Mastering Noise Gates for Cleaner Stream Audio
· Tutorials
A properly configured noise gate eliminates background noise between sentences. Learn the settings that work for most streaming setups.
A noise gate is one of the most powerful audio filters available in streaming software, yet many creators either skip it entirely or misconfigure it so badly that it cuts off their words. When set up correctly, a noise gate silences your microphone input when you are not speaking, eliminating keyboard clicks, fan noise, and ambient room sound.
In OBS, you can add a noise gate filter directly to your microphone source. The two most important settings are the open threshold and the close threshold. The open threshold determines how loud a sound needs to be for the gate to open and let audio through. The close threshold determines the level at which the gate shuts again. Set the close threshold a few decibels below the open threshold to prevent the gate from rapidly chattering open and closed.
A good starting point is an open threshold around negative thirty-two decibels and a close threshold around negative thirty-six decibels, but these numbers depend entirely on your room and microphone. Speak at your normal streaming volume and adjust until the gate opens reliably for your voice but stays closed when you stop talking. The attack time should be short, around five milliseconds, so the gate opens instantly when you start speaking. The release time can be longer, around fifty to one hundred milliseconds, for a more natural fade-out.
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Test your noise gate by typing on your keyboard and shuffling in your chair while monitoring the audio meter. If those sounds trigger the gate, raise the open threshold slightly. Finding the sweet spot takes a few minutes of experimentation but pays dividends in every stream.
Tags: noise gate, audio filter, background noise, OBS, microphone, clean audio