How To Add an Audio Source to OBS

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is a free open-source app that allows you to stream audio and video to your favorite social media platforms. You’ve got it installed, and you’re excited to start streaming. But what if you don’t know how to add an audio source?

If you’re in the dark about this, you’ve come to the right place. OBS is a great tool for mixing different audio sources. In this article, we’ll cover how to add a generic audio source, and also how to use your Discord server to capture audio directly to OBS.

How to Add an Audio Source in OBS

To properly use OBS, you’ll need to know how to add different audio sources. Different microphones and such are important to get just the right sound. Thankfully, this isn’t a difficult process. To learn how to do so, follow these instructions.

1. Open the OBS app.
   
2. Connect your audio interface. Navigate to “Audio Mixer” and then to “Mic/Aux.”
   
3. Click on the “Gear” icon to open it and from the drop-down menu, select “Properties.” Click on the audio interface you are using and close the window.
   
4. Tap on the “Gear” icon again and choose “Advanced Audio Properties.”
   
5. Ensure that “mono” is selected for “Mic/Aux.”
   
6. From the “Sources” menu, click the “+” button. Here you can add your new audio source.
   
7. Select “Audio Input Capture” from the source menu, choose “Add Existing,” and hit “OK.”
   

How to Add Discord as an Audio Source in OBS

It’s a great idea to capture your audio stream from your Discord server. You can add this audio to other projects or save it for future use.

Before you can add Discord as an audio source in OBS, you’ll first need to check which device your Discord audio is going to. To learn how to do this, follow the steps below.

1. Launch Discord.
   
2. Navigate to your Discord “Settings” by clicking on the “Gear” icon.
   
3. Tap on “Voice & Video.”
   
4. Take note of the name of the output device.

Now you’ll need to add that device to your OBS Scene. Here’s how to do so.

1. Open the OBS app.
   
2. Navigate to the “Sources” pane and click the “+” icon, to add new click “Audio Output Capture.”
   
3. From the new pop-up window, type in a descriptive name in the “Create new” section, such as “Discord Audio.”
   
4. Click “OK.” In the next window, select this new device.
   

Discord will now be selected as a new audio source in OBS.

FAQ

What are the best audio settings for OBS recordings?

This is a difficult question to answer considering everyone’s ear is different. It will depend on exactly what you are looking for as far as the sound goes. In general, there are a few default settings you can change to enhance the audio settings.

1. Go to the OBS “Output” menu.

2. Select the “Audio” tab.

3. Change the “Audio Bitrate” for Track 1 to “320.”

4. Tap on the “Audio” icon from the left-side panel menu.

5. Look at “Sample Rate” and ensure it’s set to the same rate as your mic.

It’s best to use a trial-and-error method when making adjustments to your audio settings.

OBS isn’t recording my desktop audio. What should I do?

This can be a common problem with new users of OBS. The solution is typically rather easy. There are a few things you should check to get your desktop audio to work properly. Try some of these suggestions.

A common cause for this is that your volume mixer is set to mute. Here’s how to check it.

1. On the bottom-right side of the screen, click on the “Speaker” icon.

2. Select “Open Volume Mixer.”

3. Ensure that “OBS” is set to 100 and that it’s not muted.

Another culprit could be that you have “push to talk/push to mute” selected. Follow these steps to check if it’s selected.

1. In the top-left corner of the screen, click on “File.”

2. From the drop-down menu, select “Settings.”

3. Tap “Audio” from the left-side panel menu.

4. Under “Hotkeys,” ensure that the box for “Desktop Audio” is not selected.

If there are hotkeys set up to mute desktop audio, you may have accidentally hit them. By having this option disabled, you won’t run into this problem again.

Adding an Audio Source to OBS Is a Straightforward Process

Streaming the best audio and video to your favorite social media platform might require adding additional audio sources. OBS makes this quite simple. Just add your audio device to your computer and add to OBS’s list of audio sources. The same can be done with Discord by adding it to the list of audio devices.

Have you added audio sources to OBS? Did you follow the same methods described in this article? Let us know in the comments section below.