Users have been quite outspoken about the need for one specific functionality since the debut of OBS. In OBS, the ability to segregate audio sources appears to be accessible by default. This option appears to be virtually at your fingers in the programme, but we’ll have to leap through a few hoops to get our OBS setup for isolated audio.
The Issue: OBS uses a mixed channel for audio
All of your audio sources in Windows are combined into one channel by default. In most cases, we don’t think twice about it, but if you use OBS for recording or streaming, this may be an issue. Assume you’re going to record a gameplay video with music playing in the background.
How do you isolate the audio sources if you don’t want the music in your movie and the audio channels are mixed? Previously, we had to rely on sophisticated and, to be honest, unreliable applications like VoiceMeter. Fortunately, we can now do so with the help of a simple and easy-to-install plugin.
The Win-Capture-Audio OBS Plugin is the solution
We’ll use the “win-capture-audio” plugin in OBS to isolate our audio sources. This plugin will add a new source to our OBS, allowing us to select audio from a certain show. Let’s have a look at the installation process.
1. The win-capture-audio plugin may be downloaded here.
- Click on the most recent release of win-capture-audio from the releases page.
- The.zip version is available for download. You can also keep time by downloading and installing the.exe version, although we recommend avoiding third-party installers wherever feasible. The safer way is to unzip files straight into your OBS installation directory.
2. The.zip files must be extracted.
3. To install OBS, copy the.zip files to your OBS installation directory.
- A data and obs-plugins folder will be unzipped. These directories must be copied into the OBS installation folder. This folder is usually located at C: Program Files (x86)obs-studio, although yours may be different.
4. OBS is now open.
5. All of your Global Audio Devices should be turned off.
- Disable each of the Global Audio Devices in OBS by going to File -> Settings -> Audio. This will provide us a blank canvas to work with and ensure that we don’t end up with any unwanted noise in our films.
6. Activate your Audio Source
- Start your game or whichever application you wish to record sounds from.
We’ll be recording game footage and audio from No Man’s Sky in this example. A Chrome window, Discord, Spotify, VLC, or any other audio-producing application can be used.
7. Add a source for capturing audio output from an application.
- Select Application Audio Output Capture from the + button under Sources.
8. Give your new Source a name.
9. Select your program from the Window menu.
That concludes our discussion. The audio mixer will now show your new audio source.
This audio source will be totally separate from the rest of your computer’s audio output. You are free to add as many contacts as you like. If you wish to include your Discord audio conversation in your movie, for example, just add another Discord Application Audio Output Capture source. You may also manage the level of each individual source using the audio mixer.
I’m Having Problems With Winning Plugin -capture-audio
It’s possible that you’ll need to upgrade Windows if the win-capture-audio plugin isn’t working. Some requirements for this plugin are only available through Windows updates. For assistance with the upgrade process, see our Windows 10 update guide.
We hope you found this tutorial to be informative and simple to follow. If anything changes in the process or if a better option becomes available in the future, this page will be updated. Hopefully, OBS will include this capability natively at some point in the future, but in the meanwhile, we are appreciative to the win-capture-audio plugin creators for providing us with a workaround.
