Invest in a quality mic and audio interface

If your Twitch stream just isn’t sounding up to scratch, the first thing to address might well be the equipment you’re using. The microphone built into your gaming headset is certainly the most immediately convenient option, and a USB mic makes connection child’s play, but neither can touch a full-size high-end microphone connected to a professional audio interface for sound quality.

The EVO Start Recording Bundle is a complete vocal (or anything else!) recording solution that makes a great fit for any Twitch streamer, comprising the EVO 4 audio interface, EVO SR1 microphone (with shockmount and XLR cable), and EVO SR2000 headphones.

The EVO 4 interface features pristine mic preamps and the handy Smartgain button for automatic input level setting, as well as the Audio Loopback function for effortless recording of your computer’s audio along with the mic input. It makes the perfect partner to the SR1 large diaphragm mic, which, with its super-cardioid polar pattern, is designed to capture only the sound coming from directly in front of it – a necessary consideration for minimising room reflections (see below).

Check your mic placement and technique

You might be surprised by how profound an effect the relative positioning of mouth and microphone can have on a voice track. Thanks to the physical phenomenon known as the ’proximity effect’, a change in distance of just an inch or two can dramatically alter the perceived presence and weight of the sound, as the low frequencies start to roll off the further you back off from the mic capsule. Generally, then, you’ll want to get in nice and close, so as to capture as much of that warm, ear-pleasing bass as possible – but be sure to keep a pop shield half way between you and the mic to avoid nasty plosives. Exactly how close is ‘close enough’ will depend on the tone and volume of your voice, and your particular stylistic preference, so experiment and make test recordings to find your sound.

Once you’ve got that optimum distance established, adjust your mic placement to lock it in at your natural seating position and posture, and try not to move around too much during the stream.

Set the gain right

The general idea with any microphone is to get the loudest possible signal into the preamp of the audio interface it’s plugged into – thereby avoiding the need for a compensatory level boost further down the line, which can potentially introduce audible background noise – without introducing nasty distortion by clipping the analogue-to-digital converter. With the dynamic range of any voice track – that is, the difference between its loudest and quietest components – being potentially quite high, it’s essential to take the time to set an appropriate input gain level on your audio interface, guided by the specification of your microphone and the characteristics of your voice. Talk into the mic as you will for your stream, and use the level meter on the interface itself or in your streaming application to find the sweet spot: aim to have it averaging between -12 and -20dB, and peaking (ie, at the absolute loudest points) no higher than -6dB. That should be enough to ensure that any unexpected exclamations don’t drive the meter into the red and clip the input.

The EVO 4 audio interface, it’s well worth noting, takes care of this whole process for you with its Smartgain function, which automatically and intelligently sets the gain based on the incoming signal level. A serious time saver.

Silence the room

It goes without saying that the room from which you present your Twitch stream must be as close to silent as you can get it, apart from the sounds involved in the stream itself. While the amount of control you’re able to take of road traffic and other environmental intrusions will come down to your particular domestic situation, computer or games console fan noise is something you can always do something about. It might mean splashing out on whatever long cables are required to be able to get the machine as far from the mic as it needs to be, replacing cheap PC fans with bigger and better ones, upgrading from the remarkably noisy PlayStation 4 Pro to the impressively peaceful PlayStation 5, or whatever , but keeping that constant whirring out of your stream should be a priority.

Another issue frequently encountered by Twitch streamers is excessive room reverberation caused by the sound bouncing off walls and other reflective surfaces. A good cardioid pattern microphone (the aforementioned EVO SR1, for example) will reject much of this, but to dry the room out even more, some degree of acoustic treatment might be called for. This is a very big subject, and you can really go to town deadening and insulating walls, doors and windows if you’re not afraid of a bit of DIY; but by and large, a few well placed foam panels will get the job sufficiently done without breaking the bank or tying up your weekends for the next year. Google ‘home studio acoustic treatment’ to get started.

Refine and polish your voice with effects

Although a decent microphone and audio interface will deliver perfectly acceptable voice streams on their own, for that awesome, hyped, radio-style sound, you’re going to need to apply some effects processing to the signal before it reaches your listeners’ ears. Happily, the Twitch streamer’s software platform of choice, OBS (Open Broadcast Software), not only includes a raft of integrated ‘audio filters’ built to do exactly that, but also features support for VST plugins – the audio industry standard for professional in-the-box effects processing.

Ultimately, there are only two signal-shaping processors that you have to familiarise yourself with with to get your stream sounding its best: compression and equalisation. Compression reduces the dynamic range of your voice, making it sound more up-front and ‘present’, and EQ enables detailed tweaking and rebalancing of the frequency spectrum, much like the controls of the same name in your music listening app.

These powerful sonic weapons must be wielded with care, but there are plenty of tutorials on both to be found online; and once you’ve arrived at a winning effects configuration, you can save it out as a preset for instant recall at any time.