ACT blog What Are the Best Equipment Settings for Streaming in OBS

So, you’ve got your gear, your software, your streaming settings — and you’re itching to go live. What now? Before hitting “Start Streaming” in OBS, you’ll want to make sure your setup actually works for you.

A stream has three key components:

Video – your camera(s), desktop capture, or game capture.
Audio – microphone, game sound, music, alerts.
You – because without you, there is no stream.

Let’s break it down.

Video

Your cameras will either be a webcam or, if your budget allows, a mirrorless camera. I’ll cover both.

Most webcams only offer basic controls (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), with the exception of the Elgato Facecam, which ships with decent software for extra customization. But here’s the truth: tweaking those settings rarely improves the image much.

From my experience, lighting matters more than the webcam itself. Take the popular Logitech C922 Pro — pair it with proper lighting like the Elgato Key Light/Air, and you’ll get far better results than by fiddling with the built-in settings.

Why? Because webcams use low-light compensation, which basically just raises exposure. That brightens the picture but also increases noise and grain. With good lighting, the camera doesn’t need to work as hard, giving you a cleaner, sharper image.

So, my recommendation: leave most webcam settings at default, raise exposure just slightly, and use a LUT (look-up table) for color grading. LUTs usually deliver better results than webcam sliders ever will.

Mirrorless Cameras

Mirrorless cameras are more expensive, and you’ll need extra hardware (like an Elgato Cam Link) to connect them to your PC. But the trade-off is dramatically better image quality and full manual control.

Mix good lighting with proper camera settings, and you’ll get a professional-looking stream. The settings might feel daunting at first, but once you dial them in, you won’t have to touch them again.

Here’s a simple starting point:

Shutter Speed: Double your frame rate (e.g., 1/60 for 30fps, 1/125 for 60fps).
Aperture (f-stop): Lower numbers = more light + blurry background (bokeh). For a nice background blur, aim for f/4.5 or lower.
ISO: Set last. Keep it as low as possible (400–800 is ideal). Higher ISO (1200+) introduces noise.

Audio

Now onto the most important part of your setup: audio.

Yes, you read that right — audio is more important than video. Think about it: if you watch a stream, video, or movie with crackly, hissy audio, it’s instantly unpleasant. But if the video is a little blurry while the audio is crisp and clear, you’ll probably stick around.

The good news? You can make almost any microphone sound great using OBS’s built-in filters — no extra plugins required. This works for USB mics, XLR mics, or audio interfaces (like a GoXLR).

Here’s the filter chain I recommend, in order:

Gain – Talk normally into your mic and raise gain until your voice sits around -10 to -5dB.
Noise Suppression – Use RNNoise (simple, effective).
Compressor – Controls volume spikes. Set the ratio between 3.5:1 and 4.5:1. Keep output gain around +6dB, but adjust so your normal speaking voice stays in that -10 to -5dB range.
Limiter – Set to -3dB. This prevents clipping and keeps volume consistent.

Optional: EQ (equalizer). If you want to fine-tune your voice, experiment with EQ. Every voice is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all setting here.

If you're looking for more ways to improve your audio quality, check out this video about the SteelSeries GG Sonar feature.

Music & VODs

Twitch will DMCA you if copyrighted music makes it into your VOD. Luckily, OBS has a feature to help: Twitch VOD Track.

You can route your music (or alerts) to a separate track so they don’t appear in your VOD. For example, I use Track 6 for my VOD. In OBS’s advanced audio settings, I simply uncheck Track 6 for my music source. That way, viewers hear it live, but it won’t get me muted later.