How to Reduce Microphone Background Noise in OBS
The Noise Suppression filter in OBS Studio can reduce mild background noise, such as a computer fan or steady hiss. Add it to your microphone, then make a short recording to check that your voice still sounds natural.
Suppression has limits. It cannot reliably turn a loud room into a quiet recording space, and aggressive processing can make speech sound muffled or unnatural.
Reduce noise before adding a filter
Start with the sound reaching your microphone. Turn off an unnecessary fan, move away from a noisy computer where practical, and position the microphone so you can speak clearly without raising your voice.
The aim is to capture more of your voice and less of the room. A filter can then make a smaller correction instead of doing all the work.
Add Noise Suppression to your microphone
- 1.Find the microphone you use in OBS's Audio Mixer. Speak to check which meter responds.
- 2.Open that microphone's menu and choose Filters.
- 3.In the audio filters list, click + and select Noise Suppression.
- 4.Give the filter a name, then confirm.
- 5.Choose a Method from the available options.
Apply the filter to the microphone you actually use. Adding it to a different audio source will not clean up your voice.
Choose a suppression method
RNNoise is a useful starting point for mild room noise. It generally provides better suppression quality than Speex but uses more processing power. It does not have the same strength slider as Speex.
Speex lets you adjust the Suppression Level. Moving toward a more negative value applies stronger suppression. Make small changes: a setting that removes more noise may also damage the sound of your voice.
NVIDIA Noise Removal, where supported, requires NVIDIA's Broadcast SDK component. It is an optional method, not a requirement for using OBS noise suppression.
The options you see depend on your setup. You do not need to install extra software simply to try RNNoise or Speex.
Test quiet speech as well as normal speech
Record a short sample with a few seconds of room sound, your normal speaking voice, and a quieter sentence.
Listen back with headphones. Check whether the background noise is less distracting and whether the start and end of your words remain clear. If your voice sounds processed, compare the result with the filter disabled before changing anything else.
Repeat after making one adjustment. Changing several filters at once makes it harder to tell what helped.
If you still hear noise
Noise suppression and a noise gate do different jobs. Suppression processes background noise; a gate reduces or cuts sound when the microphone signal falls below its threshold. A gate does not remove room noise while you are speaking.
If your microphone sounds distorted even with suppression disabled, check its input level and distance from your mouth. Adding more suppression will not repair an overloaded microphone signal.
Aim for clear, comfortable speech rather than complete silence between every word.