OBS not recording audio: working through the mixer

The Audio Mixer panel at the bottom of the OBS window lists every audio source and shows a level meter for each. Before changing any setting, speak or play something and watch which meters move.

A meter that moves means OBS is receiving that audio. A meter that stays flat means it is not, and the problem is upstream: the device, the permission, or the selection.

If the meter moves and the recording is still silent, OBS has the audio and is not writing it to the file. That is a track assignment problem, covered below, and it is the case people find hardest to diagnose.

Check for muted sources too. A muted source shows a crossed-out speaker icon and a greyed meter, and the mute button is easy to hit by accident.

OBS can write up to six separate audio tracks into a recording, and each source is assigned to whichever tracks you choose. If a source is not on the track your recording is using, it is captured and then discarded.

Click the three dots in the Audio Mixer and choose Advanced Audio Properties. Each source has a row of numbered checkboxes on the right. Make sure the source is ticked for track 1, or whichever track your output is set to.

Then check Settings, Output, and look at the Recording section. In Advanced output mode there is an Audio Track selection there, and it has to match.

This mismatch is the most common cause of an OBS recording where the meters were clearly moving the whole time.

In Advanced Audio Properties each source also has an Audio Monitoring column with three options: Monitor Off, Monitor Only, and Monitor and Output.

Monitor Only means you hear the source through your headphones and it is not recorded. People set this to check a microphone, then forget, and end up with a silent take they were listening to the whole time.

Monitor Off records normally and you simply do not hear it live. That is the right setting for most microphones, because monitoring through speakers causes feedback anyway.

The word Monitor doing double duty here, for both listening and capture, is the source of a lot of confusion.

Go to Settings, Audio, and check the Global Audio Devices. Mic/Auxiliary Audio should name the microphone you are actually using, not Default, which can point somewhere unexpected after a device is unplugged.

On macOS, OBS needs microphone permission: System Settings, Privacy and Security, Microphone. It also needs Screen Recording permission for desktop audio capture, which is not obvious.

On Windows, check Settings, Privacy and Security, Microphone, and confirm desktop apps are allowed, which is a separate toggle from the main one.

Restart OBS after granting any permission. It only checks at launch, so a permission granted while it is running appears to have no effect.

On Windows, Desktop Audio capture works out of the box. On macOS it historically did not, because the operating system provides no route from an output back into an application.

Recent OBS versions include a macOS Screen Capture source that can take application audio directly, which removes the need for a virtual device in many cases. Look for that before installing anything.

If it is unavailable, install BlackHole, create a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup so you can still hear the sound, and add BlackHole as an audio input capture source in OBS.

Always record thirty seconds and play it back before a real session. Every failure described on this page is silent at the time and only visible afterwards.