Separating Browser source audio from audio output capture

[TheeDrewGamer]

Hi there everyone,

So as the title suggests, I'm trying to get my Browser source audio separate from my audio output capture. I'm actually using Streamlabs OBS for this, but I haven't been able to get any help regarding it but I have seen similar fixes for it with OBS. However I still can't get it to work.

I have my audio output capture lower for my elgato audio. But my alert sounds come through and they are extremely quiet. I have the equivalent of 'Control audio via OBS' selected, and the browser source appears in my mixer. I have the 3 options of Monitor off, which gives nothing, Monitor only (no output) which lets me hear it but not the output. However it is still coming through on the output, just very quiet, if the output is muted nothing comes through at all. And finally Monitor & Output which gives both. I'm just wondering, if there is a way to get it to stop it coming through on my audio output capture, because even with my stream alerts at 100 volume, they are still extremely quiet.

I have my main desktop audio running through VoiceMeeter Banana, and I'm wondering if its something to do with that.

Thank you for any help you can provide, I've been trying to figure it out for a week now to no avail.

--TheeDrewGamer

 

[AaronD]

Audio Output Capture catches *everything* that goes to that device. For a physical device, it's an exact copy of what comes out the wire or speakers. If you want them to be different *at all*, then you need to use a different device for each difference. Physical or virtual.

 

[TheeDrewGamer]

Audio Output Capture catches *everything* that goes to that device. For a physical device, it's an exact copy of what comes out the wire or speakers. If you want them to be different *at all*, then you need to use a different device for each difference. Physical or virtual.

That's what I was thinking, but it won't let me set anything for the device for my alerts/browser source. It does the same with my elgato, it picks it up in OBS/Streamlabs but it doesn't play on stream/recordings. So I have to do it through audio output capture that's set to my desktop.

 

[AaronD]

That's what I was thinking, but it won't let me set anything for the device for my alerts/browser source. It does the same with my elgato, it picks it up in OBS/Streamlabs but it doesn't play on stream/recordings. So I have to do it through audio output capture that's set to my desktop.

What is "it" here? OBS? The browser? The capture device driver? At any rate, if the source "thing" already has the sounds mixed, then you really can't "unmix" them later in the chain. Seems to me like you need to tell the browser to send different sounds to different places, which I have never seen in a web browser...unless they come from different sites that each have their own audio settings, *in the site itself*. THAT might be possible.

I've seen similar questions for church sound, regarding an acoustic violin next to a screaming guitar amp or something like that, and how to separate them in the mix, and the answer is the same: You can't! No amount of processing will do that with a usable result. Move one or both physically, to put them on opposite sides of the stage, and you'll still have acoustic bleed, but maybe it's low enough now to be okay. Such is the nature of live sound.

Anyway, regardless of where this problem turns up, the solution is always the same. You have to keep them from mixing in the first place. Once they're mixed, you can't unmix.

 

[TheeDrewGamer]

What is "it" here? OBS? The browser? The capture device driver? At any rate, if the source "thing" already has the sounds mixed, then you really can't "unmix" them later in the chain. Seems to me like you need to tell the browser to send different sounds to different places, which I have never seen in a web browser...unless they come from different sites that each have their own audio settings, *in the site itself*. THAT might be possible.

I've seen similar questions for church sound, regarding an acoustic violin next to a screaming guitar amp or something like that, and how to separate them in the mix, and the answer is the same: You can't! No amount of processing will do that with a usable result. Move one or both physically, to put them on opposite sides of the stage, and you'll still have acoustic bleed, but maybe it's low enough now to be okay. Such is the nature of live sound.

Anyway, regardless of where this problem turns up, the solution is always the same. You have to keep them from mixing in the first place. Once they're mixed, you can't unmix.

The "it" was for OBS/Streamlabs, basically in streamlabs it lets me set up an alertbox as its own source and has a box saying "Control audio via Streamlabs Desktop" (which is the same as control audio via OBS, when you set a browser soruce) it is then put into my mixer. It plays sounds, and I hear them but I can't get it so the stream/recording hears it. So I'm trying to stop them mixing in the first place like you said. So they don't interfere with each other. It's just figuring out the right settings, because in my head having the option of "control audio via OBS/Streamlabs" and have it appear on the mixer as its own audio source, doesn't make sense. If its just going to mix with the other audio anyway. So I'm obviously doing something wrong with it.

I may just have to mess around with the Elgato Audio, because its probably easier to do it that way. Than try and split it and give myself more headaches.

 

[AaronD]

I wonder if this problem is unique to SLOBS, 'cause I'm still having a hard time making sense of what you're describing. Maybe a feature there that our version doesn't have, and the problem is in that feature.

 

[TheeDrewGamer]

I wonder if this problem is unique to SLOBS, 'cause I'm still having a hard time making sense of what you're describing. Maybe a feature there that our version doesn't have, and the problem is in that feature.

From my understanding, the feature is in OBS. At least for browser sources, it just lets me control audio via OBS/Streamlabs. It appears on the mixer in both, and I see the alert noises affecting it on the mixer. But it still gets mixed in with all the other audio, despite it being its own audio source within the mixer. So i'm just trying to make it so that it isn't picked up by my audio output capture, because it has its own output.

 

[AaronD]

From my understanding, the feature is in OBS. At least for browser sources, it just lets me control audio via OBS/Streamlabs. It appears on the mixer in both, and I see the alert noises affecting it on the mixer. But it still gets mixed in with all the other audio, despite it being its own audio source within the mixer. So i'm just trying to make it so that it isn't picked up by my audio output capture, because it has its own output.

Just because it superficially does something similar, doesn't mean it's getting there the same way.

 

[TheeDrewGamer]

Just because it superficially does something similar, doesn't mean it's getting there the same way.

Oh yeah of course, but I'd like to figure this out for OBS itself as well because I want to just stream from one platform and not have to go back and forth between the two. I just thought that having the 'control audio via OBS' option selected, would separate it from the main audio, which it kind of does. But I want to make sure its not occurring on 2 audio channels.

It actually does seem to work on OBS, it completely separates it. So yeah definitely a SLOBS issue.

 

[TheeDrewGamer]

Ok I managed to get it figured out in both OBS/SLOBS. Having the 'control audio via obs/streamlabs' box ticked, I just had to keep monitor off for the audio settings in the mixer, and it kept it separate from the Audio Output Capture. The only issue is in SLOBS, I can't personally hear it but the audio for them is there in the recordings/streams. So its just SLOBS issue at that point.