How to Remove Background Noise in OBS (Step by Step)

OBS is built for streaming and recording, not audio editing, but it still comes with real noise removal tools built directly into its audio filters. The difference with OBS is that this cleanup happens live, while you’re streaming or recording, not afterward in an editor. If your stream audio has a fan humming in the background, keyboard clicks bleeding through, or a noisy room following you around, OBS can filter most of that out in real time with just a couple of filters.

In this guide we’ll cover exactly how to remove background noise in OBS using the Noise Suppression filter, the Noise Gate filter, a Compressor for evening things out, and a quick AI option for cleaning up noise after you’ve already recorded, in case the live filters weren’t quite enough.

Why Your Stream Audio Picks Up Background Noise

Before adjusting anything, it helps to know what you’re actually dealing with. Most noise in OBS setups falls into a few common types:

• Room noise, like fans, air conditioners, or a PC’s own cooling fans sitting right next to the mic
• Electrical hum from cables, power strips, or poor grounding
• Keyboard and mouse clicks bleeding into the mic during gameplay or typing
• Hiss from budget microphones or gain that’s set too high
• Echo from streaming in a room with hard walls and no soft furniture

OBS’s filters are built for real time, steady noise, things like fan hum, keyboard clicks, and room tone. They’re not designed to remove someone talking in the background or separate overlapping voices, since that kind of processing needs more time than a live filter can afford.

Remove Background Noise in OBS Using the Noise Suppression Filter

This is the main tool most streamers use, and it’s built directly into OBS, no plugins needed.

Step 1: Open your Audio Mixer
In the main OBS window, find the Audio Mixer panel. This lists all your audio sources, including your microphone.

Step 2: Open filters for your mic
Click the gear icon next to your microphone source and select Filters. This opens a window where you can stack multiple audio filters on that one source.

Step 3: Add the Noise Suppression filter
Click the plus icon under Audio Filters and choose Noise Suppression from the list.

Step 4: Choose your suppression method
OBS gives you a couple of options here, usually Speex and RNNoise, depending on your version. RNNoise tends to sound more natural and handles a wider range of noise types, so it’s generally the better default choice if it’s available on your system.

Step 5: Adjust the suppression level
If you’re using the older Speex method, you’ll see a decibel slider. Start around -30 dB and adjust while talking normally into your mic. RNNoise doesn’t have a manual strength slider, it’s designed to just work automatically, which is part of why it’s the more popular option now.

Step 6: Test with your actual background noise present
Turn on whatever’s usually running in the background, your PC fans, an AC unit, anything typical, and talk normally. This is the only real way to know if the filter is doing its job, testing in a silent room won’t tell you much.

Adding a Noise Gate for Extra Control

Noise Suppression handles constant background noise, but a Noise Gate is useful for cutting out sound entirely when you’re not talking, which helps with keyboard clicks and room tone during pauses.

Step 1: Add the Noise Gate filter
In the same Filters window, click the plus icon again and select Noise Gate.

Step 2: Set your Close Threshold
This is the volume level below which OBS mutes your mic completely. Set it just above your normal room noise level but below your speaking volume.

Step 3: Set your Open Threshold
This is the volume your voice needs to reach for the gate to open back up. Keep a small gap between your Close and Open thresholds so the gate doesn’t flutter on and off during quiet speech.

Step 4: Adjust Attack and Release time
Attack controls how quickly the gate opens once you start talking. Release controls how quickly it closes after you stop. Values that are too fast can clip the start of words, too slow can let extra noise through after you finish a sentence.

Noise Gate works well paired with Noise Suppression, one reduces ongoing noise while you’re talking, the other cuts noise completely during silence. Using both together usually sounds cleaner than either one on its own.

Using a Compressor to Even Things Out

This isn’t a noise remover on its own, but it helps your overall audio sound more consistent, which makes any remaining background noise less noticeable.

1. Add a Compressor filter the same way you added the others
2. Set a Ratio around 3:1 to 4:1 as a starting point
3. Adjust the Threshold so it only kicks in on louder parts of your speech
4. Keep Attack fast and Release moderate, then fine tune by ear

A Compressor won’t remove hum or hiss, but it stops your voice from dipping so low in volume that background noise becomes more noticeable in comparison. It’s a good filter to add after Noise Suppression and Noise Gate, not instead of them.

Filter Order Actually Matters

One thing a lot of OBS users miss: filters process in the order they’re listed, top to bottom. A good general order is Noise Suppression first, then Noise Gate, then Compressor last. Putting Compressor before Noise Suppression, for example, can actually boost background noise along with your voice, since compression makes quieter sounds louder relative to the rest of the signal.

When OBS’s Live Filters Aren’t Enough

OBS’s filters are built for real time processing, which means they’re naturally limited compared to tools that can analyze and process audio after it’s recorded. They tend to struggle with:

• Heavy wind noise if you’re streaming from outdoors or near an open window
• Rooms with a lot of natural echo or reverb
• Background noise that’s almost as loud as your voice
• Noise that changes constantly, like intermittent traffic or people talking nearby

If your stream or recording still sounds noisy after you’ve stacked Noise Suppression, Noise Gate, and Compressor, the noise is probably heavier than what real time filters are built to handle. In that case, cleaning the recorded audio afterward with a dedicated AI tool usually gets a cleaner result than trying to push OBS’s live filters further.

If you want to try this on a past recording, our free noise remover strips out hum, hiss, wind, and background chatter without needing any editing experience, and you can preview the before and after result before deciding to use it. This is especially useful for VODs or recorded content where you have the option to clean things up after the fact, unlike a live stream where you’re stuck with whatever the live filters caught.

If the noise is baked into an already recorded video file rather than a separate audio track, it’s often easier to handle that with a background noise remover for video, instead of trying to pull the audio out manually.

Preventing Noise Before You Even Open OBS

Since OBS processes audio live, prevention matters even more here than in editors where you can fix things after the fact.

• Position your mic away from your PC case or laptop fans, even a small distance makes a real difference to how much fan noise gets picked up.
• Use a mic with a cardioid or similar directional pickup pattern, so it favors your voice over sounds coming from other directions.
• Turn off unnecessary background noise sources before going live, fans, notifications, other devices.
• If you’re on a mechanical keyboard, consider a boom arm mic positioned to reduce how much key noise it picks up, or look into keyboard noise settings some mics and interfaces offer separately.
• Do a short test stream or recording and actually listen back before going live for real, so you catch problems while they’re still fixable.

None of this replaces Noise Suppression and Noise Gate, but it means those filters have less work to do, which usually leads to a more natural sounding voice overall.

Common Mistakes When Removing Noise in OBS

• Only adding Noise Suppression and nothing else. It handles constant noise well, but pairing it with Noise Gate covers the gaps during silence that Noise Suppression alone leaves behind.
• Setting Noise Gate thresholds too aggressively. If the Close and Open thresholds are too close to your speaking volume, the gate can cut off the start or end of words.
• Putting filters in the wrong order. Compressor before Noise Suppression can actually make background noise more noticeable instead of less.
• Testing in a silent room. If you configure your filters without your usual background noise present, they might not actually hold up once you’re live with your PC fans and everything else running.
• Relying on live filters for post production level cleanup. Real time processing has limits. Heavier noise usually needs a dedicated tool applied after recording, not more aggressive live filter settings.

A Quick Checklist Before You Go Live

• Add Noise Suppression, preferably RNNoise if it’s available, as your first filter
• Add Noise Gate after it, with thresholds set while your normal background noise is present
• Add a Compressor last to even out your overall volume
• Test with your actual background noise running, not in a silent room
• Position your mic away from fans and other steady noise sources
• If a past recording still sounds noisy, clean it separately with a dedicated tool rather than re-recording

Frequently Asked Questions

Cleaning up audio in OBS mostly comes down to stacking the right filters in the right order and testing with your actual background noise present, not a silent room. Noise Suppression and Noise Gate handle most everyday problems, and a Compressor rounds things out. When a recording still sounds noisy afterward, that’s when it’s worth cleaning the audio separately instead of trying to push the live filters further. You can find more free tools built around exactly this over at Noise Reducer AI.