waveform that is being transmitted with each of those sample chunks.

If you're hearing changes in the tone when switching how the device is assigned via windows, then this sound more like windows coloring the sound output differently. Check that you don't have any eq settings applied. Also, check the Advanced tab of your scarlett and make sure "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" is disabled.

Along with this, check Windows Settings -> Privacy -> Microphone, and make sure "Allow apps to access your microphone" is enabled, and OBS is listed as enabled underneath.

Last thing, do you have the OBS-Asio plugin installed?

 

[d4ve_tv]

Hey carlmmii,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate all your feedback and I'm going to spend this weekend messing around with the settings and testing further.

For now I'm going with 16 bit 48,000 256 buffer for my mic. Does anybody know if OBS Studio defaults to 16 bit depth for the desktop audio? I'm guessing that is the case? I know in the setting you have an option to choose 44.1 or 48k sample rate but it doesn't give you an option for bit depth. I usually game on my gaming system at 24 bit 48,000. I like to have more of a range on my gaming PC for the in game sounds.

For the "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" when I googled it I came to the understand that lets OBS take control of my scarlett drivers and take full control so windows sounds/processing doesn't add any extra delay/issues so wouldn't I want that to be enable like it is by default? I have tried it on and off and it does seem to change the sound of the recording a bit but I'm not sure which option is best on or off.

I checked the privacy settings and my mic is turned on and OBS does show up in it when I'm using it.

I had never heard of the OBS ASIO plugin for OBS Studio until now. I installed it and gave it a test run and I think it sounds more "clean/clear/natural" sounding but I'm not 100% sure so I'm going to have to do some more A B testing this weekend.

I think another issue for why I'm not getting the exact sound I'm wanting is because I'm using a 2035 which is a condenser microphone which is super sensitive and also picks up all my rooms background noise. I ordered a Shure SMB7 so it will pick up less background noise and hopefully the more smooth sound I will get with that mic will sound more like what I"m looking for. It says the mic will arrive next week so I'll try to report back on that too.

 

[SJS]

Hello d4ve_tv and carlmmii

Carlmmii, thanks for your help with my post as well. I am still struggling to get the USB mic to record. I had not heard of OBS ASIO, so will give it a look. I cannot get the option to change from 192,000 to 48,000. I don't know why.

Will follow this thread with interest.

 

[d4ve_tv]

Hello SJS

Usually to change the sample rate from 192 to 48 or vise versa you either need to install a driver or change it in the windows settings under the recording tab. But if it is a USB mic it might not allow you to change it? I'm not sure. why model/brand is the USB mic?

also carlmmii,

I made a follow up thread about 2 issues I discovered while trouble shooting. ( one is a minor issue with a 20% decrease in volume but the other issue is what was causing my audio distortion so it might be important)

Here is the link to that bug report

Bug Report - Possible audio bug I noticed in OBS

Hello, I noticed something in OBS today and I wanted to report it and see if one of the OBS DEVs can tell me if this is a bug. So here is what I noticed. Option A - 1 Channel Mic audio in windows - This sends your mic audio over just the mono channel which it shows up in OBS as just one mono...

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