Problem using Main Stereo from RodeCaster Duo as input

[DidierMalenfant]

I'm running OBS 31.0.2 on a M2 Ultra MacBook Pro running macOS Sequoia 15.3.1.

I can record the Main Stereo output from my RodeCaster Duo with Audacity or Audio Hijack and it sounds fine.

When I use this same source for an audio input capture in OBS, the sound is kinda random, bit of the original sound are there but it's choppy/garbled.

How would you suggest I go about investigating this in order to find the problem? I've started from a new test scene and just have the input capture source and it still acts weird.

 

[DidierMalenfant]

I tried plugging in the RodeCaster directly into my MacBook to see if the thunderbolt hub could be to blame but no dice.

The sound volume fluctuates and then something completely dies off like with a low-pass filter.

This, of course, used to work so I'm not sure if the change is due to an macOS update, an OBS update, a RodeCaster firmware update or user error on my part somewhere. All three have happened since the last time I used this.

 

[DidierMalenfant]

I tried to use a different source (my Studio Display Microphone) and I seem to get the same result. Audacity capture the audio fine but OBS's capture sounds like a saturated signal but super low volume with some high pass filtering (got the term wrong in the previous message). Weird.

So I'm kinda thinking it's my OBS setup but I don't know where to begin in diagnosing this.

 

[DidierMalenfant]

Tried to plug the Rode directly into the laptop with another thunderbolt cable, tried the laptop NOT in clamshell more, tried playing something from a different app (Traktor) than the regular macOS sound output I was trying to record before, tried from the MacBook Pro's microphone when the laptop is open, still no good.

The recent recordings I did via OBS sound like a noise gate is applied somewhere. On a rap song it quiets the music and cuts in the speech. Feels like a filter is stuck on but OBS shows no filter in the list.

Clearly something fishy is going on and it's probably going to be something stupid in the end I'm sure...

 

[AaronD]

The recent recordings I did via OBS sound like a noise gate is applied somewhere. On a rap song it quiets the music and cuts in the speech.

You've got a Noise Suppressor *somewhere*. It could be in OBS, somewhere you haven't looked yet, or it could be in the operating system or audio driver.

Windows is well known for doing that. OBS really can be "a straight dumb wire" over there, and you still get this effect in the recording because Windoze itself assumes that the only thing people ever use an audio input for is conferences and phone calls. So it has its own Noise Suppressor that is on by default and hard to find to turn off, so that nosy stuffed suits don't stumble onto it and then blame Microsoft for ruining their important meeting.

But you're on a Mac, so you don't inherit whatever Microsoft did. Doesn't mean though, that you don't have one...somewhere. It might be called something else, like Windows' is, but see if you can find something that would make spoken voice clearer in some context, and turn it off.

 

[DidierMalenfant]

Thanks for the reply @AaronD

You've got a Noise Suppressor *somewhere*.

Yeah I agree. It's very puzzling though. I'm down to testing from the Macbook's microphone playing something on my phone and I get the same result so the RodeCaster is not to blame.

I don't have any visible filters in OBS. I've *tried* to reset the app the best I could and use a bare-bones project.

My questions now are:

How come this is affecting OBS and not another app (Audacity for example) when recording the same input? What is different in OBS' pipeline? Could something be silently 'stuck' in my OBS setup?

 

[DidierMalenfant]

OMG I found the problem... ‍

There is a setting in macOS that performs the filtering before handing over the audio to OBS. It's app specific thus why other apps would be fine and why any audio source would exhibit the same issue.

I have NO idea how this got switched on at some point. I had no knowledge of this feature until now. I was just closing down running apps in the menu bar to see if any of them was the culprit and boom... landed on this.

There might be some value in renaming this thread for future reference in case someone hits the same problem.