For your voice microphone, 6 to 1 is a more appropriate ratio, but you can find your perfect ratio through testing. Therefore, the higher the first number, the more aggressive the compression. What this means is that for every 10 db the audio source is above the stated threshold, it will actually only be 1 db louder. The default settings in OBS are a good starting point, but the 10 to 1 ratio is a bit extreme. This works wonders on voices and can create a much more pleasant listening experience. Technically, it only lowers the volume on the loudest parts, and then adds makeup gain back to the audio so that the whole thing is a normal volume. To put it simply, compression will raise the volume of your audio’s quiet parts, and lower the volume of the loud parts, resulting in a much more consistent audio signal. If you’re on the quiet side when it comes to speaking, your close threshold may cut off your voice if it’s too low.Ī compressor is one of the most powerful audio tools out there, that can really make your microphone sound amazing. You want a pretty tight threshold range, but it’s easy to have the quiet parts of your voice cut off. You’ll want to experiment a bit with this by doing some practice recordings.
Increase the open threshold until it doesn’t show any input, then bring it down slightly from there. Your microphone shouldn’t be picking up anything unless you’re talking! To set the open threshold, start talking and you should see that the sound bar is picking up your voice. If any noise is being picked up by OBS, just move the close threshold closer to zero until there is no more background noise being picked up. Computers on, housemates watching TV, anything that would typically come up in your recording. To calibrate it better, you should sit completely silent in front of your mic, with average background noise. This means that the mic will mute any sounds quieter than -32 db and when the mic hits -26 db it will turn on the mic. By default, the noise gate will come with a Close Threshold of -32 db and an open threshold of -26 db.
In an ideal streaming scenario, your talking voice will open the noise gate, but background noise will not.ĭialing in your noise gate may require some trial and error. Noise gates work by only turning on the microphone once it detects a certain decibel range. Whether it’s computer fan noise, appliances, traffic outdoors, or your children in the next room, a well-calibrated noise gate can remove these quiet but noticeable background annoyances.