Will a noise gate stop viewers hearing my keyboard?

Only between sentences. A gate mutes the channel when the level drops below a threshold, so it removes typing during pauses and does nothing about typing that happens while you are talking, because your voice is holding the gate open. The fixes for that are physical: bring the capsule closer, use a directional pattern with its rear facing the keyboard, and raise the microphone above the typing plane.

Does it matter that most of my viewers watch on a phone?

It changes what you should listen for. A phone speaker throws away almost everything below about 200Hz, so the warm low end you added by sitting close to the capsule simply disappears, while harsh sibilance survives the trip intact. Rolling off the deep rumble with a high-pass filter costs you nothing on a phone and cleans up desk thumps and traffic at the same time.

Do I need a hardware mixer or is my broadcast software enough?

Software covers it for one person. Per-source levels, filter chains and separate recording tracks are all built into a modern encoder at no cost. A physical mixer earns its money when you want a fader you can reach without leaving the game, when you are feeding a second machine that does the encoding, or when two or three people share the desk and each needs their own channel.

Why did my microphone start crackling after a voice call?

Almost always a sample-rate clash. Chat and conferencing applications will set the device to their own rate, and when your encoder expects a different one, the mismatch shows up as clicks and stutters. Set the microphone and your headphones to the same rate in the Windows sound properties for each device, and turn off the option that lets applications take exclusive control.

Should I mute with the button on the mic or a hotkey?

Use the software hotkey as the main mute and treat the hardware button as the emergency one. A tap-to-mute pad on the microphone cuts the signal before the computer sees it, which also silences your own local recording, and you have to be able to see its indicator to know the state. A hotkey mutes the source your stream hears, shows on your own screen, and can be set to push-to-talk for a room with other people in it.

How do I set my level before going live?

Record two minutes at your natural speaking volume, and include your loudest laugh and your quietest aside, because those are the two extremes the compressor has to cope with. Aim for the meter to spend most of its time in the yellow band with brief peaks that never reach the red. Then play the file back on a phone rather than on your headphones.

Is the microphone on my headset good enough to start with?

For chat and a first few streams, yes, and its boom sits so close to the mouth that it rejects room noise better than people expect. What it lacks is body in the voice and any use to a second person at the desk. It also ties your audio to a headset you may want to replace on its own schedule.

Best Streaming Microphones for Live SA

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Best Microphone for Streaming SA

Streaming microphones for live gaming audio in South Africa

Going Out Live Changes the Requirements

A recording can be redone. A stream cannot. Everything on this page is chosen around that difference: the capsule has to reject a gaming PC sitting a metre away, the processing has to run in real time inside your encoder, and you need to hear a problem before the chat tells you about it.

That pushes the decisions away from raw capsule quality and towards placement, routing and monitoring. A modest microphone positioned properly and gated sensibly beats a better one sitting on the desk beside a mechanical keyboard.

Going Out Live Changes the Requirements

Going Out Live Changes the Requirements

Top 5 Reasons to Buy Gaming Laptops

Building an Audio Chain That Survives Being Live

Top 5 Reasons to Buy Gaming Laptops

Building an Audio Chain That Survives Being Live