Audio

Viewers will put up with a soft picture far longer than they will put up with bad sound. If the stream’s audio is distorted, echoing, or buried in crowd noise, consider streaming with no audio at all until you can fix it.

Audio is also where Bronze and Silver differ the most. A Bronze stream relies on the venue’s sound system, so its quality depends on the venue. A Silver stream brings its own microphone and interface, so it sounds the same everywhere.

What the Stream Needs to Hear

  • Game sounds. These tell viewers when a match starts, when the TELEOP period begins, and when the match ends.

  • The emcee. The emcee introduces teams and explains what is happening.

  • Music, if the event plays any. Read Music and Copyright before putting music on the stream.

Bronze Tier

Take a feed from the venue’s sound system. Most gym and auditorium mixers have a spare output, often labeled AUX, REC, or MON, and many powered speakers have an XLR “thru” output. Connect that output to the streaming computer with an audio-to-USB adapter cable (about $20). OBS treats the adapter as a microphone input.

Test the feed before the event, with someone talking into the emcee microphone while game sounds play:

  • If the level in OBS is too low, raise the gain on that source in OBS.

  • If the sound is distorted, ask the venue to turn its output down. Distortion that happens before the signal reaches the computer can’t be removed afterward.

This feed carries everything the venue plays, including music. Only use it if the event’s music is cleared for streaming, or if the event plays no music.

Silver Tier

Bring your own microphone and audio interface so the stream no longer depends on the venue.

  • Wireless microphones. Several regions use the Phenyx Pro PTU-71-2H, a two-microphone kit that costs about $135.

  • A small USB audio interface, such as a Focusrite Scarlett Solo or a MOTU M2. Connect the microphone receiver to one input and the game sound output of the computer playing them to the other. The interface connects to the streaming computer over USB, and you mix the inputs in OBS.

  • A powered speaker, if the venue has no usable sound system. A compact speaker with a small built-in mixer, such as the Mackie SRM150 (about $300), fills most gyms and can take the microphone and game sounds directly.

In OBS, add a Limiter filter to each audio source so a shouting emcee or a loud buzzer doesn’t clip the stream, and use headphones on the streaming computer to listen to what viewers actually hear.

Gold Tier

Use a dedicated mixer to combine several wireless microphones, game sounds, and music. An 8-channel analog mixer (about $220) covers most events. Larger events use a digital mixer such as the Behringer X Air XR18 (about $500), sometimes with a physical control surface.

  • Send the mixer’s main output into the venue’s sound system through a spare XLR or AUX input. The room and the stream then hear the same mix, and you don’t have to bring large speakers.

  • Send a separate output from the mixer to the streaming computer, so you can set the stream’s level without changing what the room hears.

  • Give the emcee in-ear monitors so they can hear themselves over the crowd.

  • For venues where audio has to reach several places, such as a pit area on the other side of the building, an audio-over-network system such as Dante sends audio anywhere on the network without running more cable. Dante adapters cost about $160 to $200 each.