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How To Increase and Amplify Microphone Volume in OBS Studio

As a content creator using OBS Studio, having clear and loud microphone audio is essential for providing quality content to your viewers. However, you may often find that your microphone volume is too low when recording or streaming.

In this comprehensive guide, I will provide various methods to increase and amplify your microphone volume in OBS Studio, as an expert streamer and content creator with over 5 years of experience using OBS.

Adjusting Gain in OBS Audio Mixer

The easiest way to increase your microphone volume is by adjusting the gain slider for your microphone in the OBS Audio Mixer.

Steps to Increase Gain

  1. Open OBS Studio
  2. In the Audio Mixer section, locate your microphone input
  3. Click the slider next to the input and slide it upwards to increase gain
  • Start around +3dB to +6dB
  1. Speak into the mic at your normal volume and observe volume levels
  2. Adjust gain until the volume is sufficiently loud without clipping or distorting

Note: Do not increase the gain too much as it can introduce background noise or clipping.

Enabling Mic Boost in Windows Sound Settings

Another way to amplify your mic volume is by enabling ‘Microphone Boost’ in your Windows Sound Control Panel. This provides up to +30dB of clean gain.

Enabling Microphone Boost

  1. Go to Control Panel > Sound
  2. Go to the Recording tab
  3. Right-click your microphone input and select ‘Properties’
  4. Go to the Levels tab
  5. Check the box for ‘Microphone Boost’
  6. Set boost level to maximum +30dB
  7. Click OK

Note: Too much boost can introduce noise so adjust as needed. Reduce OBS gain if enabled mic boost.

Using Gain Filter in OBS

The Gain filter in OBS Studio allows you to precisely dial in additional gain to the microphone input. This filter amplifies the audio signal digitally.

Adding Gain Filter

  1. Right-click your mic input and select Filters
  2. Click the + icon to add a filter
  3. Select Gain from the list
  4. Adjust gain slider to desired level
  • Start with +3 to +6dB
  1. Click Close

Tip: Stack multiple Gain filters for more gain. Adjust Windows boost/OBS gain if clipping occurs.

Using Compressor Filter

The Compressor filter makes quiet sounds louder and loud sounds quieter for a more consistent volume. This can effectively boost your lower voice volumes.

Compressor Filter Settings

  • Ratio: 3.0:1
  • Threshold: -20dB
  • Attack time: 10ms
  • Release time: 100ms
  • Output gain: 5dB

Note: Adjust threshold lower to trigger more compression on lower volumes.

Checking Sample Rate

If your microphone volume is still too low, ensure OBS Studio sample rate is set to 48kHz. Lower sample rates will reduce maximum volume levels.

Setting Sample Rate

  1. Go to Settings > Audio
  2. Set Sample Rate to 48kHz

Tip: Also set audio Channels to Stereo for best quality.

Updating Microphone Drivers

Outdated, broken or missing mic drivers can potentially cause low microphone volumes. Update them to resolve any driver related issues.

Updating Drivers

  1. Search for Device Manager
  2. Expand Audio Inputs and Outputs
  3. Right click microphone input
  4. Select Update Driver > Search Automatically

This will install the latest drivers from Windows Update. Restart OBS and test mic volume.

Reinstalling OBS Studio

As a last resort, completely uninstall and reinstall OBS Studio to eliminate any software bugs causing low volumes. Be sure to backup scenes and sources first!

Reinstalling OBS

  1. Export and backup scenes
  2. Uninstall OBS Studio
  3. Restart computer
  4. Re-download and install latest OBS Studio
  5. Import scenes and test mic volume

I hope this comprehensive guide helps you resolve any issues with low microphone volumes in OBS Studio! Let me know if you have any other questions.

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