Struggling to get my microphone sounding clean when my voice starts raising, or is it just me?
I've been trying to get my microphone settings during stream to be at a sort of sweet spot where when my voice starts raising, it doesn't start sounding all like its 'blown' out.
I was watching back on a clip of mine that I turned into a short and its.. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong here or if its just me thinking it sounds worse than it actually does?
https://clips.twitch.tv/RoundGracefulZebraPMSTwin-VlVRn-jbcvMuU2fp
Its not a special mic, just a cheaper FiFine USB microphone (Ampligame A6T to be exact), since unfortunately I don't have the funds right now to put down on something that sounds notably better from the get go-
I posted how I have my microphone settings in OBS at the time of the clip. Gain was turned off because I didn't felt it helped at the time, but considering how its sounding, perhaps I'm wrong. My brain thought it was better to have it in the Compressor for Gain instead, but that may have been the wrong call.
21 Replies
A few things:
1. That seems like too much output gain on the compressor. Speak into your mic at a regular volume and see where it is peaking and report back to us.
2. I don't think this is causing the issue you're describing, but I'd change the order of your filter stack. Make sure the limiter is last. And move the noise gate and expander closer to the top, above the compressor in my opinion
3. Again, this probably isn't causing any noticeable issues, but you may not need the High and Low boosts in your "Correction" EQ. That's probably something you can do in your Flavor EQ. I generally stick to EQ "cuts" in my correction
This is what it sounds like with your mentions minus the Correction stuff, though I do turn that off briefly in this for comparison
...
Discord pls, why won't you embed
Converted it into a .wav so it can be embedded properly-
GG @Thunder, you just advanced to level 6 !
I can help more when I get to my computer in a couple hours. But to me it sounds very good.
Others may be able to jump in with suggestions in the meantime as well
Appreciate it, hopefully I can get this more polished out, but any good news from it is news I'll take
Listening now on my headphones and watching the audio mixer in OBS, your normal speaking voice is coming in a little bit loud. Is it possible to lower the gain on the mic itself?
Just a tiny bit
I can adjust it through either the gain knob on the microphone or through Windows, it is admittedly set to 100 on there
Not sure what the dif is, but I'd go with the gain knob on the mic rather than windows and you can leave that alone
you're peaking around like -2 when speaking normally, and ideally that'd be more like -5 to give yourself more headroom
roughly speaking, i'd be aiming to be barely getting into the red on average when you're speaking normally, and then you have some headroom to raise your voice when you yell
Don't set to 100 in windows. Right click the 100, change to dB. And have that at 0.0
Then use the gain knob on mic to tweak
..wow, I had no idea you could do this.
Apparently 0.0 db on this microphone is just 0 in Windows
Yea, probably a big part of thr clipping
100 was like.. just over 30 db there.
I will have a look at this with your thing in mind and see how it comes out in the recording
Even at 0 it doesn't sound like its making any difference
Yeah, testing it at either 0 or 100, the volume is still the same, including the clipping
quick glance makes me think this is just a gain not set somewhere. the following steps should help when followed in order.
1. Turn off all audio filters in obs. In obs make sure the blue slider for the mic source is max right (should say 0.0 db for the mic source). Audio processing for the mic outside of obs should also be turned off so things like if the mic has its own software or voicemeter, sonar, etc.
2. get the mic a proper distance from your mouth set. Do one of these 🤙 with thumb on mouth and pinky on front of mic where capsule is. Make sure the mic is pointed at your mouth
3. Set windows to 0.0 db this is what @Fcenturylink mentioned (sorry mattty for the ping lol). So make sure its in decibls and not percentage.
4. Use the physical gain control knob on the mic to set your proper gain (my assumption is this is basically maxed or close too and you are clipping at this point). You do this by adjusting the knob as you talk in your normal voice you use on stream. As you talk adjust the knob so your voice is on average between -18 to -12 on the audio meter in obs.
Once that is done your gain should be properly set. Do a few test recordings with still no audio processing to make sure you have the gain right and dont need to lower or increase it.
After that you can start with your filters but thats a separate topic haha. Hope this helps
:borkping:
:kekw:
Appreciate the extra help.
I was testing the mic without OBS even turned on in regards to the volume in Windows, it just seems to have no effect through WIndows, solely from the physical gain knob on the microphone itself.
...in which it also appears to be very sensitive. Don't have to move the knob much for it to get to an acceptable volume.
The positioning is something I should try to remind myself a bit more since I did at times have a tendency to put it closer than that 🤙 length.
seems like I was on the right track with it being the pyhiscal gain knob being the issue just being super hot
GG @MrGrizzB, you just advanced to level 10 !
I'm hoping I'll be in a position sooner rather than later where I can replace the microphone honestly, something that's atleast a little bit better, even if its still USB