Technical
Noise gate
A filter that mutes your mic below a volume threshold, cutting keyboard clatter and fan hum between sentences. Built into OBS.
Related terms
- Noise suppression
AI or filter-based removal of constant background noise (fans, AC). OBS ships RNNoise free; NVIDIA Broadcast is the fancy option.
- Gain
The input volume of your microphone. Too low = whisper quiet; too high = distorted clipping. Set it so normal speech peaks around -12 dB.
- OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)
The free, open-source app most streamers use to broadcast — it captures your game, webcam and mic, mixes them into scenes, and sends the stream to your platform.