How to livestream a gig: interface to OBS, a mix for the stream, latency and platform audio specs

A livestreamed gig is two shows at once: the one in the room and the one in a viewer's earbuds. Most streams that sound bad got the second show wrong, by sending the room mix down the line. This guide walks the signal from your audio interface into OBS, explains why the stream needs its own mix, and sets latency and encoder audio to match the platform.

1. Interface into OBS

OBS is free streaming software. To get your band into it, add an Audio Input Capture source to your scene and pick your interface as the device; it is available on Windows and macOS, and Linux users use the ALSA or PulseAudio sources instead (OBS Project). One trap: if the same device is also enabled globally in OBS's audio settings, you can get an echo, so disable it there first (OBS Project).

The cleanest feed is usually a stereo pair from your mixer's spare outputs (a matrix, aux or record out) into two interface inputs. If you are mixing in a DAW on the same machine, route its master into OBS with a loopback or virtual audio driver instead. Either way, OBS should receive a finished mix, not a dozen raw channels.

2. Set levels the OBS way

OBS's own guide is blunt about gain staging: adjust the level at its origin first (the mic gain knobs, the interface, the OS slider), then make final tweaks with the OBS fader (OBS Project). Its meter is colour-coded: green for background music, yellow for speech and game audio, and red is where speech should peak, which is also "close to clipping". A dot marks the highest peak of the last 20 seconds, so you can spot overs you missed (OBS Project).

Those zones were written for talking-head streams. For music, we'd aim the loudest song's peaks just into the yellow and put a limiter on the stream feed, because a drummer's fill at the end of a set will hit harder than your soundcheck did. OBS also advises recording a test and listening back before going live (OBS Project), which for a gig means a full song at performance volume, not a line check.

Stereo sources show separate left and right meters, so a source that only lands on one side is visible, and Advanced Audio Properties has a "Downmix to Mono" fix (OBS Project). If your interface puts the mix on input 1 only, that is the button you need.

3. Mix for the stream, not the room

The front-of-house mix is built for a room that already contains loud drums, amps and stage spill. Sent to a stream, it usually sounds thin and vocal-heavy, with almost no guitar or snare, because the room supplied those. A stream mix needs:

• Everything in the desk. Instruments the room carried acoustically need more level in the stream mix.
• Some room. One or two audience or ambient mics, tucked under the mix, stop it sounding like a rehearsal. Without crowd noise, a gig sounds empty online.
• Gentle bus compression and a limiter. Earbuds and phone speakers forgive less than a PA.
• No feedback-fighting EQ. Cuts made to tame the room's resonances don't belong on the stream.

On a digital desk, build the stream mix on a separate bus. On an analogue desk with no spare bus, a second small mixer fed from direct outs works. If a single person runs both, our preference is to prioritise the stream mix during soundcheck and set the room by ear, because the room can hear the band anyway.

4. Latency and sync

Two kinds of latency matter. Platform latency is the delay between you and viewers. YouTube offers three modes: normal, which gives the highest quality with the least viewer buffering; low, under 10 seconds for most viewers; and ultra-low, under 5 seconds, at the cost of more buffering, and needing a connection that can sustain your bitrate. Neither low mode supports 4K (YouTube Help).

Audio-video sync is the delay between your sound and your camera. Webcams and capture cards often run later than an audio interface, so the band can look out of time with itself. Clap on camera during soundcheck and nudge the audio later in OBS until the clap lines up. Do it per camera if you cut between several.

For a gig, pick normal latency. Chat interaction is a nice-to-have; buffering in the middle of a song is the thing viewers will remember. Use low latency only for a Q&A between sets, if at all.

5. Platform audio specs

YouTube recommends these encoder audio settings (YouTube Help):

Twitch and Facebook publish their own broadcast guidelines; we could not load Twitch's help pages when checking, so check each platform's current page before a show rather than reusing these numbers there. In practice, AAC stereo at 128 kbps or above is the setting that matters, and higher audio bitrate costs very little compared with video.

6. Rights: covers are the risk

Your own songs are yours to stream. Covers are not, and the danger is less the live moment than the archive and clips left behind. Platforms scan live streams for matches, and an archived stream can be claimed after it ends. We cover what YouTube, Twitch and Meta each say, and how to set up a cover-heavy show, in live-streaming a performance: licences, covers and DMCA risk. Read it before a set of covers, not after a strike.

What we think

The single biggest improvement to most gig streams costs nothing: a separate stream mix. Bands buy a better camera before they fix the audio, but viewers will forgive a grainy picture far longer than a mix with no kick drum. Our checklist for a first stream:

1. A dedicated stereo stream feed from the desk, with a limiter on it.
2. One audience mic in that mix.
3. Normal latency, AAC stereo at 128 kbps or more.
4. A clap test for sync and a full-volume test recording.
5. Archives and clips off for any set with covers, until you've checked the rights.

FAQ

Can I just put a phone in front of the PA? You can, but you get the room mix plus room reflections, and the phone's limiter will pump. A desk feed into OBS is a big step up for little money.

What audio bitrate should I use for YouTube Live? YouTube recommends 128 kbps AAC or MP3 stereo at 44.1 kHz.

Why is my band out of sync on the stream? Video usually arrives later than audio from an interface. Delay the audio in OBS until a clap on camera lines up.

Which latency mode for a concert? Normal, for the least buffering.