Audio Archives

How to use Sidechain Compression in OBS

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OBS has a super neat feature that works great if you’re narrating over an existing audio track. It’s called Sidechain/Ducking, and it will automatically lower the audio of one source if an audio level is detected on another source. For example, when you’re playing a game, the audio would be lowered when you speak, and … Read more

Adding Compression and Noise Reduction to your Microphone in OBS

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Most voice recording sounds better with a little bit of compression applied. It’ll make the quieter bits louder, and make the louder bits quieter. In addition, there’s usually a little bit of noise that is picked up even with the best of microphones. It’s just a fact of audio life.

Thankfully OBS has two great filters that can be used in combination to great effect, first compressing your voice, and then adding a bit of noise reduction afterwards. I’ll show you how to do it, and the values that work well for me in this article.

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Routing and monitoring Audio Sources in OBS

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I’ve been struggling to route and monitor some of my audio sources in OBS. Thankfully I’ve found two essential tools that make this possible, and I thought I’d jot down some notes in case I forget.

I’ll also touch on how to monitor audio properly without causing an endless loop by recording what you’re monitoring.

The tools we need for ultimate success are:

In principle, we use the latter to route a source into the VB-Cable (a virtual destination), then we pick up the VB-Cable output as a separate input in OBS. We can then adjust its levels independently from other sources or apply filters if necessary. This all sounds more complex than it really is, so let me illustrate this with an example.

Installation Notes

VB-Cable installs like a regular app on Windows, and does not need to be started. It’s like a permanent audio device driver on your system. There are three versions in total: the free VB-Cable, as well as two donation ware items called VB-Cable A/B and C/D. We don’t need those, but if you ever require more than one routable audio destination, give them a try. Either one will get you two more destinations.

I took this screen grab so illustrate which download button to click for the regular VB-Cable:

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Comica CVM-AX3 Audio Field Mixer Review

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I’ve been looking for a way to record two separate microphones in the field for interviews. If you’ve ever tired this, you know how much of a challenge this can present. When I found this Comica CVM-AX3 I thought it could be the ideal solution to this problem and gave it a try. I’m glad I did, because it fills the void of the challenge I had before me.

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Beginners Guide to Improving Your Audio

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This is a guest post by DreamLab Studio, who kindly shared this information on our Discord Server. This is an expanded edition I thought would be great for everyone. Enjoy!

So you have decided you want to start creating your own content to share online. Perhaps you want to make YouTube videos, create a podcast, or maybe start live streaming. One problem you may run into is working with Audio. You may think it’s going to be the easiest thing to deal with, after all humans have been recording audio since 1877 thanks to Thomas Edison.

Unfortunately audio is something that can be pretty tricky to work with and more importantly viewers are willing to put up with poor quality video much more than they will with poor audio. As an example, check out this video from RainDanceCanada:

I’m not an audio expert but I have learned a bit over the years that I hope will help you record better quality audio and make the learning experience easier and more enjoyable.

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Blue Yeti vs ZAFFIRO – Microphone Comparison ASIN B07BVRQD8G

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I was looking for another desktop USB microphone for my second desk. Currently I’m using a wonderful Blue Yeti with my Mac on my main desk (or Studio A as we like to call it), and every time I do a screencast or podcast on my Windows workstation (or Studio B as we’d like to call it), I have to bring over the Blue Yeti.

So I discovered the ZAFFIRO Desktop USB Mic, for over $100 less. I thought I’d give it a spin – and I really like it. Here’s what I found after a couple of weeks of working with it.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 10:35 — 9.7MB)

ZAFFIRO Lapel Microphone comparison B074SF96X9 vs B0765NGK4N

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In this episode I’m taking a look at two lapel microphones by ZAFFIRO. They’re both called “Lavalier Lapel Microphone”, and the description is more or less identical on both items – yet there are significant differences between these products.

I bought both of them back in March 2018, and given the sound quality and amount of accessories you get, for less than $20 each, these mics are good bargains for casual users. But no matter how detailed (or vague) their shop descriptions are, and no matter how hip the people in those pictures look, you can only really judge a microphone by what it sounds like.

In this review I’ll tell you all that I’ve learnt in my six months with the ZAFFIRO lapel mics.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 21:14 — 19.5MB)

How to turn text into an audio file on macOS

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Ever since Lion, Mac OS X 10.7, there has been a great and very underrated feature built-in to every Mac: the ability to highlight some text and have macOS turn it into an audio file.

This is a wonderful way to listen to written text while you’re on the go, or if you want to skim through text you or others have written while you’re occupied with another activity, such as walking or driving. I love this feature!

I’ve seen the option in the context menu many times, but I’ve never dared to use it until today. Perhaps I held off for so long because the option reads “add to iTunes as Spoken Track” – and I’m just not a big fan of iTunes.

Turns out, this text-to-audio option bypasses iTunes altogether. It doesn’t open automatically and we won’t need it to transfer tracks to our iPhones either. What a relief!

Let me show you how to do it in this article.

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